The herald., 1896-07-09
LOST

A local evening contemporary Of the
| tribe of the tariffites In an effort, which.
by the way, exhibits more nerve than
discretion, to pick flaws in an article
by that distinguished French writer
Paul Leroy -Beaulieu, in the July Fo-
rum on "The Presidential outlook as
Europeans View It," gets itself into a
charming tangle of inconsistency and
fallacy. For instance. in the course 1T
his article Mr.. Beaulieu takes the ground
that protection will impede the develop
ment of the United States, instancing
as one of it's effects, interference with
immigration. Mr.. Beaulieu being a log
ical man, probably assumes that the
protectionists intend to bar out foreign
people as we'll as foreign goods. OF
course the protection leaders may not
intend to do anything of the kind, but
to a logician that they did intend to do
so would be reasonable conclusion.
Be that as 1t may, the evening contem-
porary noted responds to Mr. Beau
lieu's argument with the statement that
the American people do not look upon
immigration as blessing and If McKin-
ley's election would curtail the flow Of
foreigners to this shore, that fact would
be a strong card in his favor" Thus,
with few strokes of the pencil, is one
Of the most substantial props Of protec-
tionists, in argument, demolished. If
there is any one thing that the advertis-
ing agent of tariff prosperity glories in,
expatiates upon, wakes eloquent about
and paints in tints that bring the
waters of anticipation to the parched
mouth of want, 1t Is the home mar
ket." Whoever read a protection PAM
phlet or listened to a decently pre-
pared protection speech with the home
market" left out. The home market" is
at once the fulcrum for protectionist ef-
fort and the goal of protectionist hopes.
Every presidential and congressional
election the farmers of the west are fed
on the advantages afforded them by tho
home market" of the east, and the peo.
pie of the latter section are rallied
around the standard of protection by pa
thetlc appeals to care for the "home
market" of the west. According to the
inexplicable calculation of the prophet Of
protection 1t is the home market and not
the worlds market that sets the price
of staple products. The fact that this
savors of the theory of the
caudal appendage oscillating the canine
to which Providence has seen fit to at
tach it, does not disturb the protection
ist. He is above minor considerations Of
that character
The "home market, then is the subject
of chief concern, the foreign market of
several hundred million people being a
ar1hIa WI chO11d "a left
England or any other hungry European
country. Now then, this "home market"
does not consist of boundless and billowy
prairies towering mountains, nesting
valleys and silvery streams. These
things have not bellies to fill, backs to
clothe and heads to shelter. They buy
not of the products of the field. loom and
furnace. The home market" must con-
sist of people and people only and the
more people the greater the market And
the greater the market the better. Hence
whatever expands the home market" is
good and as immigration brings more
people it must of necessity expand that
market, for these people must have grub
and clothes and houses. And yet we
find one of the chorus which sings
peans of praise to the home market"
clamoring Justify for the adoption of a
policy that would render impossible any
thing but the slowest and most insight.
ficant growth of that market upon
which, according to protectionists, the
industrial fate of the country hangs.
Verify the evening contemporary has
been hopelessly lost in the labyrinth
of it's own economic philosophy.