The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-10

wise in finance to devise some means
whereby the beneficial effects of saw
lhgs banks can be continued and the
capability for injury both to business
and their depositors be eliminated. His
suggestion of Investigation, study and
remedy is one as well worthy Of atten-
ton as some of the larger and more
ambitious ideas of finance.
THE WORST KIND OF COMMERCIAL
ISM.
The Pioneer Press has one of those
strange, self-contradictory articles on
the subject Of granting a bounty to
sugar growers in this state, which eX-
hibits that reluctant yielding to the
worst form Of commercialism which is
surely one Of the last infirmities of
noble minds" 1t first shows the effect
or bounty in building up the salt
producing industry in Michigan, as an
apparent Justification Of the assault to
be made on the producers of this state
we might easily follow the history of
that duty, showing the frightful abuses
to which it led and the amountS that
1t cost the multitudes until it finally
gave way to an indignant public opin-
Ion 1t then adds conclusions which
tend to prove the undoubted fact that
In competition with countries naturally
adapted to the cultivation of the cane,
tn oil ha
neet sugar industry profitable and self
supporting. Then it once more boxes
the compass with the conclusion that,
II, in the face of such obstacles, sugar
production could be established here
through a bounty, then by all means
let us have bounty"
We dismiss all the rest Of the argu-
ment in order to dwell upon the utter
absence from it Of every moral consid-
Grafton. It is one of unqualified com
mercialism. The end justifies the
means. Nothing is wrong that will
no matter at what cost, produce an ar
officially nOurished industry here. 1t
matters nothing that the chances are
all against it. 1t matters nothing that
the experiment must be tried at the
cost Of people who are surely suf-
ffciently taxed already. It matters
nothing that the producers Of wheat
and oats and potatoes, the struggling
settlers of our young state, must con-
tribute the money which would be paid
to men who should engage in an unpro
ductive employment 1t matters nothing
that this is contrary not only to the
fundamental principles Of political
economy, but to the elementary rules
of right and wrong. sIf we can get
new industry, says the Pioneer Press.
let US have it; no matter who pays the
piper, or by what cruel injustice forced
tribute is eXacted from him.
Look one moment at the moral aspect
of the case. Let US suppose a parallel
instance. Imagine that benevolent
highWayman should propose to the
state legislature that if he were al
lowed to make every one whom he met
stand and deliver to him, without mo-
lestation by the law, one-tenth of the
contents of his purse, he would guar
antee to build a factory employing a
certain number of men all the wear
round The thing could be done DOUBT.
less men could be found to make the
bargain. 1t might be carried out in
good faith. In exchange for the privi-
lege Of thus taxing" the public it
would be possible to build up such an
industry and operate it with a surplus
in its treasury. That industry would
be added to the list of our resources.
be right? And where is the difference
between the two propositions; save
that in the case Of the sugar bounty
it is the state that is to do the holding
up and pilfering instead Of a selected
individual?
The instance shows in the clearest
possible light, stripped of all pretense
about protecting labor, the essence
and purpose of protection in general
and the bounty system in particular.
No such tremendous indictment can be
brought against the protection idea as
its power to so distort mems views and
bring them to approve legalized rob
berry for the sake of possible CONNER
cial advantage. Until this corrupting
influence is rooted out, a debasing
commercialism will dictate our public
policies There could be no worse fate
for nation, not even anarchy, than
to fall PROSTATE before a system which
says that it is right to extract by the
strong arm of the law the hard-earned
wealth from the pockets of the many.
to furnish a reward to the few for
building up an industry otherwise I'M
profitable and brought into being solely
with a view to the profits produced by
legislative favoritism. Robin Hood was
an honest man in comparison with the
promoters of this species of prosperity.
CLOSET PHILOSOPHERS"
The editor of the Review of Re
views gives in the current number the