San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-01-03

a.
the good of the whole; when ig.
norance, and greed, and lust of
power no longer exist; when the
millennium has come, free trade
will be the thing. Meanwhile we
seem to live in an epoch some
/ thousands of years too early fer
! that blissful consummation.
The truth of the above PROPOSE.
ton is found not only in logical
! conclusions from well-established
| premises, but in the history of the
United States for the last half-cen-
fury. The tariff of 1888 produced
! its legitimate results in the ruin of
| 1887, and the country recovered
only under the protective tariff of
1912. The subsequent adoption of a
free trade policy in 1916, brought
us to the very verge of disaster in
lS49, which was STAYED off for a
few years by the gold production
of California. But 1857 brought the
climax of distress upon the
country, and there are many
young men who can remember
that bitter lesson. To use the
words of Henry C. Carey-"Once
again do we find the country
drive to protection, and the public
credit by it's means so we'll estab-
lished as to enable the treasury
with little difficulty to obtain the
means of carrying on a war whose
annual cost was more than the
total public expenditures of half
century, including the war with
Great Britain, 1912. Thrice thus,
with the tariffs of 1928, 1912, and
1860, has protection redeemed the
country from almost ruin. Thrice
thus, under the revenue tariffs of
1917 and 1S49, has it been
sunk so low that none
could be found so poor as
to do it reverence Such having
been our experience through half
century, it might have been sup
posed that the question would be
regarded now as settled, yet do we
find among US men in office and
out of office, secretaries and sena-
sors, owners OF ships and railroads,
farmers and laDOrcrs, denOuncing
the system under which, at every
period of existence, and more es-
pecially in that of the recent war,
they had so largely prospered,
thereby proving how accurate has
been the description of them by
an eminent foreigner as the peo-
pie who soonest forget yester-
day."
These are we'll known and often
asserted facts, yet blind to their
teachings, the preachers of free
trade are urging their views upon
the public, and enlisting in their
behalf even the services Of eminent
divines and college professors, in
order to win by clap-trap certain
class who are led by distinguished
names aud high-sOunding titles.
Such men, distinguished for their
want of financial ability almost as
much as for their great acquire
ments in letters and theology, are
the men who are to ms ruct the
country upon political economy.
None are more likely to be de-
ceived by their special pleading
than farmers, and no class would
be more seriously injured by the
adoption of free trade policy.
Far removed from commercial cen.
ters, and not cOnverSant with the
details of trade, it seems difficult
for them to comprehend how cheap
ening iron and cotton goods should
not be beneficial to them. They do
not see the connection between the
prices of manufactured goods, and
the prices of their products, and
the value of land. The best way
to convince them is to point
them to the indisputable
fact that when such goods have
hitherto advanced in price under
the genial influence of protection,
their ability to purchase has al
ways advanced in greater ratio
| from the consequent increase in
the value Of farm products. We
trust farmers will not permit
| themselves to be deceived in this
matter. Let them Judge of the
present and the future by the past,
| which sheds clear and unmistak-
able light upon this subject, and
in the history Of which stand
yOked together, invariably, protec,
ton and prosperity, free trade and