Fergus County argus., 1891-09-03
Why I Am a Proteetionist.

First-I am protectionist becaus
/ am an American, thoroughly imbueC
with American ideas, American princi
piles, American enterprise and Ameri
can thought.
Second-For the reason that it guar
antees to the wage-earners, whether
male or female, better remuneration
for their services than they can pos
sibly obtain in any other country OF
the face of the globe; and this remun.
Grafton does not apply simply to fac.
tory operatives, manufacturing textile
fabrics, but applies equally to the
employed in every vocation OF life,
whether it be clerks, statesmen, profes-
sors OF colleges, or salaried officers in
railroads, banks, or incorporated
companies of any kind, so that any
human being in any vocation in this
country who works for salary,
either by the day or by the year, is
benefited by the American policy OF
protection.
Third-It has caused the balance OF
! trade to turn in our favor during the
last thirty years to such an extent
that the nations OF the earth, during
this time, have paid US eighteen hun
dred millions OF dollars, and our coun-
try is Just that much richer than it
would have been had it not been for
our system OF protection. The result
OF this is that instead of being CON-
PEELED to pay the money lenders of
the country from Z to 10 per cent per
annum interest for their money, they
are very well satified with from 4 to
per cent per annum, reducing the
rate OF interest quite one-half from
what the average was to the borrower
thirty years ago.
Fourth-For the reason that il en-
courages manufacturing enterprises of
all kinds throughout the country, and
the competition between the manufac-
tHrers prevents large profits from be-
ing made, and prevents monopolies OF
all kinds, in consequence of this COM
petition. The result of our manufac-
turing interest is wefurnish the people
a better class of goods at a less price
than they would have to pay if these
different manufacturing establish
ments were not established in this
country, creating a demand for our
agricultural products, and realizing a
better price for them in our home
market than we get abroad.
F'ifth-The United States govern
ment collected in 1890 about two
hundred and thirty million dollars
from imports, and the most OF this
revenue was collected from importers
who bring in q class of merchandise
that is not used generally by the me-
dunn and poorer classes, and particu-
larly so since the duties have been
taken off sugar.
The lowest estimate OF the amount
of money earned by the waGe-earners
OF all classes in this country is about
fifteen thousand millions of dollars
annually, an excess of at least six
thousand millions over the earnings
OF the same number of people living in
other countries.
Can this country do away with our
protective policy without reducing the
of wages paid in foreign countries? II
not, then the wage-earnerS could well
afford to pay the two hundred and
thirty million dollars collected by the
government, mostly from foreign pro-
ducers, in 1890, and keep up the pres
ent rate OF wages.
AS the wealthier class use at least
seven-tenths OF the amount of our i'm
ports, that portion of the duty paid
by consumers bears very lightly on
the poorer classes; consequently all
our legislation favoring protection is
almost wholly in the interest OF these
classes, and the passing OF such laws
by Republican congress is legislating
the greatest good to the greatest num-
ber OF people.-Wm. L. Strong in
American Economist.