Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-05-21
PROJECTIONS BENEFITS.
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THIS
COUNTRYS TARIFF SYSTEM.

Why 1t Was Adopted by the Early Legis-
lators, and in Whose Interest 1t Has
Been Continued-Nuts That RepubIi-
cans Can't Crack.
From the Chicago Free Trader.
Protectionists profess a deep interest
in the welfare of American labor; they
herald it through the press that if it
were not for protection the wages of the
American laborer would descend to
those paid "pauper" labor in the old
world; they ransack the dictionary land
the slums) for words of contempt with
which to denounce those who believe in
a tariif-for-revenue-only policy; and as
for those who believe that the tariff
system should be done away with en-
tirely, why, they are even worse than
everything low, mean and contemptible
We lose all patience with those who
assert that our protective tariff affords
protection to American labor, or that it
was eyer intended to do so.
We not only assert, but declare posi-
lively, and we will call on the leading
protectionists, past and present, of this
country to prove our declaration, that
the protective tariff was never intended
to protect labor, to increase or maintain
wages, or do anything else but to enable
the few to collect tribute from the
many, and to give cheap labor to the
manufacturers.
Those who claim that protection pro-
tects are either uninformed, or are base,
lying hypocrites, and wilfully lie for mer-
cenary purposes.
Not one in thousand of our popula-
tion is benefited by our so-called pro-
tective tariff; the great mass of our peo-
pie have labor, or the products of their
individual labor, to sell. The few who
are benefited are apitalists-manufac
turers who buy labor, not to sell.
Previous to the close of the rebellion
it was never claimed that the protective
tariff was for the purpose of protecting
American labor. 1t was only claimed
then, and since, for its continuance de-
pended upon pulling the wool over the
eyes of the American people, while
taxes, one by one were taken off the
rich.
Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay
were the fathers of the protection idea
in this country; they shaped all legisla-
ton in that line from the time of the
foundation of our government up to the
time of the civil war. They never
claimed that the tariff would raise or
maintain the wages of labor; rather,
they held that labor received too high
wages. What they wanted to do was to
encourage" capitalists to invest in
"infant' and, at the same time, untried
industries, and to promote emigration
from foreign countries. In Hamilton's
Report on Manufactures, 1871, in
giving the ends to be gained by a pro-
tective tariff, he said:
4. The promotion of emigration from foreign
countries. Here is perceived an import
tant recourse, not only for extending the popu-
lation but likewise for the production of
manufactures. To this end [the encour-
agement of manufacturersl, 1t is of importance
that the confidence of cautions, sagacious
capitalists, both citizens and foreigners, should
be excited; and to inspire this description of
persons with confidence, 1t is essential that they
should be made to see, in any project which is
new the prospect of such a degree of
continuance and support from government as
may be capable of overcoming the obstacles
inseparable from the first experiments.
In respect to hands for carrying on manufac-
turers, we shall in great measure trade upon
II foreign stock. There are grounds to
conclude that the undertaking of manufactures
in this country can at this time without pro-
tective tariff afford to pay higher wages to the
workmen they may employ than are paid to
similar workmen in Europe.
But even Hamilton did not expect the
protection to extend beyond first ex-
periments," and he never asked for
more than an average tariff of IS per
cent. He thought that ample. How
different from Mckinley and his allies
who encourage" capital invested in
robust, adult industries with a 60 per
cent. tariff. Hamilton said, 1.-The con-
tinuance of bounties on manufacturers
long established must always be of
questionable policy"
The objects of a protective tariff are
clearly given in the following quotations
from Clay's speeches:
am aware that the public domain const-
tutes an impediment, in the opinion of some,
to the success of the manufacturing industry,
by its tendency to prevent the reduction of the
wages of labor.
Meaning that labor could most easily
engage in agricultural pursuits if not
well paid in manufacturing industries
for land was abundant, to be had for
next to nothing, or by simply squat
ting upon it.
And right here we wish to state that
wages are higher in new countries, sim
ply because of cheap lands. England
has population of 300 to a square mile,
America has but sixteen. Protectionists