Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1905-07-03
WINSTON CHURCHILL
ON PROTECTION, IN tom Wat.
SONS MAGAZINE.
protection is no Boon to the Poor,
Says the Brilliant Member of the
English Parliament. Commercial
Supremacy of England the Result
of Free Trade.

There are two arguments which no
Protectionist has yet even attempted to
answer" says Winston Churchill, NJ. p,
in Tom Watson's Magazine. "The first
is shipping. Our shipoing industry is
the greatest in the world. Shipping SUI
premacy is the legitimate child of insular
position and unrestricted trade. We are
now owners of more than half the ship.
ping in the world. More than half the
imports into every country in the world
are carried in British ships. We build
annually, for our own use and sale to
foreign nations. as many ships as all the
rest OF the world put together Why
should so many chips come to British
ports? 1t is only natural that ship
owners should fail to view with extrava-
CANT enthusiasm plan for diminishing
imports-or, in other words. a plan for
reducing the tonnage Of goods carried
across the sea, and for hindering or pre-.
venting their entrance to our ports.
They have seen how completely Protec-
tion has strangled the carrying trade of
the United States. and they have no
wish TO see British shipping share the
same fate.
''The second argument is cotton. The
cotton industry depends for its prosperi-
ty. and even for it's existence, upon four
main and vital conditions: an abundant
and steady supply Of the raw material,
cheapness of production, the mainte-
nance Of the great Free Trade markets
of India and China, and the preservation
OF industrial peace at home. Of these,
the supply vi raw material might be
checked by import duties, or, if the
United States chose to amend their Con.
stitution - and they have frequently
amended it-by export duties in Ameri.
ca. But under no conceivable circum.
stances could any duty that the wit or
folly Of man could impose, stimulate or
increase the growth OF cotton. Tariff
duties, whether Retaliatory, Preferential
or Protective, would not make the cotton
fields larger, would not insure good har-
vests, would not promote cheap transit,
would not destroy the ravages of cotton
insects, American speculators or other
pestiferous vermin. Cheapness of pro.
duction is vital to the cotton trade. Raise
the price only little and the demand
must fall off. Cheap food and the cheap
ness of living must be the foundation of
cheapness of production. Supposing by
taxes imposed on food, or on clothes, or
houses, or on personal necessaries, a
sovereign loses some of its purchasing
power, and suppose it only purchases as
much as fifteen shillings does now, one
of two things must happen. Either the
operative must live worse than he does
at present or he must obtain an lmme-
diate raise Of wages"
Is Protection boon and a benefit to
the poorest classes in any country? Do
the poor of other countries think so?
The lot of the poor is always harsh and
their burden heavy; and I am one Of
those who think that, with our great and
growing wealth, we have done too little
of late years to elevate and alleviate
their sad condition. 1t is an undisputed
TACT, proved as far as can be judged from
figures, that the English working classes
are better off, man for man and trade
for trade. in every single respect-better
fed, bettrr clothed, be ter housed-tnan
their fellows in the protected countries
of Europe. And it is also proved that
their wages are higher than in any other
country except America, that the pur.
chasing power of those wages is already
greater and is increasing far quicker
than in any other country, including
America, and that the hours and condi-
tions Of labor are better regulated. To
say that Protection means greater de-
velopment of wealth is unspeakabe
humbug. The Democratic Party in
America and the Socialstic Party in
Germany are made up OF the poorest and
least fortunate of the people of those
countries; and they have learned by
bitter experience that higA protective
tariffs, whatever profits they may confer
on capital, whatever privileges they may
bring to certain Of the higher ranks of
labor, are to the poor and to the poorest
Of the poor an accursed engine OF robbery
and oppression.
Ladies get your shoes shined at
Charles, 420 E Heron street, he carries
all the latest polishes and all kind of fine
ucaa of the wary Iatasi st ulas and 1xiuoo