Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1909-05-07
THE FRUIT OF PROTECTION

With those who have grown old there
is small interest taken in the present
tariff debate. When it is lot comical
it is CHASTITY. Old soldiers, like Daniel,
must stand and fight and die upon the
firing line. That is their business.
Younger soldiers, like Bailey and Champ
Clark, Culberson and Ollie james and
Oscar Underwood are always buoyed
by hope of the future. Meanwhile,
Aldrich and Cannon are hefty hands at
the bellows. When they get through
reducing the Payne schedules to the
Dingley lcvel-which was itself devised
ut the outset for a come-dOwn-the
spellbinders of protectionism will find in
the mystification of what Miss Tarbell
truly describes as q Monster" material
for the conceit that their party has ''re-
deemed its pledges" whilst the trust
made beneficiaries of the tariff will re-
main in possession of their founties.
and may go on, rs of yore, robbing the
by act Of congress and piling
up fabulous wealth for the few by
levying Tribute upon the many.
The claim that the policy of protec-
ton has made the country rich and
great rests on ]pretcnsion alone. The
country is rich and great. Through
forty-odd years the policy of protection
has prevailed, That God and nature.
the sun and the shower, the activities
and inventions of man, the develop
mcnts of n continent not yet half
occupied and improved-over Il own
part of which free trade has shaken her
cornucopia of blessingS-nay, the fact
that under y evenue system we were
growing rich and great, dividing with
England mistresship of the high a
which under protection we have lost
the frightful augmentation of the cost
both of the living of the people and the
government of the country-thcSc
things are left ont of the protectionist
argument.
Everybody uns to Washington to get
his hook into the tariff. Strip it of its
complications-submit it as Il simple
measure of ~taxation-let the voters see
just what they are to pay for what they
eat and drink and wear, and the sub
sidy- breeding, bounty jumping, lobby.
contrivcd thing would not outlast {
single general election; it would e
down with u dull thud. like n rotteT
barn covered by. crcepers and tcemint
with vermin; recalled by future history
as the liar of the commercial cut-throa'
and the fence of the financial bunco
stccrer. .I-
Every argument advanced in favor o
every duty carrying Il penny OF protcc
ton is Il lie ont of whole cloth. TIL,
free breakfast table is IL lie ont of whole
cloth. That the tariff is not Il tax is (;
lie out of whole cloth. That if il is {
fax the foreigner pays it is a lie out of
whole cloth. Each tariff schedule is ar
ambuscadc of loot. Every classification
Is a rifle pit for the hatchery of tho
consumer. Protcctionism is but an.
other name for legaliZcd robbery. Its
fruits are before us. 1t is Il standing
invocation from the government to the
vcnal and the vicious to come and steal.
Vote the protcctionist ticket" says
Old High Tariff, "and ] will give you
the fat of the land" As Il consequence,
subsidy is rampant-thc auarchism OF
the rich-with socialism, u division o.
the spoil--the anarchism of the poor
ut the other end of it waving its red
flag and hiding its time.-St. Joseph
Observer.