Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-10-13

HOW THEY WILL AFFECT COMMERCE,
WAGES, PRICES AND. TRUSTS. !

HOW They WILL AFFECT COMMERCE
WAGES, PRICES AND. TRUSTS.
Aecording 90 the ProssetIonist idea We
Aiready Have Toe Mach cemmsrcesa an<i
Amy Device 60 QuEeIss Trznxportaai6n
weaid Ne Followed bx pirs Resuits-
The Iron Age of Sept. says: ..Pen-
nington's airship factory in Chicago is
just completed. andlths aluminium car.
which weighs 235 pounds. the inventor
says. win start for New York in threeor
four weeks
Think what this meanss lf his ship
can successfully navigate the mr. we nay
next year see hundreds OF these man
made birds darling from citS n city and
frozn cotsfinent 10 cont tinent carr 5zng pas
sengers and valuable freight. How fine
they win look aad how they win aid
commerce by reducing the time between
points now connected only by circuitous
railroads. rivers or ocean routes! But
horrors! What viii become of McKin-
ley, Of protection, of the sworkingman
andof the farmer, and last, but not least.
OF the hundreds of dearly beloved tariff
trusts?
According TO the protectionist IDEA we
already have too much commerce. As
one OF them puts It. we wohld be better
OH III the oceans were walls of fire.
Hence every true believer in Mckinley
ism curses all improved means of COM
munication and all inventions that fos-
ter commerce and cheaper the prices of
commodities. But the McKinieyite sees
oven greater danger from this new ma
chine. he sees it puncturing more holes
in the Mckinley tariff bill than fun
Democratic congress would make. OF
what use will be custom houses when
airships can cross our borders by day o.
night at 10000 different points and can
anchor in 1,000,00O different places?
What unrivaled opportunities would be
provided for smugglingl The vigilance
OF 10000 customs officers could not pre-
vent smuggling by wholesale, and the
competition in smuggling in large guam
titles OF pauper made goods would soon
lower the price Of hundreds Of articles.
Woolen goods, plate and window glass,
tin plate, pearl buttons and dozens of
other articles that now sell here for
double the prices in Europe or Canada
would soon come down almost to COM
mon level. And what terrible effects it
would have upon farmers and laborers!
It would probably reduce their expenses
Fifty dollars per family. and they would
all-free traders and protectionists alike
-be foolish enough to buy. all they
cDuld of these cheap goods. They would
even work the harder to produce all
they could to exchange and get their fill
Of goods for once.
demand for more labor, and this would
raise wages. Higher wages would mean
increased consumption, and the wheels
of industry would just hum, not only on
this but on the other side of the ocean.
It is n-Christianlike to think that our
European neighbors would prosper with
Us, but then it couldn't well be helpcd.
while goods could be exchanged through
the air SO that each nation would get the
benefits of the natural and artificial adj.
vantages in production of all other ma
tions. This could not lower the prices
Of farm products, for our farmers lave
the best opportunity to produce in the
world and now compete with all other
nations. Itcould not lower wages, for it
would remove no barriers that obstrucs
the passage of labor from one cdnntrvto
another-because there is none to re-
move. 1t would in fact raise wages by
increasing the amount of goods that
could be purchased with a certain sum.
But the poor trusts-how they would suf-
fer and perhaps die under such competi-
ton! The Pocket Cutlery trust, which
has raised prices 80 per cent. since 1890,
would have to reduce prices at least 40
per cent, because cutlery costs only
about half as much in Europe as here
The Cartridge trust, which has ad
vanced prices here 90 per cent. and sells
30 per cent. cheaper in Canada, would
have to have leyeling down of prices
Hundreds of other trusts now making
millions out of the tariff, only thousands
of which have TO be spent to sustain pro-
lection, would have to be content with
ordinary profits or yield up the ghost en-
tirely.
Such are some OF the Affections that
will follow the introduction Of flying
machines II protectionists understand
the situation they viii bribe Mr.. Pen
nington to stop work on the airship.
which viii do them thousand times
more harm than Peckis report on wages
win do them good.