Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1892 — TRADE ORSTRUCTIONS. [ARTICLE]

TRADE ORSTRUCTIONS.

TOLLS? AND TARIFFS THE CHIEF ENEMIES. Ball Roads, High Freights, Etc., Are Minor Hindrances—How the Farmer*’ Earnings Are Deposited In Custom House*—Tbe Sugar Trust Supreme. Enemies of Industry. The typical protectionists are a queer set. From McKinloy down, they all continually cry, “We must protect American industry;” as if they alone, and not all Americans, were in favor of any and every policy that will protect f andJhepeflL our own people and country IndpapSfi'ence to all other peoples and countries. But, at the same time, it is clear from their actions—when they come to substitute actions for words—that they have no correct idea of what industry is. Doubttess, some will say, “What an unfounded and impudent assertion!" “What a'free-trade lie” But let us reason about it a little and see wherein is the truth. Industry consists of two factors, or there are two elements in it. One is production (derived from two Latin words—pro, forward, and ducore, to leadi—meaning, in this connection, the drawing out of materials or products irorn natural resources, and the other is exchange, or the selling of the things produced; and Industry can’t get along? .without both any more than a man get along with only one leg. For example, if a farmer grows 10,000 bushels of corn, and needs only 1,000 for himself, family, and animals, and can’t exchange or sell the other 9,000, he might as well not have raised It. He can eat corn, burn it for fuel and make whisky of it, but he can’t clothe himself with corn husks, plow with a cornstalk, wear corn shoes, and the like. To get these other things he must sell or exchange his surplus 9,000 bushels; and he must be stupid who does not at once see that the greater the facilities afTorded him for exchange, such as good roads, bridges, horses and wagons, cheap and swift railroads and steamships, low tolls, fretghis and taxes, the greater will be the opportunity for exchange and trade to advantage. On the other hand, poor roads, unbridged streams, few or no railroads or steamships, and high tolls, freights, and taxes all tend to restrict or destroy trade and the opportunity to sell his 9,000 bushels of com to advantage. A 20 per cent, tariff tax may fairly be considered as the representative of a bad road; a 50 per cent, of a broad, deep river without proper facilities for crossing; a 75 per cent, of a swamp bordering such river on both sides; while 100 per cent, duty, such as is ieviei on blankets, window glass, cottv n ties,and the like, can only properly be compared to a band of robbers, who strip the producer of nearly all he possesses and make him thankful that he escaped with his life. In short, there has never been a case in all human experience when the removal of restrictions, natural or legislative, on trade that did not result in the extention of trade to the mutual advantage of the great majority of the people concerned. The man who can get a law passed that will enable him to tax trade or exchange, always sees an advantage lo himself in the restricted trade that will result. So also does his brother-in-law who sits behind a bush on the road, with a gun, and tells the farmer who has sold his surplus of 9,000 bushels of corn, You can’t pass unless you give me a big part of what you received for it in exchange. But I fancy some farmor protectionist saying: “There is no one sitting behind a tush for me, I don’t see him." Nevertheless, he is there, ail the sather. Our farmer sells hi 3 nine thousand bushels of corn in England, and, as he wants things rather than money, and as many things are oheap in England, he concludes to take his pay in hardware, woolen clothing, blankets, starch, paints, oils, glass, salt, cordage, hats, crockery, cotton ties, and other like articles, and starts for home by way of New Yoffk. There is no man with a gun behind a bush on the wharf to lie in wait for him, but there is another man, armed with something better than a gun, who tells the farmer that he must give up more than half the value of all the things he has received in payment for his corn before he can come into possession of the other half. If he does not pay 'qufckly-or if he‘makes any fuss about the charges, this other man will take the whole, and not unlikely put the farmer in jail. If the farmer could pay in things instead of money, and had taken salt in exchange for his corn, then for every hundred bushel* he would have had to bring and give up seventy-three additional bushels, for every yard of the cheapest carpet he would have had three-quarters of a yard cut off, and if he had cotton ties, each tie would be shortened to the extent of 90 per cent. If he had taken the commonest kind of china plates or cups, then in order to carry a dozen of .them home he would have had to pay for eighteeu. And so on. If our Government -needed to impose and collect such taxes In order to meet its'necessary expenditures, there would be some justification (or such procedure. Butrevenue was not the object sought for in the enactment of tbe laws which authorize or require them, but the restrictions of trade, to prevent the farmer from selling his products to the best advantage. In short, carry out logically and to their fullest extent McKinley’s views about Industry, and you would have every man trying to produce a good deal and sell as little as possible.—David A. Wells, in American Journal of Politics. Keep McKinley on ilie Stamp.

McKinley sjroke in three large cities in Vermont this year, and “was received with the greatest enthusiasm” by great audiences in each city. To show, their of the Major kfld his blessed tariff law, these cities this year cast the following vole as compared with Ihe vote in the corresponding election in 1888: , 1888. . , 1892.—, Rep. Dem. Rep. Dem. Brattleboro l.'xri 456 *62 403 Rutland 1,398 026 1,285 !183 Burlington 1,401 l,ou l.oie 1,106 Total 3,801 2.326 3,113 2 402 If the Major could have teen induced by tariff reformers to have made twentyspeeches in Vermont it is safe to say that it w-ould have gone Democratic. It is a curious fact that the farmers and laborers of this country, tax-bur-dened and hard pressed as they are. will not consent to shift their taxes upon the-poor foreigner, and thereMs no surer sign that there is yet left something of that American manhood and independence that made them as unwilling to pay Ingland’s taxes in 1776. as they are now to have England pay their taxes. Justice, no more and no less, is about their size and McKinley cannot change the fit by appealing to their selfish instincts by asking lhem to tax the helpless foreigner; that is, providing they believe that his scheme will work. McKinley is the only stumper that is entirely satislactory to both parties. He should be given double pay and asked to •make two speeches a day until November,

Andrew Jackson* Prophetic Word*. “The corporations and wealthy individuals who are engaged in large manufacturing establishments desire a high tariff to jncrease their gains. Designing politicians will support it t© conciliate their favor and to obtain Ufa means of proiuse expenditure for the purpose

of purchasing infiuence in other quarters. * * * Do not allow yourselves, my feljow cfcfizena.to be misled on this subject. The Federal Government cannot collect a surplus for such purposes without violating the principles of the constitution and assuming powers which have not been granted. It is, moreover, a system of injustice, and, if persisted in, will inevitably lead to corruption and must end in ruin.’—Jackson’s Farewell Address.