The San Francisco call., 1897-03-23


of the most pernicious character. 1t NOT OILY
teaches the people to look TO the Government
Tor the promotion of all kinds OF enterprises.
whether for pleasure or for proht, Dut II
makes them impatient against public ser
wants who believe in economy and VINO De-
lleve that public moneys are trust iunu 10
be jealously guarded.
An overn wing treasury Is Constant temP
tation TO enter upon expenditures tndt Goi
rupt both the public mind and the puplics
servants. Under system OF hlgh taASs s
there must be surplus or there Huss De
waste, and both are serious evils. President
Jackson hardly overstated the danger OF sur
Plus when he stat ID that ii was more DANGER
Gus than a standing army; and yet, dangerous
as surplus is, it is not so dangerous as the
extravaganza which is always resorteo 70 IN
order to prevent its accum ulaticn. IL cannot
pe iorgotten that many OF those VINO trra. now Sa-
vocate high tariff and defend the extIasa-
gance which it engenders did not hesltaie 10
denounce the administration OF Presioent
buchanan because in its last year me =, pproo' ppno
Our population at that time was nearly nan
OF what it is to-day, and if the Government
was now properly and frugally administered
our expenses, including liberal pensions LOT
the soldiers of the late war, ought not 70 ana
would not exceed the sum OF $3.50, ,OOO.OOO.
The friends OF the protective system Know
that to keep the taxes high they must nnu y,
some way of spending the money wnlcn Is
collected. They perfectly understand .nae
they cannot resist the demand Tor q reducuoh
OF taxes i! they permit their excessive collec-
they understand that the dullest man knows
that the Government is collecting too mucn
when 1T is collecting more than 1t is spending:
1t is. therefore, the inevitable consequence OF
collecting more than is proper that improper
ways should be devised to spend 1t. Inc eX-
travagance which necessitates the Dillon
dollar appropriations which have peen sueh
scandal upon Congress had its origin In the
unjust system OF leyying taxes Tor the pur-
pose OF enabling private interests to prey
upon the public through the favorltlsm OF the
law.
If the system OF unnecessary taxation is in
defensible because of the extravagance wnlcn
1t encourages 1t is still more so on account OF
the trus is which it tos ters and promotes. luis
not more certain that protection encourages
extravagance than it is that 1t breeds uniaw-
ful com binatiOns of capital. Indeed, protec-
ton is justified upon the avowed theory tnat
competition should be restricted. true
enoush, it assumes the patriotic pretense that
foreign competition ought not to be permitted
against our home industries; but tney ilttie
understand the selfshness of human nature,
and especially they little understand the sell
lshnesS OF that human nature which relies
upon the favoritism of the law to incre ase lts
fortune. Who supposes that these men, haVlhg
secured themselves against foreign compeu-
uou by the favor OF Congress fall 70 secure
themselves against domestic competition Oy
voluntary combinations among themselves
1t is old adage, and ii is as true as II old,
that competition is the life OF trade" and
whatever tends to restrict competition must
tend to restrict trade. The majority OF the
COInmltIee see IN 10 tnfnk IL an easy udtttE ior
US to build up tariff wall about our borders,
and thus prevent the foreigners from trading
with US, but they forget the same wall that
shuts the foreigner out shuts us In, ana 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 competition,
and We believe the people of the United States
can successfully compete against all other
people of the world; and we denounce as q
crime against the best interests OF our people
any law which leaves the consumers OF this
land subject to the exactions OF reckless ana
corrupt com binations formed TO destroy CON-
petition and control the prices.
The report of the Committee on Ways and
Means is singularly silent upon the old pre-
text that these high taxes are imposed Tor the
benefit of American labor, and the silence
may be taken as conced1ng the Democratc
contention that the intellieence and skill OF
the American factory operative are all the
protection which he needs or desires. Ine Ia
Dor argument OF the protectionst can be re-
duced TO an alb bsurdity which makes 1t amazing
that it should ever have been seriously ad-
vanced. To say in ore breath that the welfare
of labor depends upon its wages and that lis
wages in turn depend upon its skill and in
telii ence and in the next breath to say hat
the very intelligent and highly skilled labor
ers of this country cannot successfully CON-
Iee with the ignorant and unskilled laborers
of the Old World, is equivalent 10 saying that
skill and intelligence are not OF great advan-
tage to the aborers who possess them,
To our mind it involves contradiction in
history as we'll as in econ Omic theory, to hold
that the factory laborer OF q civilized country
needs protection against the factory laborer
OF an uncvilized country. The fact that the
unskilled laborers OF q half-civiiized country
live more cheaply than the skilled laborers OF
a highly civilized country is more than coun.
terbalanced by the greater productiyeness OF
the skilled and intelligent laborer. If this
view OF the question needed further support
than the mere statement of it IL can be found
in those excellent works which assert that the
skill and intelligence OF the American laborer
are such that g is bile TO produce seven times
as much as the less skilled and less intelligent
la aborer OF Continental Europe, and fifteen
times as much as the ignorant and unskflled
laborer OF Asia.
Surely it viii be admitted that productive
capacity seven times as great as the one and
fifteen times as great as the other should be
all that the American laborer needs to pro-
tect himself against the competition OF Euro
peau drudges and Asiatic slaves. We are un-
able to offer substitute for the pending bill
because we have not been allowed reasonable
time TO prepare one. Congress convened in
extraordinary session on Monday, the 10Th
day of March, and his bill was introduced
the same day and referred tC the Committee
on Ways and Means which met the next morn
ing aud on Thursday it was ordered to be re-
Iorted 10 the House. The majority of the
committee had spent the three months OF the
last session of the last Congress in the pre-
paration of their bill, and yet they refused 10
allow the minority three weeks in which to
prepare a substl tute. We are unwilling to
matured and we must therefore content our
selves with protesting against the passage OF
the committees bill.
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