and thus secure to it that stability which the founders of the Union endeavored to give it. By these means we may reasonably expect that the firm establishment of protection will furnish abundant revenue for the Government, proper encouragement to industry, home markets and fair prices for all surplus products, just compensation to labor, the continued development of our vast resources, and put a stop, as far as well-regulated national policy can do it, to those periodical fluctuations in business to which this agitation has invariably led. Every citizen, no matter what his occupation, is interested in having this great question thus disposed of, and every voter should approach the consideration of it under a just sense of his responsibilities. This volume has no other object than to contribute somewhat to that end.

TERRE HAUTE, 1888.

R. W. T.

THE HISTORY AND NECESSITY OF PROTECTIVE

TARIFF LAWS.

CHAPTER I.

GENERAL REFLECTIONS-NECESSITY OF MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

TO A NATION-ENGLAND HOSTILE TO IT IN THE COLONIES -
HER LEGISLATION TO PREVENT IT.

NAT

ATIONS have their periods of birth, youth, maturity and decay. Like individuals, they are influenced, through all the stages of their existence, by the conditions and circumstances they create for themselves, as well as those which exist independently of them. All persons

who observe the natural laws of health have a reasonable assurance of long life, while those who violate them are apt to die early. So it is with nations. Such of them as so conduct their affairs as to foster and protect their industrial interests and stimulate them to their fullest development, are almost certain to secure firm and solid foundations. But such as fail in this are equally sure to lead their populations into idleness and imbecility, and subject their fortunes to doubtful and hazardous uncertainties. The growth and durability of nations depend upon their internal and domestic policy. If that is wise, they will continue in prosperity as long as it remains so.

If unwise, they may be assured of only a precarious existence, liable to end when circumstances become adverse. In the course of the world's history the latter have outnumbered the former.

The policy of a nation is well defined as "the art of ordering all things for the common benefit of the citizens. of a free state." It is a mistake to suppose that it expresses merely "intrigues of state," or the schemes and plottings of managing politicians. It reaches up to the true standard of statesmanship, and consists of such a series of public measures as incite all citizens to strive for the advancement of their own and the public welfare. He who recognizes the obligation of obedience to the public policy which puts it in his power to do this, is influenced by what is called public spirit, or, more aptly, patriotism. All sorts of people-whether native or foreign-born willingly yield to the influence of this sentiment when they find themselves in a country like ours, and realize that the government gives them perfect protection in their persons and property, and the best guarantee of liberty and happiness.

Patriotism does not consist alone in fighting the battles of one's country, although that is one of the most attractive forms in which it displays itself. It is a sentiment firmly imbedded in the mind, and is exhibited as well in peace as in war. It bears fruit in all the paths of life, among the humble and obscure as well as the proud and ostentatious. In the United States, where the mass of the people possess their own homes and realize the sense

of independence created thereby, it is as strong, and vivid, and durable, around the remote hearthstones, in the most secluded parts of the country, as in the highest places of official trust. It stimulates the desire to see all the natural resources of the country, without regard to sections or localities, so developed to the utmost possible extent that the nation may be advanced to the highest point of greatness. It creates a universal interest in all the forms and methods of labor and industry, because these are the surest foundations of public prosperity. It rejoices in every furrow plowed by the cultivator of the soil, in every stroke of the axe and the hammer, in every revolution of the spindle and the water-wheel, in every puff of the engine and the locomotive, and in all the movements of the vast machinery by which the inventive genius of our countrymen has excited the wonder and admiration of the world. Patriotism is always generous, unselfish, manly.

ment.

Possessed as we are, in this country, of all the elements of material wealth, in a degree hitherto unknown in the world, it has always been with us one of the most important problems in our political economy to ascertain the best and most certain methods of accomplishing their developWhatsoever measures of policy are most likely to assure this, have always been, and yet are, best for the whole country, because they make the common prosperity more certain, and the character and influence of the nation more conspicuous and lasting; whereas such measures as tend to arrest or limit this development are sure to produce the opposite effect- to narrow the fields of labor,