The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-04-20

United States: You shall not buy your
labor in the cheapest market II thas princi-
pie o, buying in the cheapest market % o
sound principle. Il Is just applicable 10 .
manufacturer employer Of labor as 1t is to
anyone else But We properly deny them tbs
unrestricted right, because in this lns tancs We
recognize in practice thai the docGriue Is ao-
surd. No grosser violation OF the general prin.
ciple on which free trade rests can os found
than this, and yet there is not a democrss or .
free trader with any responsibility who would
dare 10 rise in this senate or anywhere else
and ask for the repeal OF these contract labor
laws If the let-slone principle is right these
laws are wrong. II these laws are right-and
they are thoroughly right-then the let-alone
principle Is fatally wrong in that direction; and
u il IS wrong In one direction there Is no reason
10 suppose that lt Is eight In any other.
"Our first object should be TO hold our own
market because 1t Is the largest and best; and
that being done and our msrkes securely
guarded. our next object should be 10 increase
our outside markets by any possible device.
By means OF invention and protection we have
been enabled thus far TO maint tain high rates OF
wages in the United States, while lowering tho
price Of the necessaries and comforts Of life
and raising the standard OF living. II 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 IL helps TO pre-
vent their reduction We have high wages in
the United States, and our labor costs are con-
seQuently high. So far as natural resources go.
we are more richly endowed by nature than
any country in the world 1t 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
al do not, however, propose 10 spend any
time now in discussing the bill before US As
have said, 1t embodies no policy and has no
system 1t Is not protection: ii is not free
trade It is mere collection OF preferences
and revenges 1t is filed with injustice and in
equality. 1t 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 II is q reactionary Indictment
to an outworn system resting general doc
trine which finds no defense in practice any
where. 1t has no element OF stability, and its
enactment promises nothing but continued
change and agitation. The stock iObbing and
speculation Of Wall street have been with it
from its cradle, and soon. trust, may weep be-
side its grave The great trusts are guarded by
its provisions, but there IS no line to show that
the farmer, the wOrklngman, or the mauufac-
turer have been heard or regarded il its
schedules
Il turn from this printed deformity to the
broad principle which the party TO whom we
owe this bill pretended TO advocate and which
have already discussed That is the principle
of let-alone in the government the refusal to
use the power OF the state wisely TO benefit the
community. Protection rests on the broad
doctrine that the power OF the community can
be wisely used in certain cases for the benefit
of the whole body polite There is no magic
In It We leave 10 the free trader the privilege
of claiming that he has panaces for all hui
man ills in patent tariff policy We uphold
a system of tariff protection because we be-
lieve II Is one important method OF defending
the standards Of living in the United States
from fatal and degrading competition"