The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-11-26

cratic lawyer, was read before a recent
meeting of the board OF managers OF the
American Protective Tariff League.
RIcHFTELD SPRINGS, n. Y,
November IS, 1892.
TO he Board Of Nanogen Of me american PrOee.
tire TdriG Loague,
GENTLrMES: You are aware, l pre-
sumo, that in the late Presidential cam.
paign, although / have long acted and
voted with the Democratic party, felt
Obliged to repudiate the anti-protection
plank embraced in the Democratic plat
form that was adopted at Chicago last
June.
Born and bred in Massachusetts, a
state which ives all its prosperity to
protective tariffs; taught constitutional
law and political economy by Daniel
Webster and Joseph Story and in
timately acquainted from my youth up
ward with the wise and enterprising
men who founded the great manufac-
turing establishments OF my native
state-the Boots, the Lawrences, the
Appletons and the Lowells-l have
been a protectionist W since l be-
came a voter, aud that is nearly sixty
years ago.
By sheer Misrepresentation and by
appeals to the low prejudices OF the So
called "poor" against the so-called
erich" the present Democratic leaders
have persuaded large mnjorities or plu-
ralities to so against the best interests
OF the nation. This shows how much
the people OF this country still need to
be educated politically on this great
public question. The supposed poor"
must learn to conquer their preiudices.
They must learn that there is n 10 other
country in the world in which wealth is
30 generally ditfused as it is in this and
that, properly speaking. We have no
poor excepting the paupers who are
supported by private charity or at the
public expense. A man who has a ca
pacity to labor-who has muscle, man
ual skill, intelligence and experience in
a calling-is in ajust sense a capitalist.
To call him a poor" man is to degrade
him to the level OF the inmates Of a
workhouse. Yet there are thousands
and thousands who do not realize this,
and who allow the demagogues OF our
land to treat them a il there were q
natural antagonism between them and
the classes who are called rich" All
this ought to be corrected, and to q
great extent it "a be.
/ know 80 well many Of the men who
foisted the an~ti-protection plank into
the Chicago platform that I have no
difficulty in judging Of their motives.
They are not free traders on conviction.
They went upon the principle OF ANY
thing to beat the Republicans and gain
political power" thereby manifesting a
lack of all principle. They raised the
false cry that a protective tariff is both
unconstitutional and undemocratic.
They debauched the minds OF great
numbers Of people with false ideas, and
brought about this great political
change, to the injury OF the very voters
whom they had persuaded tolend them
selves to their schemes.
It is historically certain that the
trainers of the constitution. the gener-
ton OF men who established it, the first
Congress, Washington and his cabinet,
all held that protection Of our own
manufactures is both constitutional and
necessary. These great men made q
wide distinction between taxes and du-
ties, in order that the Congress, when
levying the latter, might protect II
own manufacturers that were then in
operation, and might encourage the
growth Of others. 1t is equally certain
that every Democratic President that
we have ever had-NIadison, Jackson,
Jefferson, Van Buren,, Pierce and Buch-
anan-was as much a protectionist as
any Federalist or Wing or Republican
who has held the Office.
l notice that certain Republicans
have expressed the hope that the
Democrats will gain a majority in tho
senate so that the experiment Of free
trade can be tried. They think it will
fail, and that the Republican party will
thus regain power, which they will
thereafter hold for a long course OF
years. l do not like such tactics. They
bear too close a resemblance to the
tactics of your adversaries. They went
for free trade in order to gain political
power. You are advised to 60 for free
trade, temporarily, in order to recover
the power that you have lost. do not
wish the experiment Of free trade to
be tried for this or any other purpose.
This is not a country in which it should
be tried, for it will inevitably result in
an incalculable loss Of national and in
dividual wealth, and in great injury TO
the laboring people who are employed
in all kinds OF manufactures.
Let us suppose that in the next Con-
press a subcommittee Of the ways and
means are assembled TO make a new
schedule Of duties for a new tariff on
the delusive idea OF a tariff for revenue
only" They will find it practically inn
possible. They will first determine
what amount OF money must be OBJ
tanned from duties in order to avoid
direct taxation. Then they will pro-
coed to consider the articles On which
the duties are to be laid. On the first
one that comes up, the questions will
be the same that arose in the First
Congress, namely, what duty will tho
article bears how much revenue can be
derived from it, and what would be the
effect OF our own manufactures OF i'm
posing no higher duty than such as is
barely necessary to produce the amount
of money that we expect TO derive from
this particular commodity Here
there will be interminable disputes
and controversarios, ending in either
a disagreement or in bad and injurious
legislation, which will flood the coun-
try with foreign goods that can be made
cheaper than here. In short, neither
capital nor labor can afford to enter
upon any experiment on this subject,
especially after the long course Of years
during which both Of them have enjoy
cd the benefits OF protection. It is one
OF the fundamental principles OF polit-
ical economy that when q country has
long followed the policy Of protecting