The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-10-15

and III. w. fohr. nohp'' VI s'"'' wv"
compilcd n volume which they called n
railroad manual. that exhibited the fnan-
cial condition Of all the railroads in the
country and proved itself to be most
useful book of reference to all persons
interested in railroad securities. The
compilation Of this book was an account
ants work. and the Messrs. Poor there
fore. did il well. In tho Mcssrs. Poors
opinion n book is book, and If they
could compile n useful book by reason
of their skill in bookkeeping they saw 10
reason why they could not compile any
other sort of book towards which they
might turn their hands; and as every
one is dealing with the tariff now, SO the
Poors determined that they would take
a shy at the tariff too They have ac-
cordingly compiled their book and sent
out its prospectus. detailing the PROPOSE
tons that they have dealt with, and this
now lies before us.
We shall invert the order in which they
state their propositions and notice their
seventh and last one first.
Their seventh proposition is that for
forty years of the beginning of this Gov
eminent everybody was in favor of pro-
lection, but that as the people of the
South found out they could not compete
in manufacturing with the North they
began to find out that protection was I'M
constitutional, and hence the general
view which obtained before the war and
now prevails in the South that the Con
stitutOn does not permit Congress to
levy duties for protection only. The
plain English of this is that as soon as
Bookkccpcr Poor turns BoOkmakcr Poor
he must fire off his shot condemning the
honesty and good faith of all the people
Of the South and pronOuncing them dis
honest and a set of blackguardS because
they maintain that when Congress is en-
powered by the people to raise revenue
to maintain the Government by imposing
taxes, no authority is given Congress TO
pretend to impose taxes TO raise revenue,
which taxes really kill the subject of
taxation, and are intended to kill it, in
order that one American may have an
advantage in trading over another Amer
lean, and that all Americans may be
forced to pay greatly enhanced prices
for many articles of everyday life, the
excess to go into the pockets Of certain
favored individuals
Bookkeepers who turn bookmakers are
very liable to take just such a narrow
view of the honesty and good faith of
people who cannot see proposition from
the same standpoint that the bOOkkeep-
cr's pecuniary interest prompts him TO
see it. But we beg to assure the Messrs.
Poor that there are many-a vast
crowd-of very worthy persons in the
South, quite the peers of even the
Messrs. Poor in honesty and in knOwl-
edge (of everything except bookkeeping),
who conscientiously believe that in form
ing this Government the people of the
United States Intended to confer the
power of taxation upon CongrC SIS for the
purpose Of raising the revenue that the
pose whatever.
1t would be very agreeable to us to no
tice each one of the propositions, to de-
veloping which the Messrs. Poor assure
us they have devoted the book they have
made. Space, however, will not permit,
so that we shall confne ourselves to u
brief notice of one. They say:
Fourth.-That the necessary effect Of
a system of protection is TO reduce the
price Of merchandise produced under it
and increase the rate of wages. for the
reason that it invites the competition of
capital, always seeking opportunities.
with capital. As the supply of capital
is unlimited, it follows that the greater
the amount of it seeking employment, the
lower the rates at which it must compete.
and consequently, the lower the prices
of its products
There can be no question in respect to
this proposition, that the wider the field
for competition of capital against capital
of articles produced by manufacture to
fall. On this proposition we are with
BOokkeepers Poor, and we believe all
sensible men are with them on il. But
if the competition of capital against cap
ital in the United States tends towards
a downward price in the articles manu-
featured, how immensely would this ten
dency be increased if the protective du-
ties were removed, and the capital here
were brought into competition with all
the other capital in the world. 1t seems
absolutely incredible that Bookkeepers
Poor did not perceive that the downward
tendency of prices would be accelerated
by this widening of the field of COMPETE
ton, and that protection was conse-
quently an absolute bar TO this prolific
source of cheaper goods. The case of
BookkeeperS Poor reminds us of a little
story. \ number of years ago there was
house and sign painter in Richmond,
whom we will call Mr.. A, who added
to his avOcatiOn the business of writing
wills. These, of course, at once got into
court for Interpretation. One of them
being up one day in a cause in which the
late Il. T. Daniel was counsel, that gen
tleman,in stating the case, said that the
testator, seeing his end approaching, sent
for Mr.. A and got him ito paint him
will"
We are disposed TO think that the
Messrs. Poor have added up, subtracted
and deducted book on the protective
tariff.