Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1909-12-09
THE OTHER SIDE.

eSoAnSS Tue Sdriu Dill from the time OF
its enactment and asserted tina. the
course is being pursued by the critics
and GROWERS toward the PAYNE law that
they pursued when attacking the Ding
ley tarlH.-Tazewell Republican.
Also under that selfsame tariff law
the country suffered one of the most
disastrous and stubborn panics in its
history If the Dingley schedules were
responsible for the boosted prosperity,
how can they escape responsibility for
the eighteen months of business and
industrial stagnation of which worship
pers at the shrine of inordinate Protec-
ton, like the Republican, are careful to
say nothing? The fact of the matter is.
as everybody not blind with the blind
ness that will not see, must perceive.
that the prosperity of the decade from
1897 to 1907 was in spite of the Tariff.
not because of it. If not, how did it
happen that Canada and Mexico both
enjoyed during the same period neas-
ure Of prosperity equal to if not greater
than our own? Neither of these ever
knew Dingley or his sacred schedules
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
The other side, as pictured by our es-
teemed Norfolk contemporary. is large
ly imaginary, as are the views which
the old free trade Democrats have held
heretofore on the question of Protection.
The incident which the Virginian- Pilot
calls lone of the most disastrous and
stubborn panics in the history of the
country" was not truly a panic. 1t was
nothing more than an industrial or bust
ness depression, not occasioned by the
tariff, but largely due to the continued
assaults by the Democrats on the indus
trial policy of the country. 1t was also
largely due to Misrepresentation and the
insane extravaganza of all the people.
A day for settlement came and an in
ventory had to be taken. Who ever
heard of disastrous financial panic oc-
curing without a radical reduction in
real estate values and a break in the
prices of agricultural products? Did
we have anything of this kind to hap
pen in the United States when the So
called stubborn panic" prevailed? The
eighteen months of business and in
dustrial stagnation" were more likely
to have been created by the constant
agitation of the free traders than by
the protective duties of the Dinelev
law. If the depression, however, was
caused by the Dingley tariff, which we
deny, is it not strange that the recovery
from the ''stagnation" became so rapid
after it was decided last November bv
the American people that the Protec-
ton policy of the Republican party
should be continued Is it not also
strange that if Protection is so adverse
to national prosperity that we are ad-
mittedly starting out upon another era
Of prosperity under the provisions of
the Payne bill, which our contemporary
declares to be more iniquitously pro-
tective than was the Dingley law? 1.-THE
fact of the matter is, as everybody not
blind with the blindness that will not
zee, must perceive, that the prosperity
of the decade from 1897 to 1907 was
due to the wise protective policy of the
Republican party. The free trade ca
lamity howlers were not willing to let
well enough alone" nor are they will
ling to cease their agitations now.
AS to the prosperity of Mexico and
Canada along with that of the United
States, it was evidently reflex or coinci-
cident. Both of these are our adjoining
neighbors. They were the beneficiaries
of American enterprise and capital.
and the prosperity of the United States
drifted south and north to these coun-
tries, respectively, along with our citi-
zens, our capital and our business meth
DDS. In business sense, Mexico and
Canada are a part and parcel of the
United States.
If the recent business stagnation, over
which our Norfolk contemporary weeps
and walls, was caused by Protection,
why has similar condition simultane-
ously prevailed in Free Trade England?
The Virginia Democracy have claimed