Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-01-18
The Old Threat of European Reprisals


The Old Threat of European Reprisals
(The National Republican,
Our presidential electors have not yet
assembled, and still we hear the old
threat that European nations will re-
sent raising of the tariff to protective
basis. How strange it would be If we
did not hear that well-worn phrase.
When the free traders of this coun-
try did not know how much harm the
low tariff would do them they pledged
US q wonderful anti-dumping system.
Under this far-reaching law they would
force the Briton and the Bulgarian.
the Hungarian and the Hindoo, the
manufacturers in Paris and Polynesia,
| to inform us what their goods cost, and
anything unfairly cheap would be ex-
cluded. Now their tune has changed.
Instead of telling us that Europe must
show her costs of production to our
authorities the complaint is that
Europe will resent our action in pro-
tecting our own workshops 1t is I'M
deniable that Great Britain long pro-
tected her industries, that France and
| Germany have done the same, that
every other nation in the whole world
7 guards its workshops when it sees fit
to do SO. but We are not to be allowed
to do So No details are given. 1t
I is simply charged that foreign powers
will resent a tariff made for ourselves
and not for them.
! Foreign influence has had a share iri
making several low tariffs, but when
/ have foreign nations taken vengeance
/ on us for adopting protection? The
tariffs of 1924, 1928 and 1912 did not in
volve us in European war Our Civil
war tariff was unpopular in Great
Britain, but how could we have got
along without it? McKinley's tariff
did not bring any calamity upon us
though its successor did. The Dingley
{ bill came, We had a contest with Spain
! the next year, it is true, yet no one
has alleged that protection caused it..
Under the Payne schedules the coun-
try went ahead, and it will do SO I'M
! der the next tariff the Republicans place
/ upon the statute books The resent
ment of the European will not prevent
him from selling us wnat he can and
buying from us what he needs.
| hundred years of threatening have
gone by. From 1880 to 1859 the cry
was that if we protected our industry
/ the South would break up the Union.
From 1860 to our own day there have
| been solemn warnings that whatever
we do to shield our industries will be
! resented by those who want to control
our market
| The free trader does not always blus-
| ter. He frequently seeks to be plausi-
| Bile and even demonstrative, as when
! he says that if this nation does not
! buy of other nations they will not buy
OF US. This will do for kindergarten,
but it is riddled to pieces in boys
| debating club.
| When do nations buy and sell? Not
often. 1t is true that France, Spain,
Mexico. Russia. Colombia and Dem
mark have sold US real estate; but
the overwhelming majority of CONNER
I cial transactions are between indiyid-
! uals. not between governments. The
| desire of individuals to purchase COM
/ forts or luxuries is so great that no
war ever annihilated a long established
trade. British cloth found it's way to
French buyers and French brandy was
struggled into England even in the
days of the long NapoIeonic struggle.
Germans bought British goods during
the late contest Before the war was
, oficiaiiy at an end commercial travel
ers from London and LEIPZIG were
ready for new business. What evidence
is there to show that the future will
be radically different from the past?
Should our tariff rates be doubled,
squared or cubed the European will
buy OF us what he can get cheaper and
better than elsewhere. If German
can today buy something he wants
here or get it from an Austrian by
waiting three months there is little
doubt that he will choose the first al
Tentative. The soldiers in the army of
occupation bought many an article
/ made in Germany. Few are credulous
enough to take the old threat serious
! ly.