Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-05-01

towns and cities which are scattered
Throughout the county. How did these
towns come there? BY the growth OF
the industries which give them width
and population and which have risen
under protective tariff. y
Henry Cabot Lodge, 1889
In commenting upon this language,
George Brieket, in his excellent pamrl-
let. Incidental Echoes" pertinen,~
remarks: believing that protective
tariff is tax, we reply: Ii nature has
given our county an advantage over
another. free traders do not complain,
but if tax has made the rocky and
absolutely sterile soil of one county
more productive than the fertile land
Of 2,400 other counties, then our com
plant is this: 1t is unjust and ought
TO be unconstitutional to enact laws
that tax 2,461 counties, while the dis
tributiOn of the proceeds is withheld
from 2.400 and given to 81, and these
the ones least fitted by nature for pros
perity.'
SURELY THE PEOPLE
of the United States, in forming ma
tiOnal government, never contemplated
the establishment OF such system OF
mOnstrous injustice as the imposition
of taxes upon the whole people Of this
country in order to build up and foster
portions of 1t at the expense OF other
sections. Our protective tariffs belle
the preamble to the constitution, which
declares that this government was or
dained. among other things, in order 10
establish justice and promote the gen.
eral welfare"
This system of injustice was de-
nounced years ago by prominent men
Of the South, and their arraignment Of
it has never been satisfactorily refuted
John c. Calhoun clearly demonstrated
that South Carolina was paving taxes
for the enrichment of Massachusetts:
and that the tariff system was as detri-
mental TO the former as il was beneficial
to the latter
As illustrating Southern opinion upon
this point, | quote portion of Senator
McDutties great speech delivered in the
United States Senate, on January 30,
1914:
II the great staples of the South and
North and East. and the manufactures
Of the latter, in like manner diffused
over the former. do you suppose this
system would stand for a single year?
| DO not believe it would command ten
votes in this body. Or. consider this
whole country. with its now conflicting
interests, as an estate belonging to a
single proprietor. Would these inter-
esI,s stand in conflict any longer?
WOULD SUCH A PROPRIETOR
have the consummate folly to cut off
the imports of foreign manufacturers
from one branch of his estate that he
might supply their place at an increas-
cd cost OF forty per cent. by another
branch? Sir. It is vain to disguise the
TACT that it is because the interests of
the United States are not HOMOGENEOUS
that this protective system has grown
up TO its present gigantic stature. If
the interests Of the people. like the gov
eminent. were unit, and the question
was how TO produce the greatest ag-
gregate income for the whole. not man
could be found so absurd as 10 propose
the exclusion of foreign manufactures.
because they are cheap and substitute
domestic manufactures az higher prices
as a means of increasing the national
income.
l have presented this plain and prac-
teal view of the subject in the hope of
making palpable to the view of our op-
pressOrs themselves the injustice they
are perpetrating. And l warn them
mat thprp il rOint havnnH tubicb
preston will not be endured, even by
the vilest slaves or the most loyal cit
liens"
Speech of Senator George McDufie,
July Doth. 1S44)
The only reply Of any consequence
made by Northern defenders of the sys-
tenn was the eyasive bubble that since
the South had favored it at the outset
for the purpose of fostering the culture
and manufacture Of cotton. and there
by, through the influence of her repre-
sentativeS in Congress, had fastened it
upon New England and the Northern
States, it ought to be indefinitely main
tanned. Conceding the apology to be
admissible
THE PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH
have paid dearly for the mistakes of
their representatives in lending their
support to the establishment of this in
stitution; but Southern errors in no
wise diminish the injustice of MAIN
tanning a tax system which enriches the
North and the East at the expense of the
South. Two wrongs do not make a
right
That the agricultural sections of the
country do not favor the protection sys-
ten is evident from the following con-
siderations:-
(a) Because protection cannot raise
prices when there is. no foreign COM
petition. as is practically true of agri-
cultural products in this country: (b)
because it is fact, universally admit
ted, that agricultural lands in general
have diminished in value during the
PAST thirty years. although land is
thing limited in quantity and, there
fore. as political economists say. pos
sesSed of a monopoly value; (c) because
there is spirit of uneasineSS and dis
content among the agricultural classes
az our people. as evidenced by their
public expressions OF opinion and their
readiness toadopt pcpulisticnotions and
financial vagaries; i'd because the peo-
pie in those sections are overwhelm-
ingly in favor of free trade and are OPP
posed to protection, and it is reasonable
to accept their own assertions concern
ing their own industrial condition. and
their complaints of the evil effects Of
the protective system upon their pros
perity.
IT Is HISTORICALLY TRUE