The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-08-22
FOR FREE TRADERS.
Twenty-six Questions Propounded to then
by a Protectionist for Satisfactory An
SWers.
american Economist. ]
swers.

American economist
If protection makes millionalres, why
have nine in ten of the large fortunes in
America been amassed in the so-called
non-protected industries?
If protection does not maintain Ameri-
can wages, why are they about twice as
high as in any other country under the
sun?
If prote ction is an absurdity, how does
it happen that it has converted to its
doctrines the greatest statesmen and
countries in Europe and the world?
If free trade would benefit American
agriculture, why has it impoverished the
farmers of England, Ireland, India, and
W herever it has been tried?
If free trade would help this country
generally, why did it plunge us into
ban kruptcy and misery every single time
it has been tried here?
If protection Expresses the common
people, why was George Washington a
protectionist?
If free trader elevates labor, why were
the shareholders free traders?
If reciprocity is humbug, why are
free traders SO anxious to make the point
that sit is only another name for free
trade, anyhow"
If the adoption of Cleveland's tariff
policy in this country would not benefit
England, why are the English press and
public so earnest in their advocacy of his
election?
If Cleveland is brave and honest, why
did he try to straddle the tariff issue,
which he himself made, in 1888 and again
in 1892?
If the Mckinley act raises prices of
manufactures, why are they lower now
than before it became law?
If it lowers wages, why are wages
higher now than before it passed?
If protection is unjust, why was Abra-
ham Lincoln protectionist?
If it Expresses farmers, why were they
the ones to vote it's Inauguration, and
why have they more steadfastly than any
other class of citizens voted to maintain
it?
If nation must buy in order to sell,
why was the balance of trade in our
favor more than 500, 200, 900 in the past
year?
If strikes are due to the tariff, why are
there two strikes ID free trade England to
every one in the United States?
If protection is unconstitutional, why
were the trainers of the constitution pro-
tectionists?
If free traders are really the friends of
the farmers, why did they abolish the
duty on the farmers wool?
If free raw materials would give us the
market of the world" why are our i'm
ports of cotton goods far In excess Of the
exports.
If the protected United States is not
prosperous, why are we the only nation
in the wide world that has no emigrantss
If the tariff is ''tax," why can you
buy numberless articles for less than the
very duty which is imposed on them?
If protection is opposed on the ground
that our indutries are no longer lin
| fants," why doesn't the Cobdenite sup
port the tin plate duty?
If our higher wages are due to the
| greater efficiency of American working
men, why do foreigners who come here
receive two and three times as much as
| is paid for the same work in their own
| country?
If the House of Representatives was
not laboring in the interests of the Brit
| ish Cordage Trust, why did it pass the
| free binding Irvine bill?
If revenue tariff does not cause pau
perism, why were there more paupers in
| New York during the revenue tariff OF
$50 than ever before or after?
If free trade is patriotic, why do free
| traders always sheer at everything Ameri.
| can?