The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-06-04
M tTuCA spf Of TlH IARff.


: litical issue, periodically agItated
e the disturbance OF business stabil
lily, until the false idea Of protec
. tionism is surrendered aud the fun
. dameniAl ethical fact, that II is NOR
ally an iniquity, an oppression an,
: a prostitution Of governmental pow
) er to permi, a public statute 10 b
twisted TO private gain, is fully O.
generally recognized. The Dem
osratic Party will never win BY pal
,ering with the issue. II will wiz
, after a campaign Of education wheI
il fights The system on mora
grounds as iniquitous in principle
oppressive IN some, burdensome Il
many and necessarily unequal FOL
all When q man tells you that .
given business cannot thrive with
out governmental aid by imposition
Of taxes upon possible competitors
or by direct subsidy. ask him upon
what clause OF the Federal Consti.
tuition. or Of any eonceivsbl code
OF morals ever recognized by men,
he bases the profitable assumption
that i, is the duty Of Government to
insure profits and commercial
thriving to him. or anybody else,
in his, or anybody else's private
business Even from a pure mon
etary standpoint it is better in the
long run for all, because better for
stability OF conditions, that private
business and public laws should be
as nearly as possible divorced. Their
marriage is corrupt in itself and
corEupting in its example of in
fluence. When a mar tells you he
advocates protectionism not because
of the profits TO acrue to him or to
others, who have capital invested,
but because Of the increased wages
violently presumed TO accrue to La
Dor, ask him il he would DO willing
to Tx by law upon a wage as an
American standard Of living-as the
least amount for which a decent liv-
ing could be bought (say one dollar,
or one and a half dollars or two dol
lars a day. and then pay directly
from the Treasury at the end Of each
week TO each laborer who had earn
ed less than the standard, the diff
ference between the standard and
his actual earnings? He will tell
you mo- He is apt to swear in
addition and to call you a Social
ist," Communist" or even "An-
archist." And yet this plan would
have this advantage over the pro-
tectionist plan Of helping labor"
the money could be seen to 60 into
the pockets of the supposed ben
eficiary-poor sewing women in
sweat shops, etc.-and would not
remain, for the lions share, or en-
tirely, as now, in the pockets of the
self-assumed patrons of labor for
incidental gain"
True a tariff can and sometimes
does make a pet industry supported
by public enforced largess able to
pay labor more, but it would re-
quire the special grace Of God to
make its prime benefciaries who
the protected product to the
consumer, for the most
part at a higher price than to the
consumer, willing to pay
labor one cent more than
the price Of labor fixed by the de-
.and and supply Of laborers in the
American market. Moreover, it is a
though melancholy fact,
that the class Of men who handle
he shekels, as intermediates" be-
tween the Government and labor is
N very small part indeed composed
If those who seek the special grace
God 10 enable them to part, in
part even, with profits attainable
md we are told that special grace
does not come save by seeking"
The intermediary" does not want
he Government to dole out its lar
sesses directly to the laborer even
lnder the most stringent provisions
0 prevent fraud on the treasury, be-
ause then he would lose his job as
.Intermediary"-the latest job this
In America-wnether in steel,
r sugar, or tobacco, or other Gov
rnmcnt-petted enterprise. It may
. aid that money paid directly
the Treasury to the needy