The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1892-04-23
PROGRESS AND PROTECTION.

PROGRESS AND PROTECTION.
Commenting on an article in vor
of protection published in this paper,
in which we said "the cornerstone of
the doctrine is, keep all the money
possible at home," the East Oregomiars
says:
Carried out to the letter, this policy
would compel every citizen to spend
every moment of his life In and exist
upon the products OF his own town and
vicinity. Only jackass does this, and
then only when his autocratlc master
compels him to. Such system narrows
and brutalizes men and makes them self.
ish animals, with desires slightly above
those of dog and little better than a
horse. Money should only be spent at
home when 1t can be spent more advan-
tageously, and this is the way sensible
men spend it even at the present time.
The "home industry" howl has lost its
substance. Men of common sense have
discovered that 1t had Its birth in mar
row, selfish, hypocritlcal spirit. Freedom
is Gods law, and the closer man can
carry it out the greater he will be, the
wider his environment, the broader bis
spirit, the more lasting his works, and
the nobler his intelligence.
Such policy does not inculcate the
idea that "every citizen should spend
every moment of his life in and exist
upon the products cf his own town and
vicinity" but only in as far as it would
stimulate enterprise and prosperity in
his home, and this the East Oregoaiaas
has advocated times without number
regarding Pendleton. Even the most
technical hair-splitting metaphysics
gives no such meaning to the principles
of protection, for it advocates expan-
sion of trade rather than contraction,
and its only aim is to make the nation |
independent by causing it to rely on
home productions as fully as possible. |
The great drawback to Oregon ever
since it's first settlement Is that |
the state has not been self-reliant, and |
nearly every manufactured article nec-
essary to the existence or the convent
ence of her inhabitants has been i'm
ported from the east. On this ac-
count there has been constant drain
upon the circulating medium of the
northwest, and, although the soil pro-
duced abundant crops, the timber
found ready sale in the markets of the
country, and salmon were shipped
across the continent, the money re-
ceived in return was sent away for
brooms, tubs, canned fruits, pickles,
Chicago meat, Massachusetts and Con-
necticut fabrics and New England COZ
vict-made boots and shoes. Oregon
ians, like the 'jackass" mentioned in the
text, have simply existed in the rich
pastures of the state, and allowed for
eigners who had no interest in their
prosperity to saddle and ride them at
pleasure. The American policy aims
to change this clam-like existence, and
says to the citizens of Oregon and /
every state in the union, If you can
grow broom-corn, manufacture brooms;
if you have forests, make tubs and
woodenware; if yop raise wool, erect
factories and let looms turn out the
necessary fabrics for wearing apparel;
if you have iron, build furnaces and
other productive works, and in every
instance in which raw material,
whether in the soil, the forest or the
stream, Is changed into a commercial
commodity, it is creation of wealth
for the community and the nation.
Protection has taught higher idea of
existence than the animal one of eat
ing and sleeping, and has called irto
requisition scientific inventions for the
development of natural resources,
thereby pouring untold wealth into
the treasury of the nation.
The people of the northwest have
passed that epoch in their history when
hides and sheep-pelts were legal ten
der In business transactions, and re-
quire silver and gold to purchase the
of life. However much {
wheat may be sold, it will not benefit {
the farmer without he retains some J
coin as the proceeds of the sale, and
no town or city will ever grow or pros
per if nearly every cent received by
producers or consumers is sent away
for clothes or flour. The largest lake
would eventually become dry if there
were not streams supplying the con-
slant loss caused by the rivers that
are constantly draining It's substance.
We must acknowledge that protec-
lion is selfish in its teachings, and SO
is love of family, of home and coun-
Try. This is not brutalizing, but on
he contrary is necessary to existence !
n the individual, the community and
nation, and without its exercise the
world would have made no progress in
literature or art. It has been
,ery successful In this country, and the !
,eople do not desire any change.
Democracy is misnomer in the full G
meaning of the word. The party y
ever intended that The people should
e supreme. and its history is a better