The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1909-07-08
Protoction
or Free rade
A Nonpolitical Exposition of the
Value of Free Trade Over
Protection.
Paper Read Before the Chautauqua circle.

The recent tariff agitation naturally
raises the question: do our industries
need protection 2" Peter Barnum once
said the bigger the humbug the better
the Americans like it, and our cooper
alive Interests have readily taken ad-
vantage Of this fact, till today the
American people are completely blind
ed by the patriotic idea that there is no
country like America and American
industries. do not dispute the for
Mer but DO dispute the latter. Re-
-Ielt competitive tests have shown that
some OF our Oser-protected interests
certainly need all the prOtectlon they
eau get. This was demonstrated not
over q month ago III the United
States navy in The trial test of It's three
new scout cruisers, the Salem, Chester
and birmingham. Tie Chester with
an Euglish turbine steamed about
tw entyslx miles further with about
threefourths the amount of coal at tuli
speed without any mishap-While both
the other vessels broke DOWN, due to
faullily constructed engines. This was
severe setback for the American in
telests. In my opinion ii We had more
| of Lnese competitive tests with foreign
manufactures the efficiency of the home
| product would increase aud our in
uustries would need no protection. No
doubt Americans make Uetter materials
but they are never sold in this country,
be ng sent to foreign countries at re-
duced price in competition with foreign
trade while we at nome are not pei
mlCted on account Of the excess duty
TO indulge in tirstclass article.
In the recent political campaign both
candidates were strongly advocating
a tariff reform. Everything else was
completely lost sight of and the only
distinctive issue between the two par.
! ties was the name, otherwise their III
! terests were identically the same. The
campaign is over but the tariff question
is still with us. The writer ventures
the assertion if the tariff. question IL
not suitably adjusted to the wishes ol
the people at large those who had {
hand III "doubte-crOssiDg" the people
! will in all probability render an accOun
to their constituents and all the pOliti
cal advertising bureaus in the cOuntr,
won't save the n from the deluge. Th,
Payne tariff act is farce and a slap il
the face of the American people. FO
, more than twelve years hides and WOO
came into the United States free, bu
Payne would protect American hide
aud wool and place duty on importe
} hides and wool.
Never in the history of the Unite
States has there been surplus of hide
and wool on the market. In the yea
1907 the United States imported 425
], $50. | 10 pounds of hides and 2O1 ,688, ,6S
= pounds of wool. Why put duty o
. these commC iities which we have a
:, insufficient amount of while crudel lun
ber which above all things should com
y in free is heavily taxed and the ruthlet
l. slaughter of Americas forests goes OF
, lt seems to be never-ending scramb
with the American interests: "Get a
70 you can while you can." A hundre
le years from now our grandchildren wi
p be breaking up the chairs and tables
= start a fire i'm the morning and all th
. :. will be left of Americas great fores
- will be the pictures to remind them
g. the folly of their grandparents.
re- Protection is all right when it pr
4. tects but when it ceases to perform Il
;, functions for which it was original
intended it becomes detriment al
10 should be removed. The skeptical Sd
q "If we remove the tariff we flood {
o. American markets with lot of chez
- importations and cheap labor" and tn
- seems to be the hinge of the tariff OUT
10 tion. Admitting the fact does q
We necessarily mean that we open the pt
At tails of the United States to cheap lab
! and inferior commercial products
foreign countries. No duty on the
lg- inferior productions is too high if
ID, serves the epurpose-namely,o of kaepi
he them out, and the laws of the Unit
,ra States specifically forbid the impor
ton of foreign labor.
w It is difficult matter to frame
nd tariff schedule to suit country WHIT
,ss interests are so diversified as those
ra- the United States, as some want dt
on lumber, others want free lumt
no and thus the matter stands at prese
nd with a threat to tax tea and coffee.
or. fail to see where our tea and coffee
M. tereats need protection. Perhaps
lawmakers have lost sight of the +
" that we had one tea party back ir.''
The importation Of some arr