The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-10-05
FREE TRADE AFTER WAR
BUSINESS men FEAR IT
WITHOUT PROTECTION EUROPE
WILL DELUGE WITH HER
CHEAP GOODS.

From all parts of the country comes
increasing evidence that men engaged
in productive industry are taking deep
interest in conditions that will exist
after the war;" and hiatt they are
not at all satisfied with the economic
situation as affected by tariff legis-
lation, says a Washington correspon-
dent.
Instead of being destroyed, European
industries have been developed by the
war, except in the very limited terri
tory over which the contending armies
have battled. Every European fac
tory has ben working full time and
has increased it's capacity in the eff
fort to supply demands. When war
demands have ceased, the factories
will still be in condition to turn out
maximum quantities of goods, and the
supply must be marketed to a large
extent in other countries. Naturally
America will be the most promising
market, for this country will have the
money to spend. American producers
can see no way of avoiding a flood of
foreign products, with the protective
tariff bars let down.
Democratic Papers Suppress Facts.
Unfortunately, large portion of the
press of the country has felt under
the necessity of suppressing the facts
of the situation, as a matter Of poll
teal expediency. Democratic editors
naturally feel. and with good reason,
that if they acknowledged that the
present unparalleled demand for our
products is due to the war, the admis-
sion would discredit the claim that
the Wilson administration has brought
the greatest era of prosperity the
country has ever known. For partisan
reasons, therefore, they conceal the
facts as to the character of our for
eign trade, and the protective effect
of the war;
Sell Products At Any Price.
But the careful business men of the
country whose success depends upon
their studying fundamental economic |
conditions, are not overlooking real
tiles. They know that the stream of
foreign products flowing into this
country was steadily increasing up to
the outbreak of the war; and the out
flow of exports was just a ssteadily |
decreasing. They know that the turn
came Immediately after the declaration |
of hoE oh of DO |
since that time have ben commodities
needed for the support of armies in
the field. They know that when mil
lions of men were taken from the
other millions of men, women and
children took their places in produc
tive industry, and that when the sold
iers return to their homes, the pro-
ductive capacity of Europe will be the
greatest in it's history. They know
that Europe's necessities will force her
to sell products at any price that can
be obtained in order to realize upon
them the money with which to pay
national and commercial debts
Protect America First.
With these facts clearly in their
minds, American business men are APP
prehensive as to the serious results
that will follow the signing of a peace
treaty, when all Europe will throw
a surplus of commodities upon our
market, taking away American money
and throwing American labor out of
employment. Actuated by the same
cautions care employed in their pri-
vate business, these men want ade-
quate provision made to protect our
industries from the flood of foreign
products. They realize that there is
no hope whatever that the democratic
party will abandon its long establish
ed principle Of free trade, and there
fore, they are turning in steadily in
creasing numbers to the support of
the party which stands today, as It has
always stood, for America first"