Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-02-10
Solid Argument. Needed

Solid Arguments Needed
OF course we are not to change the HIS.
tory of the last 30 years and the principles OF
100 years because some gentlemen especially
gifted with sonorous voices have distributed
epithets. We are not going to risk our all
upon fragments Of ancient platform speech.
es. upon loud outcries and abusive language.
There must be addressed to us some solid
arguments or at least the opinions of wise
men who have proved their wisdom by the
actual test of human life Surely we are
not going to venture into the unknown be-
cause political economists bid us do so,
While they still leave improved every prin-
ciple upon which they found their advice.
So long as they cannot agree among them
selves on any OF their propositions they can
not be cited as body to force our coneiu-
sions. On no trackless future will we ven
ture unless the prospect of increased happi-
ness Is large enough to justify risk and ex-
posture.
Is there any example in the history of the
world of any nation situated like ours that
has taken the step to which we are invited
Some gentlemen perhaps are fastening
to say that England affords us the needed
example; that we have but to turn to her
history and find all that we reed by way OF
examples, just as in the statements of her
political economists we shall find all that is
necessary for advice, for guidance and in.
struction. Mr. Speaker, have looked there,
and am amazed to find how little the ex-
ample of England can teach.
England when she became free trade was
hon
raw material of the rest of the world. OF
raw material she herself had none Her
coal and iron and the invention of the steam
engine had developed her manufactures SO
out of proportion to the wages of her work
men that she must have larger market.
At that time the only idea of larger mar
ket was one that had more consumers. The
notion that the market could be enlarged
by those who were already consumers had
not entered into the popular thought, yet
her workmen were clamoring for more pay
Tariff had really ceased to be protection ex-
cept on corn, and not on that in any true
protective sense 1t was only tax like
that on sugar. 1t made food dear Repeal
of the corn laws meant an increase of real
wages Repeal of tariff on manufactures
meant nothing. The whole crusade OF 1910
was for free food. and Golden nowhere SAYS
anything else. Protection in our modern
sense is never mentioned in any one of his
free trade speeches.
The Bill Deed Of Violence.
After this review Of the story Of Eng
lands change will any man dare To say that
he finds therein any justification for the
present deed Of violence which is called the
Wilson bills
Suppose England, instead OF beings little
island in the sea, had been the half q a
great continent full Of raw material eapa-
BILE of an internal commerce which would
rival the commerce Of all the rest Of the
world
Suppose every year new millions were
fiocking TO her shores. and every one % those
new millions In a few years a. soon a. they
tasted the delights % broader life would
become as great n consumer a. any one Of
her own people.
Suppose that these millions and the ~.
0o0,Oo0 already gathered under the folds Of
her flag were every year demanding and NJ
ceiving higher wage and therefore broad
ening her market as fast ~ her machinery
could furnish production. suppose she had
produced cheap food beyond all her wants.
and that her laborers speut 80 much money
that whether wheat was % cents a bushei
or twice that sum hardly entered the
thoughts of one Of them except when some
Democratic tariff bill was paralyzing his
business
Suppose that she was not only but a can
non shot from France, but that every coun-
try in Europe had been brought as near to
her rs Baltimore is To Washington, for that
is what cheap ocean freights mean between
us and European producers. Suppose all
those countries had her machinery, her
skilled workmen, her industrial system.
and labor 40 per cent cheaper. Suppose un
der that state OF facts, with all her manu-
facturers proclaiming against 1t, frantic in
their disapproval, England had been called
upon by Golden to made the plunge into
free trade, would she have done itp Not If
Golden had been backed by the angelic
host. History gives England credit for
great sense.
An English Free Traders Tribute.
While our wiseacres are reading British
books of 40 years ago with the emotions of
great discoveries, what do the English
themselves say about the actual facts? They
come here in shoals Naturally they do not
our manufacturing for u.s. Nevertheless,
preiuoiced and prepossessed as they are,
they are startled into some incautious
truths. Says Mr.. Jeans, whom | have al
ready quoted about the amazing prosper
ity'' OF the United States:
ut requires, | think, unusual temerity to
allege that the tariff system of the United
States has been Il failure for that country
a Tn 40,
regards as unusual temerity" and which
he might have called uneNampled rashness
is not only exhibited by our committee OF
ways and means, but by every gentleman
who can recite Sydney Smiths discourse on
the taxed Englishmen under the impression
that he is delivering an original speech. Mr.
Carr, too, remarks the strange phenomena
II am" says he, "a convinced free trader.
Protection is to me an economical heresy,
the fraud and folly"-how like one of our
own dear southern statesmen he soundsi-
"the fraud and folly of which are capable
of Mathematical demonstration. And yet
throughout the length and breadth of this
vast continent one is almost daily brought
face to face with solid, indisputable facts
that seem to give the lie to the soundest
and most universally accepted axioms of
political economy"
Yes. not only do solid, indisputable facts
seem to give the lie TO the soundest and
most universally accepted axioms Of polit-
ical economy" but they do give it, and so
does the whole history OF this country. IL
what he calls ''the soundest and most uni
versally accepted axioms" had been axioms
at all, this country ought to have been per.
manently for 30 years in the situation which
It is now in temporarily after II months of
this free trade nightmare. We ought to
have been hating in every branch Of manu-
features, we ought to have stopped progress
and faltered to .sie rear, for we were wasting
both capital and labor in Improbable EN-
ployment.
Protection Raises Wages.
Our workmen penned up in our little
country while Englishmen reveled in the
markets of the world ought TO be impover-
ished beyond all the experience of history.
Instead of that. the Aldrich report. which
deserves the high encomium of the gentle
man from New York (AIr Coekranl, with
the approval of the distinguished secretary
of the treasury" even If 1t does ''emanate
from Democratic bureau of statistics, .
shows that since 1860 money wages have
risen 6S per cent. Or if you say-and you
would be right in so saying-tha wages
should he measured by what they will buy,
the result is still more striking.
With wages rising, prices Of manufac-
tured goods falling, with lessening hours
of labor, what more do you want except
more of the same sorts
The truth is that this very question OF
rising wages is what makes a good many
men free traders. People with fixed in
comes think that anything which raises
Wages IL inir,ical m them Manufacturers