South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1892-08-26
urer. In either case it takes 81, 500
worth OF Missouri wheat to buy
$1,000 worth Of goods
PROT ECTION DOES NOT
CHEAPEN GOODS.

~ " n u " Il Il " ~ bOEO NOl
CHEAPEN GOODS.
Q. Do not protec,ionists claim
that protection cheapens protected
goods?
A Yes, they claim this, but the
claim is not good, and the protec-
tlonists themselves know it. The
very purpose of imposing high pro-
tective duties on goods is to in.
crease theprice and make it very
profitable to manufacture them in
this country.
/ Q. Yes that is true, but do not
these high duties encourage the
manufac ure Of protected goods in
this country, stimulate competition
among our manufacturers. AMI so.
in the end, cheaper prices?
! A. That is the protecsionist
theory, but they do Lot really be-
lieve In it themselves. New inven-
tons and improved mechanical and
chemical proc sses in manufacture
ing-these cheaper prices, but
high protective duties do not. The
idea Is absurd. If our protected
manufacturers are so anxious to
compete with one another. and low
er the prices of goods, why should
they be so averse to little COM
petition on our own soil, with for
eign manufacturers, three or four
thousand miles distant?
q. What are your reasons for as
serting that the protectionists them
selves do not believe in the cheap
ening effect of protective policys
A. One is that the protected in
terests, after twenty-eight years of
protection, are asking for still high
er protective duties. Another is
that some of them are admitting
that they cannot afford to pay pro-
tectlve duties on raw materials and
are asking Congress to allow them
free trade in these materials, so as
to enable them to manufacture
their goods cheaper. The manu-
facturers Of iron pipe and other
metallic goods in Massachusetts, are
complaining that the duties on
coal, ore and pig iron so increase
the cost Of making their goods that
they will have to abandon their
business unless these duties are re-
moved; and when, a few months
ago, Western memb ers Of Congress
proposed to pace q protective duty
on foreign hides, which are now
imported free, the leather goods
manufacturers and boot and shoe
makers of Massachusetts protested
that such duty on hides would
increase the price, and be a severe
tax on their business.
The fact that protection does not
cheaper prices, but on the con-
trary, makes them higher, is con-
fessed by Hon. VIM. Mckinley, Jr.,
of Ohio; one of the most dIsting-
nished protectionist authorities in
the present Congress. This gen.
tlemaD, in presenting the new tar
III bill in the House, stated that it
increased the protective duties on
WOODEN goods, and justified the in
crease, because the bill also increas-
ed the duties on wool. The wool
en- manufacturers would have to
pay higher prices for their wool,
and must therefore, have higher
prices for WOODEN goods. In the
Same speech he stated that the bill
increased the duty on tin plate and
admitted that this would increase
the price Of fruit cans aud other
tlnware These admissions show
plainly enough that even, in the
opinion Of protectionists, protection
makes the protected articles dearer.
instead of cheaper, not only at the
beginning but all the time.
q. Ii it were true that protection
cheapens goods, would not goods
be cheaper here than in countries
where that policy docs not prevail?
a. They would, certainly.
q. Well, what is the fact?
a. The fact is just the opposite.
We have been protecting sugar, rice
and salt, three necesssries OF life.
with very high duties for nearly
thirty years-and yet, sugar, salt
and rice coat twice as much here as
in free trade England-and tools,
cloth, clothing, blankets glassware,
earthenware and, in short, al pro.
tected manufactures, are much
dearer here than there.
Some fancy the charms Of the lily
white maid,
or ETHEREAL form and Ian gushing
eye,
Who faints in the sunshine and
drOops in the shade,
And is always 'just ready to
die"
But give me The girl OF tho sun
shiny face,
The blood in whose veins courses
healthy and free,
With the vigor Of youth ia her
movements Of grace,
oh, that IS The maiden for mel
She is the girl to ''tie to- for
life. The sickly, complaining wom-
an may be an object Of love and
pity, bat she ceases to be a ching
Of beauty" worn down by female
weakness and disorders, subject to