Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-03-24

preparations exceeded the sum OF 800,
100000. Our population at that time wa
lnearly half what 1t is today, and II tn
| government were now properly ane
frugally administered our expenditures
including liberal pensions for the soldier
of the late war, ought not to, and wouit
not, exceed the sum of $3.50, 000. 900.
| THE friends Of the protective system
know that to keep the taxes high they
must find some way OF spending thu
| money which has been collected. 1t II
therefore the inevitable consequence o.
collecting more than is proper that i'm
proper ways should be devised FOL
spending 1t. The extravaganza whlcf
necessitate the billlon-dollar apprQpria
lions which have become such scaDda
upon congress, had Its origin in the un
just system of levying taxes for the pur
pose OF enabling private interests t.
prey upon the pubic through the favor
it.sm of the law"
In Aid Of Trusts.
y 1.-THE bill fosters trusts" Is another
headline. which is explained as follows
IF the system of unnecessary taxa
ton is indefensible because of the ex'
travagance which 1t encourages 1t Is
still more SO ON account of the trusts
which 1t fosters and promotes. 1t is not
more certain that protection encourages
extravaganza than II Is that II breeds
unlawful combinations OF capital. In.
deed. protection Is justified upon the
avowed theory that competition should
be restricted. True enough 1t assumes
the patriotic pretense that foreign COM
petition ought not TO be permitted
against our home Industries. but they
little understand the sellshness Of hui
man nature. and especially they little
understand the selfishness of the hui
man nature which relies upon the favor
itism of the law TO increase its fortunes
who suppose that these men. having Sc
cured themselves against foreign com
petition by the favor of congress, will
fail 10 secure themselves against do
nestle competition by voluntary com
binations among themselves.
1T is an old adage. and IL Is as true
as IL Is old. that competition is the life
of trade and whatever tends To restrict
competition mast tend to restrict trade.
The majority OF the committee seem TO
think II an easy matter for US 10 build
tariff wall about our borders and thus
prevent the foreigners from trading
with us. but they forget that the same
wall which shuts the foreigners out shuts
us in. and that regulations TO prevent the
foreigner from trading with us must a,
the same time prevent u3 from trading
with the foreigner.
We believe in the principle Of com.
petition. and we believe that the people
Of the United States can successfully
| ron "a uen{nSs a A<t t.o
world. and we denounce as a crime
against the b. a interests Of our people
any law which leaves the consumers of
this land subject 10 the exactions Of
reckless and corrupt combinations
formed TO destroy competition and con-
troll prices
Labor and the Din:ley Bill.
THE report OF the committee on WAYS
and means is singularly silent upon the
old pretext that these high taxes are i'm
posed for the benefit of American labor.
and the silence may be taken as conced-
Ing the Democratic contention that the
intelligence and skill of the American
factory operative are all the protection
which he needs or desires. The labor
argument of the protectionists can be
reduced to an absurdity. which makes
1t amazing that it should ever have been
seriously advanced. To say in one
breath that the welfare of LABOR depends
upon its wages. and that it's wages in
turn depend upon its skill and intelli-
gence, and in the next breath to say that
the very intelligent and highly skilled
laborers of this country cannot success
fully compete with the ignorant and un-
skilled laborers of the Old World, is
equivalent to saying that skill and In
telligence are not of great advantage to
the laborers who possess them
ITO our minds it involves a contradic-
ton in history as well as in economic
theory to hold that the factory labor OF
civilized country needs protection
against the factory labor of an uncivi-
liked country. The fact that the un.
skilled laborers of half civilized coun-
try live more cheaply than the skilled
laborers of highly civilized country is
more than counterbalanced by the
greater productiveness of the skilled and
intelligent laborer. If this view of the
question needed further support than
the mere statement of ii, it can be found
in those excellent works which assert
that the skill and intelligence of the
American laborer are such that he is able
to produce seven times as much as the
less skilful and less intelligent laborer
of continental Europe. and Is times as
much as the ignorant and unskilled
laborers of Asia. Surely it will be ad-
United that productive capacity seven
times as great as the one and is times
as great as the other should be all that
the American laborer needs to protect
himself against the competition of
European and Asiatic serfs.''
No Time to Prepare Substitute.
I'VE are unable to offer a substitute |
for the pending bill. because we have
not been allowed reasonable time to
prepare one. Congress convened in ex-
traordinary session on Monday, March |
Is. and this bill was introduced the
same day and referred to the committee
on ways and means, which met the next
morning. and on Thursday it was or
dered to be reported to the house. The
majority of the committee had spent the
three months of the last session of the |
fast congress in preparation of their bill. |
and yet they refused to allow the nil
nority three weeks in which to prepare
a substitute. We are unwilling to pro-
pose a measure that has not been care |
fully rnn f,rrodi ord vx-o ,,,,,c+