Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-10-28
Home Protection.


shown by the light of facts written mt
our history as Nation and as people
Whilst our forefathers were struggling u
free themselves from the CALLING yoke OF
political tyranny to which the Mother
Country had subjected them, the Mother
Country unwilling to yield to them the IN
eyitable result of that fierce struggle
sought to fasten upon the American Colo
nists a restrictive commercial policy whicl
would in effect reduce their independeu CT
to unwilling tributary subjects ina
policy is found in the acts of Parhameh
prohib iting under heavy penalties the I'M
portation of machinery and skilled work
men into the American Colonies, and pro
hibiting tho expectation of all classes oi
manufactured articles from this country
into Great Britain, for the discourage
ment of American manufactures. Ihe
fects of this ingenious co mmercial poiiel
was sorely felt by the Colo MES during anc
after their long struggle for independence
One of the PRIMARY objects oil tn'
Mother Country in the estab lishment anu
maintenance of this policy against hei
rebellious Colonies was to keep the balance
Of trade in her favor, and thus to subJec'
them to her commercial power and render
their political independence worthless.
How well the plan succeeded is shown py
the fact that in one single year, l"l' the
manufactured importations from England
alone to this country was sl3, 0o0,ooo, In
excess of the value of the expectations
from this country; and in the years 11S4--o
the importations from England amounte q
to $50, ,OO0, 900, as against expectations OF
only$oOO0, ,O0Ofrom this country, making the
balance of trade in favor of England and
against this country s2I, 900, 900. England
was then as now a powerful commercial
Nation devoted to skilled manufactures,
and it was the effects Of this policy upon
the manufacturing and commercial inter-
ests of this country, which impelled the
leaders of the new Republic to invoke me
law of self protection to free themselves
from the commercial tyranny forced upon
them by the Mother Country during their
unequal struggle for liberty, and to declare
their second independence by the passage
Of protective tariff in 1889, two years at
ter the final adoption of the Constitution
That Constitution provides that congress
shall have the power, ITO lay and collect
taxes, duties, imposts and excses, to pay
the debts and provide for the common
defense and general welfare of the United
States; but all duties, imposts and e1cises
shall be uniform throughout the United
Satets" The makers and expounders ofthese
provisions ofthe Constitution in the pream-
BILE to protective tariff law, which was the
I'd Act of Cong. passed after its adoption,
declared that "Wheress, it is necessary for
the support of the Government, for the
discharge of the debt of the United States,
and for the encouragement aud protection
of manufactures, that duties be laid ol lm-
ported goods, therefore it be enacted, etc. "
No would be political reformer then had
the audacity much less the inclination to
proclaim that Nation offreemen who had
wrested their liberties from the hands OF
oppression, declared their indep psndence
aud framed Constitution for their guild
ance and protection, did not understand
the language they had written and had no
right to protect themselves. 1t was theirs
to make and theirs to expound and apply,
by the passage of such laws as were
necessary for their preservation. Their
declaration of its meaning is as sacred as
the Constitution ITSELF Are modern states
men wiser than Washington, Hamilton,
Franklin, Madison, Jefferson, Monroe,
Clay, Webster and others who gave birth
to the American system of protection, and
cherished it until it grew to manhood
and asserted itself against the commercial
powers of the old world, and which to-day
by the wisdom of other grsa
minds, stands as the champion of American
and independence, and the pride
of our national development The Ameri-
can system of protection has grown to be
an important element in our national ex-
istence, and is the subject of English alb I
horence. Itsis firmly imbedded in the very
foundation stones of American Independ-
ence. The authority for its existence is
written in the Constitution, and its Constitu-
tio nality can no more be questioned than
the Constitution itself John G. Calhoun
supported its doctr inc until 1928, when
he became its leading opponent
swayed from his convictions of right
by Southern interests His antagonism to
it came when he conceived that it operat-
ed to the disadvantage of the system and ex-
tension of slavery, to the maintenance of
which he was committed by his constitu-
ency as we'll as self interest. His attack
upon the protective tariff system was not
without excuse. But it remains for the
would-be reformers of the latter day De
mocrscy to declare the protec tive tariff
system"s fraud. "They contrary to the high
est American interests, sin against light
and knowledge. without excuse. Tho his
tory of this county from the Colonial peri
cd down to the present time, affords
abundant proof to those who are not blind
ed to the facts stamped on its every page,
that protective tariff upon foreign impor-
tations is ne cessary for the encouragement
and maintenance of American manufactur-
es, for the elevation of American workmen
and wages above the standard of serflabor
in European countries, aud for the maintain
ance of financial independence If we
would compete with them in the field of
free trade We must Of necessity get down
to the level of their condition. We must
manufacture and produce our commodities
by the bone and sinew of ill PAID serf labor,
and be governed by the prices fixed by the
markets of the world, in dispo sing of them.
fAmerican laborers will be content to
run our mines, manufactures, farms and
workshops at the same rate of wages paid
to the serf laborers OF Europe, and we can
exchange commodities with European ma
tions so as to keep our trade and CONNER
cial relations even, we can successfully
compete with the other and older nations
of the world; but if not, our manufacturing
industries must stop, and We must set
about the task of shipping raw material to
the old world 10 be manufactured there and
shipped back to us. In this dileIna our
trade with foreign countries would fall
far short of an even exchange.
1t is estimated that on an average nine
ty per cent. Of the cost price of a manufac-
tured article is expended for the labor be-
slowed upon it. If this be true, every
ten cents worth of raw material shipped To