The times., 1897-03-23

HecessiedteS uhe biilof-dOiIar appropTla-
tions, which have become such a scandal
upon Congress, had It's origin in the TN
Just system of levying taxes for the pur
pose OF enabling private interests TO prey
upon the public, Though the fav0ritism oil
the law. II The system of unnecessary
taxation is indefensible because OF the ex-
travagance which it encourages, it is It'll
more SO on account of the trusts which it
fosters and promotes 1t is not more
certain that protection encourages ex-
trayagance than it is that 1t breeds IN
lawful combinations OF capital IndeeI
protection Is justified upon the aTewed
theory that competition should be re-
stricted. True cEongfi, it assumes the
patriotic pretense tfat foreign competition
ought not to be permitted against our home
industries. but they little understand the
selfishness of human nature, and especially
they little understand the selfishnesS uf
that human nature which relies upon the
fayortism Of the law to increase its foT-
tune, who suppose that these men, having
secui ell themselves against foreign conipe-
titiOn by the favor of Congress, will fail
to secure themselves against domestic com
petitions by voluntary combinations among
themselves
1t is an old adage, and it is as true as
it is old, that competition is the life of
trade and whatever tends TO restrict
competition must tend TO restrict trade
The majority of the committee seem to
think it an easy matter for US to build
n tariff wall about our borders and thus
prevent the foreigners from trading with
US, but they forget that the same wall
huJ Shrt
in, and that regulations To prevent the
foreigner from trading with us must
at the same time prevent US from trading
with the foreigner.
We believe in the principles of competi-
ton and we believe the people of the United
States can successfully compete against
all other people of the world; and we
denounCe as a crime against the best
interests of our people any law which
leaves the consumers OF this land subject
to the exactions of reckless and corrupt
combinations formed to destroy competi-
ton and control prices.
The report of the Committee on WAYS
and Means is singulaTlv silent upon the
old preteSt that these high taxes are i'm
posed for the benefit of American labor;
and the silence may be taken as Conceding
the Democratic contention that the in
ligence and skill of the American factory
operative are all the protection which he
needs or desires The labor argument
of the protectionist can be reduced to an
absurdity, which makes it 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
its wages in turn depend upon its skill
and intelligence. and in the next breath
to say that the very Intelligent and highly
skilled laborers OF this country cannot
successfully compete with the ignorant and
unskiiled iaborers of the old world is
equivalent to saying that skill and tntelii-
genoe are not OF great advantage 20 the
labOrers who possess them.
To our minds it involves a contradiction
in history as well as an economic theory
to mold that the factory labor OF civilized
country needs protection againssth factory
labor OF an unciyiIi2ed country. The fact
that the unskiiled laborers of a half civil
ized country live more cheaply than the
skilled laborers OF q highly civilized coun-
try is more than counterbaIanced by the
greater productiveness of the skilled and
Intelligent laborer. If this view Of the
Httich suDptit tidI llc
mere statement of it, 1t 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 skfIlfuI and
Iessinteiligent lAborer OF continental Europe
and fifteen TIMES as much as the ignorant
and unskilled laboreTs OF Asia. Surely ie
Will be admitted that a productive capacity
seven times as great as the one and fifteen
times as great as the other should be all
that the American laboreT needs to protect
himself against the competition Of Euro
pean drudges and Asiatic slaves.
We are unable to offer a substitute for
the pending bill. because we have not
been allowed q reasonable time to prepare
one. Congress convened in extraordinary
session on Monday, the 18th day OF March,
and this bill was Introduced the same day
and referred tothe ConHnitteeon Ways and
Means which met the next morning and
on Thursday it was ordered to be reported
to the House. The majority of the com
nifttee had spent the three months OF the
last session OF the last Congress in the
preparation OF their bill. and yet they
refused TO allow the minority three weeks
in which to prepare a substitute. We are
to propose a measure that has
not been carefully ruatured, and we must
therefore content ourselves with protesting
against the passage OF the committees bill. |