Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-03-12
A PROTECTION ARGUMENT.

this wise two facts happen to touch
each other in the matter of time, and
because they are united in time, you
are expected to believe those facts
bear to each other the relation of
cause and effect.
For instance, the people of these
United States have enjoyed for years
prosperous times, 1--WE will not stop to
inquire if it has been real or artificial
prosperity and during those prosper
GUS years there has not been absent
from the statute books high protec-
tive tariff. Here are two facts touch
ing each other in the matter of time;
up steps your writer of tariff fables
claiming that because related in time
they are to each other as cause and
effect, or, i'll other words, as a protec-
tive tax was on the statute during
prosperous times, assuming for the
hloiuehI IhaI times were really pros
perous) the tax caused those times to
be prosperous. And they have dinned
this fable into the public ear until
from outright WEAKNESS the public
mind has been dulled to its absurdity.
a believer in like fables used the
same argument" when she cried to
her husband, Hans! the dog is howl
ing, somebody is dead" And relating
her experience said, "Sure enough, the
papers next day showed that a man in
Philadelphia had died that night.
There you have it, the dog howled the
same night the man died; two facts
co-eXisting in time, did the dog howl
because the man died, or did the man
die because the dog howled?
Let me see, it was in 1898 that a
panic seized the business of the people
Of the United States and shook it as a
terrier shakes rat.
That is fact number one.
During the same time, 1893, there
was on the statutes the highest protec-
tive tariff the business of the people
was ever cursed with.
That is fact number two.
They stand related in the matter of
time, DO they sustain the relation to
each other of cause and effect? Was
the panic of 1898 due to the tariff law
in force in 1898?
Most certainly it was if the "argu-
ment of the protection fable makers
has either force, cohesion or consisten-
Cy. a true rule is rule universally |
true And yet ! venture no "pIotec-
zionist" has the courage to follow
where reason leads the way
AT this point we are treated to free
exhibitions of fable making, to wit
alt was the threatened change from
the protective "system " to that of
free trade resulting from the success
Of the Democrats at the polls, which |
caused the mischief and distress of
1898"
| once knew a man who built barn
and the only thing in shape of tools
that he used was broken wagon
wrench and his ingenuity was no mole
fully taxed in rearing the strict ire
which he called a barn than are the re-
sources of taritf-ta editors drawn
upon in defending a protective tax
With their readers it is different. For, |
given an active imagination and abun-
dance of fables, conviction follows as
a matter of course. The brunt of the
work falls on the editors in furnishing
the weekly supply of fables.
If the threatened change spoken of
caused the hard times of 1893, let us
apply the argument to another period
of our history. 1t will be remembered |
that 1872 witnessed the wreck of
countless businesses, that panic and
hard times lasted with little change
for the better till 1879, that through
that period and all Of it, we had
high protective tariff, there was no
change of administration nor yet
threatened change in the tariff.
Why the distress and pinching want,
the panic, the peril, the fear SO great
as to cause the pious almost to doubt
the favor Of God?"
And while you are thinking up ia,
bic with which to fool the people, let
me further apply the argument"
Here are some facts, in the past nine
years France has increased her public
debt $ii5,000,00o; Germany increased
hpr labt cot :, bnl ONO. I,...-.-