The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-05-27
oPTIMIsTs AND
PEsSIMISTS

other sees only the hole.
When the Proteetionists acquire Goa
irol Of the national government, they
are optimists. They see the doughnut
instead of the hole. A broad grin
spreads over their round faces from
ear to ear. With one accord they say,
"Come on, fellows; climb into the
band wagon and now let all make
some money Our factories are all clos
ed down, men are out of work, the
number of soup houses is high, prices
Of foodstuffs and everything else are
dirt cheap, but people haven't the
money to buy them regardless of their
cheapness, and ever with bumper crops
our farmers scarcely are able to make
both ends meet. Let's revise the Tariff
upward, put a Protective duty on ey
erything competitive, shut out foreign
goods. 90 to making them ourselves,
mt our men at work, raise their wages,
enable them to pay for all the farm
and other products they can use, and
wen all be prosperous and happy.
And they do it. They call a special
session of Congress to revise the Tar
if. They place the greatest Tariff ex
perts of the House on the Committee
of Ways and Means and the greatest
experts of the Senate on the Finance
committee. Then they announce that
hearings of the Ways and Means com
mittee will be pen to hear the manu-
facturers, the farmers and the labor
ing men of the country. They invite
them all to come and tell the commit
tee Just what they think ought to be
done.
All are heard, and pretty much all
OF them secure a fair Protective duty.
Then the hearings open before the m
nance committee. and those who did
NOT secure what they felt they had to
have at the hands of the Ways and
Means committee plead before the Fl
nance committee, which revises the
work of the Ways and Means commit
tee. reports an amended bill, sends 1T
"a conferences, where members of the
two committees thresh out their differ
enees and report bach a bill. Congress
passes it, and forthwith the fires IN our
furnaces are rekindled, smoke again
ponrs from their stacks, men are gwen
employment, prices of most commodl
ties advance, the farmers get a FAIR
reward for their toll, prosperity enyel
ops the country, and everybody makes
money.
What do the Free-Traders do when
thew get into power-those pessimists
who see the hole instead of the dough
mutt They begin to "knock.' They
saw to the steel men, "'You have been
making too much money, and We're go
inc to hit YOU and to the pottery
man, s'You've been making too much
money, and we're going to hit you,
and the same to the wool men, the
silk men, the sugar men and to every
other man who is a producer and VINO
has managed to save up more than a
dollar and sixty-eight cents. If a man
has made money, it necessarily must,
saws the Free-Trader, be at the eX
pense of his fellow citizens. HThe Tar
iH is no better thar highway robbery.
Prices are too high; we want things
cheap. W.T. must buy in the cheapest
market and sell in the dearest. Every
tub must stand on its own bottom. II
we can't produce certain things as
cheaplv here as they can in foreign
countries where wages are low, let's
buy these things of them and turn our
energies TO something else that we can
produce as cheaply."
They call a special session of Con-
oress. Instead of Tariff experts, they
place Free-Trade theorists on the Ways
and Means and Finance committees.
They know what they want in the way
of a Tariff bill, and they need no ad-
vice from manufacturers, farmers, OF
labor organizations. Their knowledge is
infinite. With the aid of the White
House, in secret star chamber proceed
ings. they frame a Tariff bill. When 1t
finally is printed and has the so. X
of the White House, it goes to the
WAYS and Means committee and imme-
diately is reported to the House. While
a few Southern Democrats on the fiooI
of the House are reversing their Free.
Trade declarations and ~endeavoring Il
secure additional protection for Sou
thern industries, in a merely perfunet
orv way, the Ways and Means com
mittee holds a few abbreviated ane
merely p~erfunctory sessions where man
ufacturers and other interested parties
may plead their cause to empty com
mittee member chairs. Before eve
they are allowed to appear, the dl'
was cast, the rates were made; thei
advice is not needed.
The bin is passed, the steel, tn
wool, the pottery, the silk, the suga
and all other industries are hit. For
eign-made goods begin to clog the eus
tom houses, and our mills begin laylnl
of their operatives. One after anothe
they close down, and as winter come
or long rows of soup houses and mu
nieipal lodging houses take thel
places. The poor man and his famlt
60 hungry, while the rich man., instea'
of conducting a prosperous bushes
and employing thousands of men a
high wages, goes to Palm Beach ,
Southern California for the winter.
The Free.Trade pessimist vainly in
outuaa chat he can HIT tho heads u