The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-03-26

warranted oil. will sell for less than you
pay for yours"
But" said the grocer. don't you know
ths Sfefk of M afd ruin aTe So
l am sorry for them and their laborers.
and more especially as | see no help ,foi
them, for we are selling OIL for less than
II costs them TO produce It,"
What did the indignant grocer do? Why.
he bought just like thousands of other
grocers. And don't YOU see that righr
here is just where our good Socialist
friend. John II. Nickerson proposes sys-
tern. similar to our splendid postonice
all such pathetic wreck and ruin wrought
in West Pennsylvania?
And yet again. how independents mar
velous talent for imagination display IT.
self. by asserting that free trade China is
the most consistently protecuonist ma
tion on this sphere Why this astonlsh-
ing statement? Because he don't know
the difference between protection and free
trade. But what a fall is there, my coun-
trymen, China's import duties used to
average about per centum, but by and
by she was allowed by European powers
10 slap on the enormous custom duty
average or nearly per centum. aye, and
II has been proposed 10 allow poor. old
free trade China 10 Increase her free
trade custom duties even up to an aver
age of from 7 10 8 per centum. Great
Scott what an awful duty that will be
protectionst nation on this sphere!'
Where, tell me where. has Independent
been all these years OF advancing civiliza-
tion and Increasing knowledge TO suffer
his Imagination 20 fairly distance US all
and boldly DEFY competition?
Protectionst. Why. Independent. hast
thou not known; hast thou not heard that
one OF China's greatest sources of gov
high duties on exports7 In the name OF
common schoolboy knowledge, pray.
name one solitary Chinese tariff duty
that Is even so much as alloyed with a
particle of protection. ] am sorry 10
write in this style, but as the man re-
marked at a kissing party when a lady
with lips covered with cold sores pre-
sented herself, ~ must draw the linc
somewhere But poor old double-dis-
TILED free trade China does not stop here;
but TO pile on the biggest possible free
trade agony she actually charges her own
merchants, farmers and manufacturers
for selling goods from one state or prov
ince' into another. And yet our I0de-
pendent. with his Munchausen imagina.
ton. so innocent of all facts and actu-
alities: so unfamiliar with the subjects
he discusses, actually talks about my
display OF ignorance. Among them that
are born of woman / have heard of few
writers with ignorance more profound
than Independents.
And now little advice right here In
an important question moth
ing seems so handy some little bit of I
familiarity with the subject under debate. /
in order that both discusser and discusseo /
may understand each other. Fancy, /
fairy tales and a vivid imagination aye /
not good substitutes for facts Independ- /
ent's high valuation to the contrary not
withstanding.
But when Independent tells us that |
business revulslon began before the pass
age OF the Wilson tariff. yet nekleats to /
write that the cause OF the terrible rev'll- /
sion was that our business men knew al /
most exactly what was coming and be- |
gan curtailing and shutting down TO save +,
themselves, he Is just as unfair and con !
veys as erroneous an impression as the F.
bitterest free trader who tries so strenu-
ously to rob wage workers Of employ |
ment
But lest this article become too long |
close with n brief definition OF free trade. T.
as we'll as one OF protection. definitions !
that seem thus far 10 be beyond the ken /,
of Independent And | do his because /
l have been close student o. political /
economy and the tariff question for
generation and occupy no rear settee on
the subject, whether discussing with a /.
congressman or president. a protective /
tariff whether 20 per centum or 30) is n
tariff that protects our business and fur
nlshcs employment for millions more
Americans than under a free trade tariff
under which our markets are glutted
with foreign goods that come into compe-
tition with goods produced here. free .
trade tariff whether five per centum or
b0) is n tariff so adjusted as to fail TO
afford protection for our business men
whether farmers or manufacturers). and .
especially tends to rob millions OF our
wage earners of employment
The height OF a tariff is OF far less con-
sequence than the manner OF its protec-
tive or free trade adjustment. Aye,
protective tariff averaging ten per CEN
tum IS far better for our business people 7
and wage workers than a free trade tariff I
averaging leo per centum. Why? Be I
cause merely ten per centum OF protec-
tlon aids both employer and employee,
while free trade tariff is pure and un-
adulterated robbery and the higher the
free trade tariff the worse the robbery.
\ LIFELONG WAGE FARMERS AD- .
NOCATE.
Woonsocket. r. L., March q, 1903