The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-11-08
AMERICA FOR AMERICANS.

| tuS SIcaIeSI O6IItHG VI every man "Au
woman and child residing in it and
sharing Its fortunes. The selfish dem
agogism that would excite one section
against another, or one class against
another, has no place in true Amerl-
canism. We are anxious that the South
shall be built up just as rapidly and
surely as the rest of the country, and
our only quarrel with those who have
heretofore managed the interests of that
section is that they are constantly trying
to array it against the rest of the Nation !;
that they are holding it back from the
path of progress, and refusing to allow
it to share in the general development.
For example, there is no reason why
Alabama should not be richer than
PENNSYLVANIA. Alabama has more terri
tory, more fertile farming land, more
rich mines, more timber, and all the
requisites to make a great and wealthy
State. But the cabal which has mis-
governed her has denied ner people edu-
cation, has constantly forced her into an
attitude of hostility to the rest of the
country, and consistently decried and
condemned everything that her sister
States have found to foster well-being
and prosperity.
The attempt to force different classes
Of cur people into hostility to each other
is equally wrong and harmful. No one
class can prosper at the expense of the
other Unless the capitalists make money
the workingmen cannot. Unless the
workingmen are well paid and contented
the capitalists cannot make money. 1t is
vicious demagogy to insist that one class
can be enriched by robbing another. All
wealth is the result of labor. Unless the
men who work get properly rewarded
for their toll there is no wealth for any
body. One of the vicious things about
the Wilson Bill is the assumption that
one class can get rich by robbing the
others. 1t pretends to help the work
ingmen by impoverishing the farmers,
and gets its main support from the ig-
norance Of the slums and the selfshness
of the importers. But if the farmers
have nothing with which to buy the i'm
porters and manufacturers can sell them
nothing, and so the whole meretricious
edifce topples to the ground. If the
manufacturers can sell nothing, of course
they cannot employ wOrkingmen.
The specious theories of free trade
have demonstrated their own rottenness.
Every country in the world has found
out their fallacy, and even England is
drifting away from them more rapidly
than she viii publicly admit.
The great economic truth is now
recognized everywhere that Nation is
merely large family, with certain re-
sources for supporting its members Its
duty to itself is to make the most of its
resources, TO husband and develop them
to the utmost, SO as TO get the most sup
port possible. 1t is an economic crime
to buy abroad-to send the money of
the country out for-anything that mem
bers of the family can produce.
We buy abroad every year nearly
$1,000, 100000 worth of things that we
could produce at home. Any political
economy worthy the name dictates that
we should strain our energies to produc-
ing at home every dollars worth of that
that we can. The clamor about extend
ing our foreign markets is utter nonsense
while this condition of things exists. To
extend our foreign markets means
mainly to keep our people engaged in
producing articles upon which they
make absolutely or next to nothing,
while they buy abroad those upon which
other people make big profits. What
will We gain, for example, by selling an
additional 100000 bushels of wheat
abroad, even if such were possible?
Every bushel that we now export
is sold at a loss to the raiser, and
to sell more is to make the country
poorer. This has been the rule since
the beginning of civilization. Rome
bought her wheat abroad, and impoy-
Ill =.