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Show I ' What is Meant by I . Adequate Protection? H It Is (limcult to believe that tlio H 1 Now York Journal of Commcrco Is H ', slnccro In asking tho question, "What I Is Adequate I'rotcctlon7" That Inter- (rogation suggests tho kindergarten typo of groplngs after truth. Suroly no well developed mentality need be fl ' told at tills day and date what Is H ' adcquato Protection. After more fl than u hundred years of practical H operation of the Protection policy, H with occasional and brief lapses into H tho dismal llmboof Freo Trade any H well Informed newspaper, such ns wo H have always found tho Journal of H Commcrco to be, ought not to ask H what adequate Protection Intends to H It Is quite possible, m ore's the pity H for economic thought to go eo far H wrong ns to dispute tho need of tho H wisdom of Protection, adequate or H Inadequate. Free Trad virus, prl- marlly communicated by college 1 professors and Intensified by subso il! quont persistence along the samo ppj' . lino of argument may and docs lm- H , liregnate somo Intellects with Freo H ,;, Trade fallacy and error So Infected, H J n writer mny como to believe that H ,- cheapness of labor and labor's prod- H nets Is tho correct thing, tho thing H to strivo for, and that to buy whero H you can buy tho cheapest, no matter H what happens to the labor nnd in- H dustry of your own laud, should bo H the policy of enlightened nations. In H sptto of all proof to tho contrary; in H aplto of fact and history for more H than a hundred years there are those fl who Ktl'l cling to tho barbaric doc- m trine of tho survival of tho fittest. H (, Olio can understand how tho Journal M i of Commerce, holding to that harbar. H ' lc doUrino, mny reject tho convcrso H ' iloctrlno of the greatest good to tho H greatest numboi, and so reject Pro- H tectlon. To ask, What need of any H Protection? -would bo a relatively H luiuymnblo and Intel'Jgent Inquiry; H nu Inquiry that Is easily nnswered. H ' Put to Inquire "What Is adcquato H Protection? betrays an absenco of H ' kuowledgo and comprehension of tho M plain truth and ell defined policy M which wo nro loath to ascribe to tho H Journal of Commerce. That paper M In nn editorial of a recent date Bays: H ) "Tho American Protective Tariff H League, which never changes its H mind (why should It?) at Its recent H annual meeting adopted n resolution H urging all its members and nil In H sympathy with its purposo to concen- H trnto their energies and their Inllu- H enco upon tho slnglo question of tho H prompt restoration of nn adequately M Protccttvo Tariff ng tho Issuo of tho H presidential nnd congressional cam- H patgn of 1910, leaving for subsequent pssssB PPPPI (VPPPPJ consideration by Congress questions concerning now methods of Tariff legislation." It Is only by such prompt action, it snys, that the dou-bio dou-bio problem of ndequato Protection and adequnto revenue can bo satisfactorily satis-factorily solved. This amounts only to a reiteration of the principle nnd iiollcy of n Protectivo Tariff and an effort to make It tho Issuo of this year's campaign, leaving a new Congress Con-gress to determine what will bo ndequato nde-quato and how It shall bo attained." Tho Journal of Commerce Is entirely en-tirely correct In assuming that Tho Tariff I.eaguo Intends to reiterate tho principle nnd policy of a Protectivo Pro-tectivo Tariff and to makn it the Issue Is-sue of this yonr's campaign. That Is precisely what Tho TnrlfT Leaguo intends nnd hopes to do. Put thnt paper Is entirely wrong when It further fur-ther says: "What Is really adcquato for Protection Pro-tection has novor yet been determined determin-ed nnd l never likely to be. Adequnto Ade-qunto for what? For the survival of tho industries or for n profit which will satisfy thoso engaged In thorn? Conditions havo changed greatly slnco the Protectivo policy was ad opted for establishing and fostering Into growth infant Industries nnd thoy will bo changed moro when the war Is over which hns so deranged Industry and trade. Thero may then lie occasion for now changes in tho Tnriff, but tho dominant question Is likely to bo n now one, not that of restricting foreign trndo for tho benefit bene-fit of domestic enterprise but of promoting pro-moting It for that very samo benefit. bene-fit. Tho readjustments for tho on 1 urposo wl 1 be different from thoso for tho other, nnd tho question now In which pnrty Is tho moro likely to do tho readjusting In tho right direction." direc-tion." Tho prlnclplo nnd policy of adequate ade-quate Protection havo never been In doubt so far as Protectionists nro toncorned. Fieo Traders may profess pro-fess Ignornnco regnrdlug It; Protectionists Protec-tionists never. Stated In brief, tho policy of ndequato Protection contemplates contem-plates that American labor and Industry In-dustry shall at nil times havo tho preference pre-ference in tho Amorican market, that to repeat tho crisp nnd conclusive phrnso of tho Into John P. Jones, of Nevada who began ns n Kreo Trader Trad-er nnd ended ns nn uncompromlslp.t Protectionist "tho Republic sbnll do its own work From that sound doctrlno, from thnt high standard of patriotic common sense, Protectionism Protection-ism has never weakened or wavered. Put, slnco tho Journal of Commerce iioeniB to bo muddled regarding tho adjective adequnto, perhaps we can e'ear away the cobwebs by a slmplo, natural illustration. Let us suppose as was actually tho caso boforo tho wnr In Kuropo obstructed the exportation export-ation of competitive goods that nn Invoice- of 100,000 pairs of hoslerv, raado In Chemnitz, whero tho wages paid aro no moro than -10 per cent, (of tho wngos paid In American hosiery hos-iery mills, arrives nt tho New York custom bouso valued for Tariff purposes pur-poses nt 11.50 per dozen. To pro cluco tho equivalent of that hosiery In tho United States costs $2.25 per dos.cn. Illeht hero Is whero adequate Protection comes In. It IntendB to s0 regulate tho Tariff as to Insure that Chemnitz shall not undersell American Ameri-can hosiery makers In our own market. mar-ket. Accordingly a rato of duty Is fixed that will bring tho wholesale selling prico of that Chemnitz consignment con-signment fully up to, nnd preferably n shndo higher than, tho currout wholesa'o selling prico of Amorican made hosiery, and thereby Insuro to American labor and Industry the pref-orenco pref-orenco In the American market, tho prlvllego'of making hosiery for Americans Am-ericans to wear. Apply tho samo rulo to nil products of cheap foreign labor nnd you havo adcquato Protoc tlon; tho only Protection that Is needed or desired. It Is a form of Protection so easily determined and so long practised In our country that It seems foolish for tho Journal of Commcrco to nsk, "What Is Adequate Protection?" Amerlcnn Economist. |