Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-02-14
Amerlou for Americans.
EpIroR AMERIcAN EcoNoMIsr .

that they refused TO eat, drink, OF
wear anything imported from En-.
gland, and when the finger Of scorn
was pointed at every American who
purchased articles imported from the
unnatural foe of American prosper.
ity, freedom and independence.
Let those who are DESTROYS oil
learning the true significance fPro.
lection for American industries read
the early history of our country Gov
ering the twenty years prior to the
Fourth of July, l7f6. They will
there find how England sought to
crush American interests by enact
ing harsh, unjust laws for the sup
preston ofall American manufacture
ing industries, making it a crime to
erect a factory to make pillow, a
crime TO build ships for the rivals OF
England; a crime to exchange Amer
lean tobacco, or oil or produce for
the wine or silk of France or in fact
to export their produce to any cOun-
try but to England. Not even a
house was an American permitted to
build unless he imported the mate
rails from England, and all imports
had to be carried by English ships.
An English lord said "lf the col
Onists are allowed to make as much
rs hObnall the consequences will be
fatal to us" Such is, and has been,
the policy Of England from that day
to this, and failing to hold in subjec-
ton by the sword, the United Colo
mics, now States, she has ever sought
by intrigue TO throw down the bar
riers of Protection in order that we
might not manufacture even so much
as a "hObnail
Unfortunately for America, En-
gland has found faithful ally in the
Democratic party and those who adj
voeate Free Trade, who are, unwit-
tingly perhaps, the natural enemies
of American prosperity and indepen-
denee. For if we are nationally de.
pendent we cannot be prosperous or
commercially free.
1t has been reserved for the pres
ent unpatriotic, un-American admin.
istratiOn and its trifling head, to
awaken the American people, partic-
ular the wOrkingmen, to a realizing
perception of what a partially Free
Trade Tariff means to them and to
the financial credit of the nation
They begin to realize what excessive
importation of competitive commod
tiles means to them. That it means
the prostration Of American indus
tries, and as a consequence decline
in the demand for labor, causing a de-
cline in wages or at least in the in
come of the workingmen.
Under the Tariff act of 1890 the
wOrkingmen had steady employment
and higher wages, by II per cent,
than any workingmen in the world. |
The farmer by reason of this pros
perity of the masses, found a large |
market for his productions. Both |
were so prosperous that they thought
American manufacturers were not
good enough so purchased and used |
foreign goods, every dollar paid for
which was to their own injury in spite
Of the lower price.
In the prosperous years that fol-
lowed the Mckinley act this country
imported from $500, OOO, 900 to $4OO,-
100000 worth OF competitive manu-.
features, which supplanted American
manufactures, and TO that extent de-
prived the American workingmen of
the employment that the manufac-
ture Of that vast importation would
have produced, and the farmer of a
correspondingly increased market.
Give our country chance to man
uiacture the goods now imported,
and it would tax the industries of
our country to their utmost capacity
to produce sufficient to supply the
wants of this vast empire, which Mr..
Gladstone characterized as, mot so
much of country as a world in it. {
self.' 1t would stop the outward {
flow of gold, retain at home our
wealth, restore the national credit, G
and in few years create for us a G
primary in finance, commerce and
The volume of man Il
1facture thereby created would re- il
auce the cost and enable us to retain il
and pay even higher wages than u
heretofore enjoyed. C
Without probably a single excep- t
lion, every member Of Congress re- I
CARDS it as absolutely necessary to Il
raise revenue by means of duties, or Z
! tariff on importations, competitive 1
IS well as some non-competitive.
Some think that all importations that
We cannot produce should be admit S,
ed free, some are opposed to all in o.
ernal taxation-and while advocat- "
ng Protection to American indus 10
ries, advocate the raising of the en- W
ire revenue by a Tariff upon com il
'etitive importations, the admission Fl
f which is SO inimical to the inter- gi
SITS of the people and the nation. fr
1t is surely necessary to have a hi
reflective Tariff, but it should be OF
Ugh enough to protect American dis
lbor and the interests of the whole Il
eople. And if any American is SO pc
npatriotic as to prefer and purchase til
foreign competitive commodity, he to
lould at least be made to pay in full til
n the damage his purchase entails lis
pom his fellow countrymen. he
Little do some .Americans--thOse ! sn