Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-07-05
FREE TRADERS
APPEAL TO
NATION
UNDISMAYED BY SAD
w IN CONGRESS
Citizens Opposed to Profession
Called Upon to Join in Effort
to Consolidate Free Trade
Sentiment.

To the citizens of the United States:
The apparent acceptance in some
degree of the so-called protective pol
lev by the present Congressional rep
re%sentatives of both the political par
ties-the republicans championing
protection with incidental revenue.
ana the democrats urging revenue
with incidental protection-might be-
get the impression that our nation
contains no men who believe in the
absolute and unconditional freedom
of trade between the peoples of the
earth.
The undersigned, proclaiming them
selves as free-traders, contend:
% Tha protection erects artifi-
cial barriers between nations, PR
venting that natural and healthful in
%terchang of products which makes
for increased comfort, for peace, II
for the solidarity of mankind.
t2) That protection, by reducing
the quantity of incoming foreign
goods. reduces the buying power rep
resented by such goods, and conse-
ouently subtracts from the demand
Ini lIiflt t'' ~ ''
would inevitably be fostered by the
unrestricted freedom of exchange.
CD That protection, in addition
to lessening the demand for labo'.
and to a consequent reduction If
wages, greatly increases the cost Of
~necessaries, thus becoming a power
full agent in dragging down the con-
dition of u wage-earning classes.
(4) That protection has not only
become the mother of trusts. hut thai,
by stirling foreign competition, it has
granted them a license to prey upon
the community.
90 That protection encourages
extravaganza in national expendi-
lures, which, as they are paid by taxes
on what the people consume, are N
the main extracted from the pockets
of the wage-earning and salaried
classes.
90 That protection, by its meth
DDS of indirection, cunningly dis
guises the incidence of taxation, and
thus weakens that desirable interest
In legislation and in government poll
cies which direct taxation tends to
develop.
ca That protection, which is in
effect a process of class-enrichment
by legislative favor, is a fostering
source of political corruption.
go That protection. by cngender-
ing special ovcr%-pro6uction due to eX-
cessive profits and widespread under
consumption due to excessive prices,
contributes to producing those panies
which cause so much human waste
and misery.
90 That protection, by comforting
on favored classes the right to tax
their fellow citizens. and by the con
sequent unequal and inequitable dis
tribution Of the boundlesse wealth
which is created by The energy ana
natural possessed by the
American people, has generated re-
sentiments which express themselvns
by dangerous methods intended to
wrench from it's possessors a por-
ton of the wealth which has bean
unjustly appropriated.
G0) That protection. by the swol- |
len fortunes which it helps up for its
heneficiaries. and by the concentrated,
selfish class interests which it fos-
ters, becomes so powerful througn
their ability and readiness to de-
hauh public opinion by the expendi
ture of money. that ii can never be
dislodged until the great body of our
people are brought to realize IT'S
wastafuI sinfnl anti-social charac-
ter
Corcurripo IN sucb views the I'M.
dersienod cou an all fellow citizens |
who ore in asreement Herewith. 10
ioin tbem in an effort ia consolidate |
Tho free trodo continent of the ma
tton cuob a consolidation win reveal
tho truo aconomic oninion of at least |
nortion ne our citizens and will |
facilitota oo-onerotior with the free
tr,ders az other nations which ara
also suferinp from the evils of a pro-l
t4ctive noIicv