Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-02-02
THE FREE-TRADERS.
THEY DIE HARD-THEIR LATEST
EFFORT TO LIVE.
Beaten ON Land. They Turn Their Guns
Protection the sea-WouId
Drive American Commsrcs from tho
Oceans.

The prosperity which has built up
the industries of the United States dur
ing the past few years, or to be exact,
since the Dingley tariff has gone into
effect, has left our Free Trade friends
without leg to stand on It was
largely due to the operations of this
law, which has kept our mills running
and our wage earners employed at
greater wages than were ever before
known in the history of the country,
that secured for the party of protee-
ton the splendid Endorsement which
1t received at the recent presidential
election.
Free Trader Dies Hard.
But the Free Trader dies hard. The
house has fallen upon him, but there
is still little life in his quivering
form. He Is certain-at least he
claims to be certain-that Free Trade
is all that the shipping industry needs
to make it immensely prosperous and
place it away ahead of the same in
dustry in any other country. They
forget that they made the same claims
for every other industry, with the ad-
dittonal claims that Protection such
as it could get under the Dingley bill
or any similar bill would be the death
of it. Every Intelligent reader knows
what has happened to our industries
and to the general business of the
country during the past four years,
and any reiteration of the facts would
be a waste of time.
Against American Ships
AS we have said, however, the Free
Trader dies hard. Literally, he refuses
to give up the ship. Driven from every
other post, which he formerly held
with so much confidence, we now find
him standing on the deck of the Am
erican ship and declaring with the
same old confidence that nothing but
Free Trade will save her. A single
ounce of Protection, he argues, will
send her to the bottom. If the serious
minded Free Trader were not men
ace to the prosperity of the whole peo-
pie, including himself, he would be a
comical figure in this busy world. He
flies in the face of facts as Don Quix-
ote flew into the destroying arms of
the windmill.
Free Trader Cannot Reason.
1t seems a fruitless task to reason
with these marine Free Traders, and
yet We would like to inquire what ex-
PLANTATION they have for the prosperity
of our coastwise ships, under a virtual
policy of Protection, if the opposite
policy of Free Trade is the only thing
that will save and make prosperous the
ships in the oversee trade? Likewise
we would be glad to know if it is their
wise and unerring judgment that the
opening up of our coast trade to for
eign ships will be a particularly good
thing for the American ships now en-
gagged in this trade. That would be a
Trade theory applied to shipping.
Some of Their Terms
Two or three of these marine Free
Traders, in the warmth of their ar
gumentation, or fermentation, refer to
the Shipping bill as steal '.gigan-
tic raid on the treasury etc. These
are unpleasant and unbecoming terms
to apply to a policy of legislation
which, if it is adopted, will affect fav-
orally every prominent industry which |
goes to make up the wealth of the
country. There is a very truthful
axiom that "all industries are united
in shipping" To be explicit, as many
as three hundred different articles of
manufacture go into the building and
fitting of a ship. About 80 per cent of
the cost of the ship is paid to the labor
that built her. In the light of these |
facts will our Free Trade friends have
the hardihood to contend that any
governmental aid extended to promote
the building and operation of ships
the upbuilding of the American mer-
camille marine-will not benefit the
whole people?-New York Marine
Journal