Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-08-29
ITS OLD TIME IDEAS
STRONG PROTECTION ARGUMENT OF
FORTY-ElGHT YEARS AGO.

Americans and Not For Foreigners.
Editorial in the Springfield Daily Repub-
lican of Jan. u, 1851
We have no faith that the efforts at
Washington to change the tariff will be
successful They are not well ground
ed efforts. Principle does not animate
them. Only passing policy or per-
sonal purse gives them vitality An in
fluential lobby may connect enough of
these schemes Of policy and plumber to
aggregate force sufficient to beg or
buy through congress some changes IN
the present law. But the probability
is stronger that the whole thing will go
over to the next congress. There we
shall hope to see it met and treated in
a different spirit from that now Animal
ing Tire ruling powers at the capitol.
The argument of the administration
and that only which has a general
force is that the present tariff produces
too much revenue; that it must be cut
down il order to keep the treasury
from overfowing 9, and that the govern
ment plan for accomplishing this is
wise and proper, upon it's. principle that
revenue is the only object of q tariff.
But the great reduction in the imports
Of the country, consequent upon the re-
action of overimpOrtations and the
general prostration of business, is rem
edying the evil Of superfuous revenue.
The customs receipts for December
alone were TWO millions less than those
Of the same month a year ago, and the
available surplus in the treasury is be-
ing rapidly reduced by it's necessary
payments and the reGe mption Of the
public debt. So long as many millions
Of that debt remain, and especially
while the reduction in inp0rtations
bids fair to bring the rev ne down to
healthy point, it will be her use
full nor wise to further reduc ne eX-
listing tariff rates.
The country is passing through a
change of opinion on the subject of tar
ifs and the uses to which they should
be put. The emancipation Of the popu-
lar mind from old and ironbound par
tisanship will, we have great hope,
produce benefcent results here as in
other respects. The Wing party, as the
champion Of the protective policy, was
great obstacle to the success of that
policy The two were identified, and
though the protective policy was popu-
lar, the Wing party was not. The lat
ter carried down the former. But now
times are changed. Protection to
American industry can now be favored
and secured without at the same time
giving aid and comfort to the Wing
party The doctrines of the new Amer
lean party, which is swallowing up all
the old parties, lead directly to protec
ton. Preference for American labor
for American goods, for American men,
over the labor, the goods and the men
of other countries-this is the whole
spirit Of the American party, and it is
equally the whole doctrine and princi-
pie of protection The two are too
thoroughly identified to be separated
and if the American party is to triumph
American policy must triumph with it.
It is this view of the inevitable results
Of the new and grand political move
ment that, more than any other, gives
us such hope in the future and enables
us to regard with a calm philosophy
the sometimes unjust, the often awk-
ward steps by which the movement
goes forward.
Here springs up our deadened nope
OF the return of the nation to the pol
icy and practice Of protecting Ameri-
can industry and developing Ameri-
can resources through the operation of
the tariff. We had we'll nigh given up.
We were prepared to so the furthest
extreme Of the free trader. And now
we say if we cannot have a protective
tariff let us have none at all. Free
$ trade is correct in theory and correct
in practice il we are legislating FOR the
benefit of the whole world. But if we
are to legislate for America let us legis-
late for Americans by protecting their
interests and their labor against the in
terests of the uneducated and impov-
erished labor Of Europe.
Away with merely revenue tariffs!
They are destroying American indie
pendence. They are transplanting our
workshops to Europe. They are car
rying off our gold as fast as it can be
dug in California. They are obliging
us to wear German and French broad
cloths by forbiGding the manufacture
Of American. They are shutting up
factories, reducing the rates Of labor,
impoverishing the country. Away with
them! If free trade is the policy, let
us have it. Abolish custom houses and
their hordes of tide walters, corrupt
ing our elections, debating the peoples
choice If we are to legislate for the
worlds benefit-for England, France,
Germany, Ireland and all the reside
it manfully and generously. Throw
open the ports of the land and let us
have the credit of sacrificing ourselves
for the benefit of the world. But If it
is America that we are called upon to
protect, cherish and advance let us do
that earnestly, honestly and fully. 1t
is a work not TO be ashamed of nor to
be done by indirection or deceit.
IF tho now r0prican Marty shall