The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-04-19

or actual legislation in the United States We nave upon our statute books ct this moment a law 60 prevent the importation of contract la DOT. law very imperfectly enforced I am sorry to say. What put that law upon the statute book! The demand of the laboriug men or the United States that they should be pro- teoted against that form of competition The workinRmen of the United States called fo. ana secured this legislation in order to prevent the lowering Of their rates of wages by the fin. troduction of large masses of labor, which brought with them by contract the rate of wages or other countries where wages were lower than in the United States
 "On what portion of the let-alone doctrine do you rest economic correctness of these laws supported by both political parties and uues- tioned in their soundness by no oneY If the free trade doctrine be sound, by what principle do you step in and say to the employers ot the United States: You shall not buy your labor in the cheapest market If that prioci. pie of buying in the cheapest market is a sound principle, 1t Is just as applicable to manufacturer or an employer of labor as 1t is to anyone else, But we properly deny them the unrestricted right because in this instance we recognize in practice that the doctrine is ab- surd. No grosser violation of the general prin. ciple on which free trade rests can be found than this and yet there is not democrat or a free trader with any responsibility who would dare to rise in this senate or anywhere else and ask for the repeal of these contract labor laws. If the let-alone principle is right these laws are wrong. If these laws are right-and | they arc thoroughly right-then the let-alone principle Is fatally wrong in that direction: and if it is wrong in one direction there is no reason | 10 suppose that it is right in any other.
 "Our first object should be to hold our own market, because it Is the largest and best; and that being done and our market securely guarded, our next object should be to increase .NaNA | By means of invention and protection we have | been enabled thus far to maintain high rates of wages in the United States, while lowering the price of the neoessaries and comforts of life and raising the standard of living If we abandon protection we shall probably in many | directions increase prices by withdrawing | American competition from the compe tition of the world and thereby raising the worlds price | In any event we shall lower wages. Protection does not make high wages, but 1t helps to pre- | vent thelr reduction We have high wages In | the United States, and our labor costs are con- seQuenuy high. So far as natural resources go, | we are more richly endowed by nature than any country in the world. It Is only when we take from the earth Its manifold gifts and touch them with the hands Of labor that they become higher priced than elsewhere.
 l "I do noL however, propose 10 spend any | time now In discussing the bill before us. As I have said, it emoodies no policy and has no | system IL IS not protection; II IS not Tree
 trade It Is Q mere collection of preferences and revenges It Is filled with injustice and in. equality. II shuts the door upon any hope of
 union with Canada, for 1t gives to Canada every
 advantage of union without exacting any re-
 turn and frees her from all Inducements to be-
 come, as she ought to become part of the
 United States IL Is Q reactionary movement
 to an outworn system resting on general doc
 urine which finds no defense in practice any
 where. IL has no element of stability and its
 enactment promises nothing but continued
 change and agitation. The stock jobbinG and
 speculation Of Wall street have teen with il
 from its cradle and soon, trust, may weep be
 side its grave The great trusts are guarded by
 it's provisions but there is no line to show tha,
 the farmer, the workingnan, or the manufac
 turer have been heard or regarded in its
 schedules
 T turn from this printed deformity to the
 broad principle which the party to whom we
 owe this bill protended to advocate and which
 have already discussed That is the principle
 of let-alone in the government the refusal t( | use the power Of the state wisely 10 benefit the
 community Protection rests on the broad doctrine that the power of the community car be wisely used in certain cases for the beneh of the whole body polite Tnere Is no magic
 in it We leave 10 tho free trader the privilege
 of claiming that he has panacea for all hu , man ills in a patent tartn policy. We uphold r system of tarir protection because we be , l!eve it Is one important method Of defending { the standards Of living in the United States , from fatal and degrading competition"