Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-10-05
PUBLIC OPINION.
PROTECTION THE AMERICAN.

PROTECTION THE AMERICAN.
Cleveland Leader.
No question that has eDgrossed the
attention of the American people since
the close of the war for the Union is of
such direct Importance to the welfare of
the country as that of protection. 1t
enters into every channel Of life and upon
its decision depends the prosperity of
communities and the happiness of fam
lilies. The right of the people to protect
their interests against the competition
of the cheap labor of other nations is
next in importance only to the right of
suffrage Lawrence I. Neal, the Demo
cratic candidate for Governor, says that
this right does not exist; that protection
is unconstitutional. George Washington
and a majority Of the members of the
first Congress elected after the formation
of our government said that it did exist.
The first law they passed provided for
administering the oath of Office. The
second declared that sit is necessary for
the support of the government, for the
discharge of the debts of the United
States, and the encouragement and pro-
lection of manufactures, that duties be
laid on goods, wares, and merchandise
imported, etc. This was the first pro-
tective tariff law and it was signed by
George Washington, July 4, 1879. Mr..
Lawrence T. Neal and the Democracy of
Ohio contend that it was contrary to the
Constitution, although many of the men
who voted for it were in the convention
that framed the Constitution. Whose
opinion will the people of Ohio accept?
That of the trainers of the Constitution
or Mr.. Meals?
Henry Clay called protection "the
American system" not because 1t had
its origin in this country, but because it
was the system under which the Ameri-
can people could best work out their
great destiny. That far-sighted states
man believed that it ought to be accepted
as the permanent American system. He
saw the wonderful possibilities of the
future of this country. He realized that
we could supply all our needs and that
it was wiser to produce for ourselves
than to buy from abroad. He saw the
absurdity of sending to Europe for the
manufactures of cotton, wool, iron, steel.
wood, ETC., when we could keep our own
people proftably employed in producing
them. Calhoun and other Southern
statesmen wanted our people confined
to producing cotton, tobacco, rice, wheat,
corn, rye, and various agricultural
products, while Europe would supply
our manufactures. He planned to keep
the working people of the North as
nearly as possible on a level with the
slaves of the South. Henry Clay con-
tended that protection would diversity
our industries; that diversified industry
engages the thoughts of the people in
many channels of activity, stimulates
their minds, sharpens their inventive
faculties, widens the field of commercial
activity, and calls into play all the latent
energies of people. Protection has
accomplished all that he claimed for it.
Less than one year ago over thousand
cities and villages were astir with the
hum and hustle of manufactures all the
result of the American system of pro-
lection. To-day they are comparatively
lifeless and dead. Factories are closed,
the fires in mills are extinguished, thou
sands upon thousands of men are idle,
seeking for work, the result of the
threat to overthrow the American sys-
tenn. Installed In power at Washington
is an administration pledged to the policy
of free trade. 1t has unsettled all busi-
ness. Merchants will not order goods
because they fear that reduction of the
tariff will cause an influx of goods from
abroad at lower prices. Manufacturers
will not produce because they have no
orders. They will not contract for labor
because they have no idea what prices
will rule in three or six months hence.
They fear the policy of the Democratic
party. They know that party to be
solely responsible for the present wide
spread stagnation in business, but they
do not know how soon the stagnation
will become worse. They know that
party gained ascendency by circulating
the most barefaced lies about employers,
and they look with dread and anxiety to
the future. No administration ever de-
stroyed the American system of pro-
lection without causing widespread ruin
and distress. 1t is imperatiyely neces-
sary to our prosperity. 1t is the Amer
lean system, and should be one of the
permanent features of our institutions.
Let Ohio endorse protection this fall by
an overwhelming majority and the
cohorts of free trade will retire to
nnseurity