Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-10-28

the pen of Paul Kersch Of Rock Island. /
The author does not approach the sub f!
JeCt from partisan point Of view, |
wherefore his arguments ought TO car /
ry weight in helping the voter who Is !
still ''on the fence to obtain light and !
Information The articles. in part are !
taken from his book. The Elements OF
Political Truth" now in the hand Of the
publisher.)
The boast that the great advances
Of this country in wealth and pros
perity were owing to the republican
policy of protection is nursery tale,
long since exploded, and is simply
a SANDER on the American people.
Our natural resources are so i'm
mense, and the energy and ingenuity
of American labor so exceptionally
productive, that owing TO the combina-
tion of these two tremendous factors
our peop-e are bound to prosper and
grow in wealth under or in spite of
any tariff legislation. The country
would have been just as rich and
prosperous by this time, had the de-
velOpment been permitted 70 take its
natural course. 1t would be healthier
and more stable, too, as the human
body is healthier and more resistant
when brought up on natural food
rather than on medicinal stimulants.
In fact the economic activities would
have assumed a much stronger agri-
cultural development and a healthier
balance, and while the produced wealth
would have been fully as great, its
distribution would have been more
uniform, there would have been few
er trusts, 70 mCECpolies and fewer
sweatshOps.
The idea that this country of all
known countries, the richest in natur
al resources, with its labor, the most
Intelligent energetic and productive
abor in the world, should need the
highest protective tariff ever enacted
in any civilized country, to make
our industries 90, and TO save our
people from ruin and starvation, is so
wi dly prcpOsterous that one cannot
understand how any sane man can
utter it. And yet that is what We
hsye-the highest protective taxes Of
any civilized country tariff wh-cl
would have made Hamilton and Clay
stare in blank anna cement Equally
. prePCsterous is the other audacious
pTetense-tO the iteration of which
4 We regret to say, the progressive
I Roosevelt has lent himself-that this
Z 8 l. rDl-FTrE 10 =
one Of its main purposes, simply TO
Offset in favor Of the American laborer,
the difference between American and
! foreign wages. This IS a subterfuga
unworthy of an intrepid thinker. Let
any man study the schedules Of or
/ tariff and he VIII look in vain for
/ any number OF protected industries
/ that were satisfied with the compare
| tive pittance of an offset for the dif-
! ference between American AID foreign
I labor cost in manufactured goods.
But he viii find many a schedule that
converts q method Of raising revenue
. into a machinery of moGstrogs extOT-
ton. He viii find plenty of evidence
? to prove 10 him that when our pro-
I Iective taxes are denounced as "Tc5.
I berry, the word may be rude. but
not unjust-and that the tariff. By
leyying tribute upon the people, has
I provided and is maintaining ard aug
menting the menacing growth of in
/ dustrial feudalism, c. fortunes so
large as to be incompatib with free
/ institutions, and yet far more onin-
Gus that the economic aspect OF the
protective tax is its moral and Doliti.