The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-05-26
STRANGLEO By PROTECTION.

The following from W. H. Chadwick's
article in American Industries brings
out in a striking way the pernicious eff
fects Of protection carried To its logical
conclusion. 1t will pay Americans to
read of Australia since it has gone int
the protection business:
1T is quite safe to say that the Aus
tralian colonies would be supporters Of
tariff reform to-day but for the PERM
cious example set to them by the United
States. Throughout Australia there il
"A very widespread and deep-rooted adj
miration for the Americans and every
thing American The glorious exam
pie of America has. during the past
twenty years, been the constant cry Of
the advocates of protection 1t has
been the theme of every newspaper ar
tcle. the burden of every platform ha-
ranguc. directed in favor OF building up
"a tariff system. The great fact has
been lost sight Of, or suppressed that
American prosperity has been achieved.
not by protection, but in spite o. pro-
lection. The point has also been missed.
or obscurcd, that within the boundaries
of the United States. with it, great pop
| uld ilol ltN VAST AREA. il>
resources of every description. there
exists. and always has existed. the most
complcte system of free trade imagin-
able. Such is the genesis Of protection
in Australia. the tariff system being
first adopted by the colony of Victoria,
then nv the colonies of South Australia.
Queensland. West Australia. Tasmania
and New Zealand till two years ago
the last free trade stronghold. New
South Wales. also fell into line and
made of the Australias one of the most
stringently protective countries in the
world.
but Australia. i'm follow ing the ey-
ample of America. made bold to inn
prove upon the methods of its teacher
and undertook to carry the theory Of
protection to its logical extreme. The
Gordon of duties was not drawn merely
round the seaboard of the island CONT
nent. Internal custom-house barriers
were set up. and an inter-colonial war
Of tariffs was inaugurated. just as II
Illinois were to exclude the products Of
Indiana and Maine those of Massachu-
SETS Did South Australia. or any
other colony of the group. show that it
was especially able to produce to adj
vantage any one article. and begin IL
send that article into Victoria. straight
way the Victorian parliament was in
, volxed. in the sacred name of protec-
ton. to stretch out its arm to punish
the competitor of the outsider Tins,
for example. Queenlanu had, by slow
and painful processes. succeeded in
establishing a sugar industry. There.
upon Victoria decreed that the refining
of sugar in Queensland should be dis
-. couraged. with view 10 establish
ing new manufacturing enterprise
in Melbourne and differentiated
: against refined sugar to the extent OF
!, IS per ton. Again. New leland. for
! climatic reasons. grows the best oats in
Australia. This class of grain was
!. promptly blocked by heavy duty a
the wharves of Melbourne. SO that Vie
! torian farmers might be encouraged T.
y grow the cereal under less favorabl,
! conditions and. therefore. of inferio
: quality and at greater cost. In tn
same way sheep and cattle crossing tn,
: river Murray. in the heart of the cont
r nent are taxed: basket of eggs canno
pass the borders of the several artih
cially dcliminatcd colonies without pay
ing a special levy: and intcr-colonia
y travellers are brailed up. 10 use an ex
prcssive Australian phrase. at sundr,
a points along their journey. to hav'
c their portmantcaus searched and thei
tempers exasperated. Here we hav'
u the protective theory carried to its log
a ical issue. 1t is protection run mad. a
even Australians themselves now nd
nit But, ~ the same. IL Is a test tina
u protectio hould be able to stand !
0 the the theory is "a tenable on at all.
'Iet us now examine what are the re
:. suits of this war of tariffs in Australia
There are millions of square miles o
> rich land in Australia awaiting the ad
vent Of the pillow. vet the armies OF un
employed in Melbourne. Sydney AIDE
laidc and Brisbane are to he numbers,
by their tens of thousands. In thcs
cities there are as foul sweating den
as in any part of the world In tn
country districts there are thousand
of men systematically 'cadging thei
tucker'--in other words, perambulat
ing the country and begging a dali
meal from farm houses or sheep sta
lions. nat Sucu tuiuxS SuouH pc ~
Australia is simply in consistency wit
the law that those who SOW the win'
shall reap the whirlwind. In Nictoria
a colony having an area of close upo
20. 900 square miles. every acre of whic
is fertile land. nearly half Of the popr
lation. which numbers only LOO. 600 a
told. are concentrated in the single cit
of Melbourne. New South Wales Ina
about the same population. but fou
times the area being about twice til
size Of California: over onc-third OF il
ia population Is crowded into SydIe,
The other colonies Of the contincr
q. range up in size to the largest OF al
4. Western Australia. covering over 1000
600 square miles, and Roasting only AZ
81 900 people, a quarter of whom live
the one town Of Perth.
"Thc city Of Melbourne. however. ha
y. set about making window frames an
I'd chairs. implements and shop-good> b.
fore IL has the country popula'io
n necessary to speedily absorb the'
manufactures. This unnatural growt
=, 10 -. ;,d,,.f,ias has bcpn forced in,