The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-12-13
HISTORY ENDORSES PRoTEc-
34@ TON

ton were made Of adamant it would
be crushed to powder by free trade"
Bismarck made Germany's power pos
sible when he insisted upon the adop-
ton Of a protective tariff policy
Washington and Hamilton and their
co-laborers laid the foundation OF
American progress and development
when they wrote upon the newly
opened pages of our statute books
that first tariff law for the encour-
agenent and protection Of manufac-
turers, says the Los Angeles Times,
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of
the democratic party, was changed
from free trader to a protectionist
by our experience during the war Of
1912 and by the rapid development of
manufacturing during the period
while his embargo on imports from
England was In force. THE prohibit
ing duties which, under protection.
we lay on all articles Of foreign manu-
facture. which prudence requires us
to establish at home, secure us
against lapse into foreign Deepen
dency." These are the words Of
Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the
democratic party. Match the truly
industrial Independence as advocated
by Tnomas Jefferson with the New
Freedom Of Woodrow Wilson. and
who, think you, was the truer Amer
lean and the sounder democrat?
Experience has taught me- wrote
Thomas Jefferson in letter to Ben
jamin Austin, that manufacturers
are now as necessary ito our indepen-
dence as to our comfort, and If those
who quote me as of different op1n-
lon will keep pace with me in pur-
chasing nothing foreign, where an
equivalent of domestic fabric can be
obtained, without regard to difference
in price, it will not be our fault II
we do not soon have supply at
home equal to our demand"
Contrast these words Of that great
democrat with the pleading OF the
modern democrat that we be granted
the empty privilege of buying in for
eign markets Which rings truer to
the spirit of Americanism; which
better responds to the patriotic i'm
pulse which all of us must feel?
Which will you choose. the proved
doctrines of Jefferson or the failed
theories of Woodrow Wilson? If you
are in doubt look about you-study
Germany and the secret of her eff
cheney and power; study England,
now returning to the protective pol
icy which in earlier days made her
the .mistress of the world. And then
look here at home. See the south
.ern confederacy crushed by the in
dustrial north and by that crushing
giving birth to the successful new
south.
And today do you not see In our
midst busy textile and steel mills and
munition plants, the fruitage OF the
American policy of diversified inter
ests built up by protection. supply
ing the needs of other nations In
their hour of trial and distress? Had
it not been for a century of indus
trial development, fostered by our
protective tariff, the liberties of the
world today would be crushed under
an iron heel, and the independence Of
the nations whose nam es are written
on history's brightest page would
have been lost forever.
What is it that has partially
brought us out of the depression
which swept over this land in 1914.
1t is the opportunity which we have
had Of starting once more the ma
chinery Of our mills and factories,
and paying to our workers the wages
which free trade tariff had de-
prived them Of.
1t Is upon the business now Delng
done by mills and factories built up
under policy of protection that
Woodrow Wilson, the apostle Of free
trade, bases his hopes Of reelection.
Can history produce more aston
ishing illustration of the strange
freaks Of fate? Can the country have
more impressive lesson, Of the value
and necessity Of protection? And
can 1t fail at the next election to
give us an administration thoroughly
protectionist from the capitol to the
white house?