The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-01
HOARY HUMRUGS.

The Minneapolis Tribune. is an OBJ
Ject of sympathy when it attempts to
find some tenable standing ground on
the beet sugar bounty question. BY a
remarkable species of arithmetic, it
figures that a bounty of cents pound
on product of 100000 barrels would
yield $4,000. The instance which we
cited was that of a factory producing
100000, not barrels, but pounds, and
even at this a not very abstruse calcu-
lation shows that four cent per pound
bounty would bring in 100000 per an
mum or the entire assumed cost of the
plant. This staggers the Tribune far
enough to oblige it to admit that pos
sibly Accent bounty would be too
large. 1t thinks that 1-cent bounty
Is not high enough, for the reason that
1t has not thus far induced capital to
go into the business in Minnesota. That
there is some bonus large enough to
establish the business Of beet sugar
making in the state is not open to
question, any more than it Is that we
can grow bananas enough in Mime
sofa to supply the entire demand Of
the Northwest If money enough is
wasted in the project.
But there are two. propositions con-
nected with this hoary humbug that
ought never to be heard Of again. One
is the idea that this method of "cre-
ating" industry is warranted by any
principle Of political economy; and the
other that assumption, to which the
Tribune clings like a drowning man,
that the bounty would be only tenn
porary, and should gradually de-
crease after the industry was estab-
lished. Neither of these assertions. in
the face Of our abundant past expe-
rience, would deceive an infant in
arms. The attempt to purchase pros
perity by substituting private interests
is everywhere and always a failure. We
heard of this beautiful fairy story
about building up Industries some
five or ten years ago in these two cit
les, when suburbs were springing I'D
IN all directions under the stimulus Of
bonuses in cash and land offered to
manufacturing enterprises to locate
there. The thing worked for q while,
hausted, and one has but to look at
the weak industries which were tempt
ed here by cash offers, and at the effect
of the dispersion of the population and
extension of city limits, to see what a.
fearful price we paid for a temporary
Illusion. Exactly the same thing is
true Of all tariffs and bounties. which
never have and never can produce
wealth or create industry, except by
spending something over 100 cents on
the dollar
We should think that any
one would be ashamed by this
time to talk of any subsidy
or bounty, to be diminished gradually
as the industry to which it applied be-
came established. We have heard of
that pretense applied to every tariff
protected industry Of this country for
the last forty years. Not one Of them
asked for high duty as permanency,
but only to protect an infant" which,
as soon as 1t should be full-grown,
would stand Justify on it's own feet.
Yet today, when you could count on
the fingers of one hand all the indus
tries Of the United States that could
not compete on equal terms with the
products Of like industries in any other
country of the world, we find that so
far from gradually diminished duties,
a special session of congress is to be
CALLED to, restore them to the highest
point ever known. These are business
questions and deserve to be looked at
in businesslike way and by the light
of facts. The difference is between
those who believe in taxing the many
for the benefit of the few and those
who do not, and at is the difference be-
tween the Tribune and the Hob on
this issue"