Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1910-04-07
THE PEOPLES FORUM
Able and Interesting Letter from
Aberdeen, S. Oak.

Able and Interesting Letter from
Aberdeen, S. Oak.
To the Editor:
The Democrat is regular and most
welcome weekly visitor at our home
here. | do like to see a county paper
whose concern is better civic life, and
which stands for broad education and
common sense. This The Democrat
does ably and consistently. In your
last issue you allude to recent article
in The Chronicle, in which you ask,
Gould Folly Go Farther?" I do fear
it. The coming campaign will elicit
more just such "stuff" Any person
who processes himself to be "a firm
believer in the Aldrich tariff law
and who claims to believe that "High
tariff made Iowa county what it is
may be expected to out Herod Herod in
| such absurdities. Since you have con-
sidereed it mentionable, I have seen fit
to jot down these views,-which if you
can afford space in your editorial col
umns,-you may print:
Like all other Protectionsts, the Of
fender in The Chronicle is prompted by
| spirit of selfshness. He makes bold
to say:
eve are sellers, and for that reason
| get the best OF the deal. We believe
that the price of labor should be in
creased, but not at the expense of the
farmers of Iowa county. We cannot
support any candidate for congress who
does not stand pat on the tariff sched-
uies SO far as they affect the products
OF southwest Wisconsin,
Evidently the editor would have us
think that so long as the Third congress
sional district is prosperous, the rest of
the country may go hang. In this case
the protective system cannot stand on
its merits. It cannot defend tariff
upon the various articles as proper and
necessary duties. In an attempt to meet
the proposal of the editor it is necessary
to appeal merely to mans sense of
unselfish fairmindedness. The spirit of
commercialism is already too strong
among us, and it is to be hoped that our
'local editor" may not seriously at
tempt to force such teachings upon his
unsuspecting patrons. Were it not that
l eschew multiplication of words, it
might be but fair to take up the con-
sideration of tariff upon the following
grounds:
That the principle of protection is
not right in itself; that the policy is
imprudent; that the tax is unnecessary.
Elk President VIM. Mckinley, whose
authority may not be questioned by the
Chronicle editor, said:
"Were it not for the necessity for
revenue there would be NO JUSTIFICATION
for tariff on imposts.'
Protection simply means the giving of
a right, to one man or group of men,
to extort money from other men; which
is indefensible. Taxes for the benefit
OF the producer, at last invariably fall
upon the consumer of the product. Such
taxes upon consumption, ALWAYS react
most harshly upon the poor. In any
land where the laws are. so framed that
some grow rich where many must grow,
or stay, poor. we do not have equal or
exact justice to every man. What can
be the justification for industries that
need perpetual coddling, and which
simply ride upon our backs?
In conclusion, we may say that ANY
POLICY which attempts to produce in
this country, at high price, what can
be bought abroad at low price, IN
EXCHANGE FOR OTHER AND PROFITABLE
PRODUCTS of our own endeavor, is FAIL
LAcIoUs ECONOMY, and MOST VICIOUS IN
PRINCIPLE. With hopes that Goldsmith's
fears expr essed in the lines
I'll fares the land to Fastening ills prev.
| Where wealth accumnlates and men decay"
may never become sadFreality here,
and that the municipal election in Min
eral Point will be triumph for better
morals and higher citizenship, am
| Yours truly, 81. J. PARMLEY.
Aberdeen, S. D., March %, 1910.
L " 4 al.