The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-02-13

I workmen are the most skillful alive ;
the markets Of all the world are
open to us; our goods had, before
too much protection lead to the
studied deterioration Of their quail
| ity, won an enviable reputation
abroad our manufacturers are
millionaires who are using the power
of their vast aggregations Of wealth
to keep the wages of labor at the
lowest, ebb, by shipping hither the
pauper herds of protected Europe
9t the rate Of 100000 or more per
annum. If under circumstances so
peculiarly favorable they still need
protection, when will the time ever
come when they will not need it?
: We turn now to a more specific
reply to the Statesman's article, and
assert that if our misunderstood
ing with Chile had involved Us in.
war with the most powerful ma
ton of the world''-England-sh
would have found us prepared for
the emergency. Our many factories
would have been pushed to their
fullest capacity; the stream of for
eign immigration would have been
at.least temporarily arrested our
idle and needy laborers would have
been employed, some in the army
and others in manufacturing sup
plies, and if surplus had been
produced, it could have been dis
posed of under free trade, to friend
ly nations and means procured by
that course for carrying on the war.
Furthermore in the mutations of
commerce it would have happened
that. part of our surplus would
have found its way to England to
make up the deficit that would have
certainly been found in the less ac-
tive production of her factories,
for we would have compelled her
to put every available man in her
army, and the purchasers of our
surplus would have sold their pur-
chases to our enemy and returned
the money to US, thus Gripping her
and strengthening US. -
The underlying principle of free
trade is not 80 much mutual as in
ter-dependence. We produce great
excuses in some lines, while in a !
few we fall short of our needs. Last
year we sold $3.50, 100000 worth oil
farm products. Somebody else
lacked that much reproducing what
they needed. We produced less
wool than we needed. We want a |
for our surplus to keep it |
from rotting on our hands, and we
want place to buy the things we
need and do not produce, that we
may not have to 60 without. Other
peoples want the same. Free trade
all of these wants, and
squalizes the: inequalities of pro.
1uction by freedom of distribution,
and nothing is lost nor any thrown
out of employment because Of
ylutted market.
The reason why free trade gained
} foothold in the South before the
var was not because slave labor
could not be made profitable under
protection, but because the labor
srs Of the South were ignorant
md unskilled, and could only be
1eld while they were kept in ignor-
ance, and because the entire indus
ry Of the South was directed to
he production of raw materials,
which labor, even tariffs cannot
protect. But employers of labor
ire wiser now than were the slave
masters of the Old South. They
Know that even slave labor-slayes
,eld in the shackles of want-can
,e made profitable under protec-
ion, and that by the use of the
and the Pinkertons, these
'laves can be held so long as they
md their families are in want, and |
o keep them in want they import
,eedy laborers from abroad.
Under tariff for revenue only we
we're builders Of ships. We had a
,ery creditable ocean commerce for
! nation so young, and the starry
banner foated over every sea ron
earth. Under high-so called pro-
ective-tariff this has all disap-
oeared. Our shipyards are idle,
md our merchandise carried on
'oreign bottoms. Remove that law
made incubus, and we can at
,nce compete with all the world az
builders and sailers of ships, as we
IAN also in all branches Of manu-
and can produce, besides,
enough to supply half of Europe,
,pd sell all we produce at a profit,
md can, moreover, give employ
nent at living wages to our two
md a half millions of idle and
needy people. Jackson was not
light, and if he had been his words
could have no sort Of application
% the changed conditions Of our
lime.
The Statesman chuckles over the
alleged. fact that we exported to
Havana during the month of Jan.
larry, 2,271 sacks Of -four, while