The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1912-10-30
fOOL|NC WITH
PROSPERITY
RAILROADS TELL THE STORY
Undermining Of the Tariff VIII Pro-
duce Untold Stagnation Of Business
and Cause Disaster to the Working.
man Of the Country.

sHd SauoS 'S'oaoeS' w hhS VS'NUh
man Of the Country.
All through this year mills in thi;
country in nearly II not quite every
line of manufacture have been SO
gorged with business that they have
been much behind with their orders.
or what use to worry about foreign
trade when you cannot make all the
goods that are wanted at home? No
sane man regards with indifference
export business for the country at
large; but il a Massachusetts man
can sell in New York more fabrics
than he can make what impulse can
he have to seek for customers in Lon.
don or Paris or Calcutta?
And why should he be expected to
make sacrifices to get that trade? How
can you expect him to agree that the
tariff behind which he finds an insa-
table market for goods, market hav.
ing actually riotous prosperity shall
be cut and amended and patched and
cobbled so that there shall be bet.
ter chance to push American goods
across the seas?
The condition of the railroads tells
the story of our overfowing prosper
ity. The nations business has about
outgrown the capacity of the rail-
roads of the country which has half
the railroad mileage of the world.
The time is near at hand when, in
some parts Of the country, to double
the railroad trackage will be still not
n sufficient effort to meet the require
monts of swift expanding com.
meroe.
And If some one shall say that this
stupendous prosperity produced under
the shelter of the tariff is by no
means the result of the operation Of
the tariff, we may well ask, How can
you prove that proposition? To prove
it is of course quite impossible. But
we may declare, with no peril of con.
tradiction, first, that high tariff has
at least not operated as an obstruc-
tion or check upon prosperity, and.
second, that no nation under heaven
ever succeeded in building up manu-.
featuring industries without help from
tariff protection.
There is not a single example in
history; actually not one. Is it pru.
dent to try experiments with this
amazing prosperity? And, particularly,
may / ask of the out-and-out free
trader, What reason have you for pre-
suming that higher measure of pros.
perity may be procured by the adop-
ton of methods directly opposed to
those under which we have attained
10 the very highest prosperity ever
achieved by human effort?
1t is a fair reasonable supposition
that, if we simply let conditions alone
they will work towards, or at least,
they will not obstruct, the continuous
movement towards better and better
things for the nation.
The assertion may be made with
confidence, an assertion which has for
its warrant such mournful experience
in the past, that a decided change in
the protective system, or even strong
menace of such a change, will have
the effect to check the development
of business rather than to promote it.
How to Check Prosperity.
Do you wish to know how to put an
end to the embarrassments now ex.
per!enced by mill owners who are be.
hind with their orders, by employers
who find the supply of laborers short,
by railroads which cannot obtain cars
enough with which to move the freight
offered them?
! can suggest an immediate and ef.
fective, remedy for all such troubles.
Let the word go out from an au-
thoritative source that Congress in.
tends to make important changes in
the tariff. And, particularly, let it be
made known that there is to be re-
vision of important duties downward,
and all the difficulties from which
manufacturers and common carriers
are now suffering will promptly disap-
pear.
Send the tidings over the land to q
startled and indignant people that the
tariff barrier behind which they con.
duct their peaceful pursuits is to be
undermined, and instead of the mills
being unable to meet their orders, the
goods will be stacked in the store
r0oms and the wheels will be idle. !
Instead of the railroads finding cars
scarce the sidings will be filled with |
empty cars. Instead of the working !
people being eagerly bid for by the
manufacturers, and wages swiftly ris. |
ing, there will be mutitudes of idle |
men in the streets and in the SOUP
houses, and there will be suffering and
distress where now there is comfort
and abundance.
It will be strange if this nation,
within a few years of the Cleveland
hard times, produced by a foolhardy
attempt to recast the tariff in the in.
terests Of foreigners, should be willing
TO make again a venture SO ruinous
and dreadful
The protective system absolutely
iustihes itself by the conditions now
In the United States in every
department Of business Let me put
The fact more strongly. We have here,
under that system, the one magnificent
economic success thus far achieved
by the human race
We shall manifest wisdom if our un
purpose shall be to hold
fast to the policy under which things
70 mighty haNa hnnn hnnn