A Great Curse

The principal speaker at the aunual dinuer cf the New England Free Trade league, held on May 8, was JMr. Frankiin Pierce of New York. He handled his subject without gloves. He said in part as follows: "Not only are the farmers beginning to appreciate the truth that protection robs them and their families, but our inauufacturers, as the producís of their looms exceed the demand of the home market, are understanding that a protective tariff, especially upon their raw material, ie against their interests. "The present population of the world is about 1,400,000,000, and only 400,000,000 use machinery at all. The rest do their work by rude tools guided by the hands, and we, the Yankee nation, who have revolutionized the world by our inventions, who use machinery to a greater extent than any other people, we refuse to allow the raw material which these 1,000,000,000 of ïiomua.chine using people créate, to enter our ports in excbange for machine made produots, except upon the payinent cf excessive duties, while the more intelligent of our manufacturera are clamoring for free raw material and saying, 'Give us free raw material, and we will conquer the markets cf the world. ' "Instead of seeking the markets of the world, employing millions of men now lying idle, making the margin of profits less but the output several times greater than at present, getting thereby a steady market and continned service for our la boring classes, our trusts and combinations are hiring their competitors to close their factories and throw tens of thousands of laboring men out of employment. "We have only to get freedom of trade and we can capture the markets of the world in many lines. What the Englishman is to the Germán the American is to the Englishman, and just as the Germán is crying out against competition with the machine made goods and high priced labor of England, just so would Eugland cry out against competition with the machine made goods and the high priced labor of America, were duties upon all raw materials removed. "We Americans walk f aster, talk faster, work faster, do everything faster than any other people on the face of the earth. A people of the greatest natural vigor and the greatest enterprise in the world, we have paruperedour life and emasculated our strength and largely impaired the virility of our national life by a protective tariff. Manliness asserts its mastery in the same way in manufacturing as it does in every walk of life. The men in íessions wno asa no ravors, Dut get out upon the dusty arena and fight for a lead, are the men who gain strength by every effort. Give us 10 years of free trade, and we would captare from England one-fourth of her vast trade. Give us 20 years of free trade, and we will lead the world as exporters. "The protective system has debaucbed public men and corrupted public life. Give any body of men, however pure, the power to take $100,000, 000 from the pockets of the millions and transfer it to the pockets of a few men through an act of legislation, and you have created a eorrapting power which will destroy the virtue and the patriotism of that body of men. "We shall never get rid of the evils which I have described until every dollar raised by taxation is paid into the national treasnry ; until we stop entirely this practice of allowing the right of government to tax property to be used for the purpose of allowing the manufactnrer to prohibit importations, form trusts and rob our people of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. "The rernedy is in direct taxation. Every man has a right to know exactly what he pays toward the expenses of government, and direct taxation is the only means of stopping the lavish expenditure of public money. "For a period of ten yèars between 1791 and 1800 inclusive, with a tariff of 8% Per cent upou foreign imports, and at the very time when we were going to the great expense of establishing our government, the cost of government was only $18.68 per capita for the ten years. From 1851 to 1860 inclusive, under a tariff for ïevenue only, the cost of government was only $21.88 per capita for the ten years. From 1871 to 1880 inclusive the actual running expenses of government had risen to $136.41 per capita, more than six times the amount required undera tariff for revenue only, and during the last ten years the cost oí government has been increasing. "As a nation we can stand this lavish expenditure of the people's money, but we can never stand the luxuries, the iniquities, the lack of patriotism which great wealth, quickly acquired, is sure io bring. "We can be robbed by a protective tariff and still live, but when the robber takes the money and buys special legislation and tnrns it over to campaign conjmittees to buy votes with, the very life of free government is assailed. Natiousdo not godown todeath Ln tbe momentous sweep of battle. They rather die from the poison which the lobbyist and the vote bnyer infuse into the body politie. "The mad riotof protection will soon be over. Theevidencesof the revolution which shall destroy it are upou every hand. lts growth has been an evidence of what self interest and audacity and effrontery can accomplish as against the people not uuited by any bouds save those of the public welfare. "