The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-07-17
the PROTECTIVE SYSTEM.
McE~xtnieyism 81 Too Slow for sAs
pnouaa.

McAAtnleyaam So Too Slow for aAe
People.
The protective system Is subject "a
one peculiar disadvantage. Its beneh,
cent effects are cut of at both ends,
while by . malign ~perverslty Of nature
the damning results Of free trade en-.
tend themselves fore and aft, miracu.
lousy antedating their cause and per.
sisting long after that cause has dis
appeared.
The Mckinley law was passed in DC.
tober. 1890. The next month the PEG
pie rose up and smote it under a mis-
apprehension. as its friends explained,
causedby the fact that It had not yet had
time to produce It's intended effects.
In 1891 these effects had still failed to
arrive to q sufficient extent to moiIify
the popular resentment, and in 1892
the country was SO far from recogniz-
ing their presence that il elected the
celebrated Grover Cleveland, then q
statesman Of much eminence as q tariff
smasher. to clear the protective incum-
brance out Of the way.
It was about this time. according to
the theories Of the high tariR school.
that the Mckinley law should have been
getting fairly to work. but the mere
threat of its repeal in the future in
volved in the election Of a hostile presi-
dentandeongress. paralyzed it's deIictae
mechanism. For more than 81 months
after the presidential election the Nc
Kinley law remained in fun force, but
its usefulness was gone. The people
continued to pay the mountainous
duties, but their magical power to
compel prosperity had disappeared.
The vague shadow Of a possible but un-
known low tariff in the distant future
was more potent than the actual work.
ings Of a high tariff in the present.
Thus 1t resulted that, although the Nc.
Kinley law was in force for nearly four
years, it never once got a chance, ac-
cording to its friends, to show what it
could really do. It went to it's grave, a
mute, inglorious Milton, with all it's
brilliant possibilities buried under the
clods of adverse circumstances.
The Wilson tariff experienced no
such delay in getting under way. It be-
gan its deadly work. as the Mckinley
professorso of economies have frequently
explained, mor than a year before It
was born. and it has continued it's bale
full activity ever since.
And now there is to be a new and
more stringently protective tariff. but
It has none of the preliminary effects
that protectionists credited to the Will
son bill when it was still without form
and void. Mr.. Dingley explains that his
tariff cannot be expected to bring good
times before it is passed. or even inn
mediately after. He thinks that it will
take about a year after its passage to
get into good running order. And If
by that time we have a series of demo-
cratic victories. the melancholy his
tory of the Mckinley law may be re-
peated. The advance agent of pros.
perity works only by sample, and there
is no assurance that he can deliver his
goods in cloudy weather.
1t really seems hardly worth while to
try to build up a protective system in
this country. The vicissitudes of poll
tics r so frequent here that a policy
whose usefulness is killed by an adverse
verdict at the polls. and which can
never begin to produce its promised eff
fects until after the people have had
time to blast it At the next election. is a
fabric too delicate to be of any prac-
teal use. We might as well try to raise
palm trees out Of doors in a Canadian
Y. Journal.