Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1885 — The Absurd Protective Policy. [ARTICLE]

The Absurd Protective Policy.

Mr. David A. Wells, of Connecticut, was up to 1871 a rank protectionist. So prominent was he by his arguments in favor of high tariff that a Republican administration »ent him on a Government mission of investigating the manufacturing industries of Eu'Ope. But in the performance of his duties j light shone from the conditions about him, showing him that the protection laws he had so earnestly espoused were burden, some to the working classes and the indusies of the United States. He was presented after the manner of St. Paul, and has, since his return home, twelve years ago, been a zealous worker for tariff reform. In an address recently delivered by Mr. Wells before the Brooklyn Revenue Reform Club on “The Absurdity of the Protective Policy,” he made certain suggestions and arguments which not even Mr. Randall has the temerity to attack. He was backed with official statistics showing that within the last ten years, while the average wages of operatives in free trade Great Britain have increased s.per cent., wages in the highly protected State of Massachusetts have decreased 10 per cent. He argued that an aggregate of 15 per cent, represents more than the savings of the most economical laborer. He holds that the British laborer gets as great an advantage from the present low price of food products as does his American brother, and even greater; yet Great Britain is a free trade country and America has protection. Coal is proUved by a duty of 75 cents a ton, yet how mmy coal miners get 75 cents a ton for mining, or what influence has protection on the price of coal? A railroad pool places the price of coal wh re it wishes. The highest average wages paid in this country are in industries which are least protected. Where is the equity in taxing the public to make any business profitable? Grant that wages are higher here than in England, and waive the point as to whether a day’s wages in America will purchase more than a day’s wages in England, does it prove that protection is better then free trade? If so, why is it that wages are higher in free trade England than in protection Germany? And why is it that in China, where there has been a prohibitory tariff for the last 3,000 years, the average wages are 6 cents a day?— Exchange.