The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-23

qoehce' Wnen collecting more than is
proper, tnat improper ways should be
devised Tor spending it. The extrava-
gance which necessitates the billion
oouaf approximations. which have be-
cOine Such scandal upon congress-
hau It's origin in the unjust system of
levylnS taxes for the purpose of en-
dolhs private interests to prey upon
the puonc through the favoritism of
the law IL the system of unnecessary
! taxation is indefensible, because of the
I eAtraVagance which it encourages, it
Is sun more so on account of the trusts
Wnlcn 1t fosters and promotes. 1t is as
certain that protection encourages ex-
traVagance as it is that it breeds I'M
! IaW1ul combinations of capital. Indeed,
protection is justified upon the avowed
theory that competition should be re-
strlcted. True enough, it assumes the
patriotic pretense that foreign cOmpe-
titlon ought not to be permitted against
our home industries, but they little I'M
| dersand the selfishness of human ma
ture, and especially they little under
stand the selfshness of that human ma
ture which relies upon the favoritism
OF the law to increase its fortune, who
suppose that these men, having Sc
cured themselves against foreign COM
petition by the favor of congress, will
fali to secure themselves against the
domestic competition by voluntary
THE LIFE OF TRADE.
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 re- |
strict trade. The majority of the COM
mittee seem to think it an easy matter
for US to build up a tariff wall about |
our borders, and thus prevent the for
eignerS from trading with us, but they |
forget that the same wall that shuts
the foreigner out shuts US in, and that
regulations to prevent the foreigner
from trading with us must, as the
same time, prevent US from trading
with the foreigner.
We believe in the principles or COM
petition, and we believe the people of
the United States can successfully
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 eXactlons
Of reckless and corrupt combinations,
formed to destroy competition and con-
troll the prices.
The report of the committee on ways
and means is singularly silent upon the
I'D pretext that these high taxes are
imposed for the benefit of American
abor; and the silence may be taken as
the Democratic contention {
hat the intelligence and skill of the r
American factory operative are all the r
which he. needs or desires. '
The labor argument of the protection G
st can be reduced to an absurdity 7
which makes it amazing that it should ,
yer have been seriously advanced. To .
ay, in one breath, that the welfare of c
abor depends upon its wages and that ,
IS wages in return depend upon its Z
kill and intelligence, and in the next :
reath to say that the very intelligent r
nd highly skilled laborers of this p
ountry cannot successfully compete r
18th the ignorant and unskilled labor a
rs of the old world, is equivalent to -
aging that skill and intelligence are
OF of great advantage to the laborers
tho possess them.
A CONTRADICTION. N
To our minds, it involves a contra
lotion in history as well as in eco
omic theory, to hold that the factory =,
Dor of a civilized country needs pro- -
.ction against the factory labor of an a
nciyilized country. The fact that the b
nSkilled laborers of a half civilized G.
'untry live more cheaply than the p
TILED laborers of highly civilized L
'untry is more than .counterbalanced c.
the greater productivenesS of the a.
Tiled and intelligent la borer If this &C
CN VI Tie question neeQSQ Iurtlef
pport than the mere statement of it, tt
can be found in those excellent 81
orks which assert that the skill and dJ
telligence of the American laborer
e. such that he is able to produce re
ven times as much as the less skilled NJ
i'd less intelligent laborer of CONT ex
ntal Europe and Is times as much as
e ignorant and unskilled laborers of
;ia. Surely, it will be admitted that
productive capacity seven times as Su
eat as the one and Is times as great
the other. should be all that the
nerican laborer needs to protect him
t against the competition of Eu- Pc
pean drudges and Asiatic slaves. re,
We are unable to offer substitute III
: the pending bill, because we have 49,
been allowed a reasonable time to III
epare one. Congress- convened in ex- DO
ordinary session on Monday, the
h day of March, and this bill was an
reduced the same day and referred .
the committee on ways and means. r1e
lch met the next morning, and on 20
ursday it was ordered to be reported '-S
the house. The majority of the COM q
ttee had spent the three months of 70
last session of the the last con- me-
SIS IN the preparation of their bill. me-
yet they refused to allow the mi an,
'ity three weeks in which to pre- act
e substitute. We are unwilling to =.
pose measure that has not been 40,
efully matured, and we must. there iS
2, content ourselves with protesting ina
inst the passage of the committees lee
Y