St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-25
LOCALIZED ROBBERY.
Such Is Protection Declared to
Be.

Such Is Protection Declared to
Be.
1t is the favorite claim of our extreme
protection friends that majority of the
people are more or less, directly or in
directly, interested in the alleged bene-
/ fits claimed to be derived from high
protective tariff, and that only a COM
paratively small portion of the COM
munlty really objects to continuance
of the system. They are pleased to
assert that if the government
generously sees fit to increase
ufacturer, the other persons of that city
are likely to receive some sort of bene-
fit from the prosperity of their more
favored neighbour, and that they ought
pot to complain of the discrimination.
The advantage which the other citizens
secure is so remote, however. that they
can hardly be expected to appreciate it,
and especially in view of the fact that
the government has collected from them
portion Of the bounty which it has be-
slowed upon their more fortunate neigh
Dor. 1t may he that comparison of
the amounts collected from them with
he alleged benefits received will show
an advance upon the wrong side of the
account, and prove the system in the
end to be very expensive luxury.
1t is probably true that If every bust
ness man in city was required to pay
a tax of 81 annually to be put in the
pockets of some large manufacturer
employing large number of men, it
might add to the prosperity of the city,
provided the subsidized manufacturer
should eXpend the money in advancing
the wages of his workmen or in expand
Ii, 1,rrf oat
lied would be so slight, as we'll as. pre-
carious, and the scheme Is so inherently
improper that the experiment would be
unsatisfactory. Robbery is none the
less Objectionable even though the
whole people receive an equal share or
the booty.
Every honest community should pro-
test against such an Ubiquitous system,
and the policy of addition, division
and silence" while it may be accepta-
Die to Republicans in Pennsylvania. will
not be adopted by honest men else
where. The oft-repeated statement
that in every protected country the
whole people receive some share of the
benefits which are ostensiDly received
by a mandatory successfully eStab-
Iished, is false from the nature of
things. Public taxation cannot make
whole community rich. There must in
eyitably be inequalities.
The game Of poker was once recon-
mended to a gentleman as a game in
which every one won something. He
tried it, and he found that if anybody
won anything some one else had to lose.
So in governmental affairs, if a few men
acquire wealth without earning it, but
through favor of a paternal govern
ment, it must be at the expense Of the
great body of taxpayers. II it IS an
axiom that legislation should be so
framed to accomplish the greatest good
for the greatest number, the pro-
tective system cannot have, legis-
latiye sanction; but the claim that
the masses are especially interested in
its preservation is not supported by
facts: As we glance over the great
country how few do we find the, pro-
tected industries and occupations as
compared with the unprotected ones.
How few people there are Compared
with the great mass who can say they
are conscious that they receive the least