The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-08-27
- LESSON FROM .AM3R1c.A.'

Tho a~rraignmont of n protective
tariff as "a dam that hems us in.
chokes us. smothers us is made just
when the only free trade country
among our rivals is about Ia abandon
that policy and adort tariff reform,
the English equivalent of our system
of protection of industries. Not long
ago a man SO bold as 20 favor a tariff
for the protection of the Lancashire
cotton industry. tn" bolster of the
free trade theory. found himself over
uhelmed with Lancashire prosperity
data cited as proof thai high tariff
America. with all her advantage as
the home Of the cotton plant. could
NOT hold her own against British COM
petition in the worlds markets. But
that taunt has lost its sting. Free
trade has not withstood tho endur-
ance test. Lancashire laneuishes by
contrast. and today her statistics of
fer the most cosent argument In sup
port of the insistent demand of Brit
ish interests for protection.
Free trade retains its hold as A po-
litical issue. il is true. but that is be
cause its adherents belong to the
party in power. The next general
election will decide its fate. The sue
cess Of tariff reform is a %foregone con-
clusion. Discussing the outlook from
the standpoint of a protecrionlst, a
contributor to the Nineteenth Century
for August. under the caption. "A
Lesson From America" replies 10 the
assertion that tariff reforms would
ruin the English cotton industry by
saving that tariff reform would great
~ benefit il; that wages would be
raised substantially. the home market
for cotton goods taken out of foreign
competition. and the markets of In
dia, Canada. Australia. Inc other
British possessions. markets vital to
Lancashire's prosperity. preserved TO
British products. and that a tariff
would also decrease the cost of pro-
duction of cotton goods. Nor need
England fear retaliation under her
changed policy, as h could capture
in the home market a cotton trade Of
far greater value than she could pos
sibly lose by retaliation.
The British writer could have
clinched his argument in favor Of
Tree IIdQe Dy SHOWING
how fast and far America has gone
ahead of Great Britain since the
adoption of the principle Of protec-
ton. Within a period of sixty years
the per capita wealth has increased
from 1907 to s1.310. the per capita
circulation from s12 to s34, savings
bank deposits have increased from
s14,OO0,000 to $4.212, 600. 900, farm
property from $4,000, 600. 600 to SAL
600. 0OO. 900. and farm products from
1000. 0O0. 900 to $40. 600. 600. 900. Our
cotton goods industry has grown from
the spinning of $4,000 bales in 1860
to $500, 900 in 1910. valued at $685.
900. 900. and the number of employees
since 1880 from $4,000 to 37s, 900, or
five times the increase in Lancashire.
In no particular has free trade rot
ton manufacture kept step with it's
"choked and smothered" rival, highly
protected manufacture.
Another tribute to the prosperity
promoting tendency of protection is
the British discovery that no sooner
are industries established in an Amer
lean community than the benefits of
the introduction of a tariff are shown,
for one thing. in the increased buying
power of the public. It is the uni
versal experience that the American
family spends eight or ten times ns
much on cotton goods as the British.