Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/225

 CRISP

The collector at the port says to either of these gentlemen — the man who raises the wheat in Minnesota or him who raises the cotton in Georgia, "You can not bring into this market those goods for which you have exchanged your products unless you pay to the United States a tariff by the McKinley law— a tax of $2,000!"

The man will in vain refer the collector to the statement of the gentleman from Maine that the foreigner pays the tax. You can not con- vince that unrighteous United States officer that the foreigner is to pay the sum of $2,000; he requires the Minnesota farmer or the Georgia farmer to pay it. What is the result ? The goods that cost either of these men $4,000 without the tariff cost him $6,000 with it.

The American laboring man wants what ? He wants steady employment at reasonable wages. This protective system builds up industries which it is wasteful upon the part of the manu- facturer to carry on. It destroys the natural industries of the people, and builds up an arti- ficial industry. It takes away the natural right of every individual freely to exchange the sur- plus of that which he makes for the surplus of that which his neighbor makes. His neighbor, ray friends, is the world.

Trade is not war. Trade is peace. Commerce knows no nationality. There is not a manufac- turer in the United States, however highly he might have been favored, who will not send his goods to India, if by so doing he can get a little 191

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