Page:Forgotten Man and Other Essays.djvu/49

 own it. Some man owns it. If he wants to open and work it, we have nothing to do but wish him God-speed." "Very well," he says, "understand it that he needs protection." Let us examine this case, then, and still we will do it assuming the truth of the protectionist doctrine. Let us see where we shall come out.

The man who has discovered iron (on the protectionist doctrine), when there is no tax, does not collect tools and laborers and go to work. He goes to Washington. He visits the statesman, and a dialogue takes place.

Iron man. — "Mr. Statesman, I have found an iron deposit on my farm."

Statesman. — "Have you, indeed? That is good news. Our country is richer by one new natural resource than we have supposed."

Iron man. — "Yes, and I now want to begin mining iron."

Statesman. — "Very well, go on. We shall be glad to hear that you are prospering and getting rich."

Iron man. — "Yes, of course. But I am now earning my living by tilling the surface of the ground, and I am afraid that I cannot make as much at mining as at farming."

Statesman. — "That is indeed another matter. Look into that carefully and do not leave a better industry for a worse."

Iron man. — "But I want to mine that iron. It does not seem right to leave it in the ground when we are importing iron all the time, but I cannot see as good profits in it at the present price for imported iron as I am making out of what I raise on the surface. I thought that perhaps you would put a tax on all the imported iron so that I could get more for mine. Then I could see my way to give up farming and go to mining."

Statesman. — "You do not think what you ask. That would be authorizing you to tax your neighbors, and would