Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1912-03-14
L00kIHG BACK TWENTY YEARS.
The Avalanche of Failures Which Followed
The Downfall of Protection in 1892.
Leslie's Weekly.

Leslie's Weekly.
Twenty years ago the country was
prosperous. In 1892 a persistent and
amply financed campaign was waged
against the Protective Tariff. More
than a decade of years of business &C.
tivity had made the country exuberant-
ly prosperous. 1t had also served to
render the people careless. They be-
came forgetful of the source from which
our material blessings flow.
The aggressive campaign carried on
by theorists and the importing agents
of foreign manufacturers was success
full. Men of middle age can readily re-
call what happened. Immediately after
the presidential election of 1892 there
came al avalanche of failures. Rail-
roads, factories, mercantile establish
ments and financial institutions went
into bankruptcy. Grass grew in the
streets of cities. Wages, when they
We're paid at all, were cut in two. As
sets OF whose security there never had
been any doubt melted like snow on a
warm spring day. Labor without en-
ployment walked the streets. Destitu-
ton was guest in hundreds of thous-
ands of bones. The resources of char
ity were exhausted. Despair chok ed
energy. Enterprise shrunk in the grasp
of contracted money market.
These were lamentable times, indeed.
The Wilson Tariff bill, which was re-
lentlessly pressed upon the country,
whose industries were already crushed,
filled the cup of woe.
In this year of 1912 another aggres-
sive campaign is on against the Protec-
tive idea. 1t is being conducted astute-
ly and with organized financial plans.
The markets Of the United States, with
their trade of nearly 100, 600, 900 pros
porous people, are an enviable prize for
foreign manufacturers. They can I'M
dersell our manufacturers here without
Protection, chiefly because the wage
scale in the United States is the highest
in the world.
Wages in England, France and Ger
many are decidedly lower than they are
here. Nobody denies this. Ask any
foreigner about it, if you are in doubt
In Austria and Italy factory operatives
are paid from twenty to forty cents q
day. In Japan, where there are facto-
ries in which American products are
initiated, wages do not average as high
as ten cents daily. Even now, with g
Protective Tariff, Japanese manufact.
urers send brushes and other article:
here which compete in our own markets
with the home products.
The manufacturers and wsge-earners
of the United States face grave peril
Their means of livelihood are threaten.
ed. The calamity of twenty years age
may be repeated. A determined assault
on our industries is being made. By
subtle methods efforts are being direct
ed to the arraying of class against class.
For two years or more a determined
propaganda against Protection has beer
carried on. Many may become blinded
to the fact that an injury to one class
will bring injury to all. 1t is time for q
general awakening. The doctrine of
Protection must be preached anew.
Missionaries must take the field. The
young voters, who do not recall the do
lorous days of twenty years ago, must
be instructed by the light of history
The crusade for Free Trade-that is
the ultimate meaning Of the agitation
must he met by a crusade for Protec-
ton, for our industries, for our wages
and for our homes. Otherwise the his
tory of 1892 may repeat itself in 1912
1t will begin with the opening of our
gates to the foreign manufacturer. 1t
will end with the opening of the soup
houses.