A
The Conservative.
j
According to Score-
REVERSE tary Wilson the ac-
RECIPROCITY. tion of Germany in
refusing entrance to
meats , treated with boracio acid , prac
tically shuts out American pork. If
this "Foxy Grandpa" way of getting
the better of the United States in the
German markets is not stopped , Prince
Henry will be called upon to play a re
turn engagement here in order to heal
the wounds. Meanwhile , as several ar
ticles of food annually imported from
Germany are treated with the same in-
uooent stuff , it behooves those in power
to take the imperial health officers at
their word and protect American di
gestive organs from contact with borac
io acid especially such as smacks of
Germany. In this good-natured com
mercial war , it will not do to display
less finesse than our German opponents.
THE TOTTERING EDIFICE OF PRO
TECTION.
BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
"The whirligig of time brings in his re
venges , " and to the veterans of the free
trade agitation this is a day full of en
couragement. And amusement mingles
with hope. For , lo I the active combat
is removed from the old field and trans
ferred to the ground of protection. The
attacking party is still outside the
breastworks , but it has the satisfaction
of hearing the shrill dispute and turmoil
within. The household of monopoly is
divided , and the proverb assuring hon
est men of their dues when certain other
men fall out is now receiving the ap
proval of fact.
The successful overthrow of any great
social wrong , wherein self-interest ana
passion have mingledhas usually proved
a case of self-destruction. Reformers
may discern and announce the inevitable
moral law , may cite parallels , and sup
plement reason with laboriously gather
ed facts ; but to the great public they
will remain visionariesand fanaticsand
their warnings will be sneeringly styled
"academic. " Compared with the self-
confident "practical" man , how poor 'a
thing is a theorist 1 Thus is the present
magnified , the future dwarfed , and the
perspective lost ; but only for a time.
The abolition of the British Corn Laws
was not accomplished by the arguments
of Oobden and Bright , luminous and un
answerable though they were. It re
quired the demonstration of commer
cial distress to make clear the destruc
tive nature of restriction. When disaster
came to manufacturers , idleness anc
starvation to the worker , the system
collapsed.
i American slavery withstood the abolition -
lition assaults of forty years , although
brilliantly conducted by leaders of exceptional -
ceptional power and character. So
impregnable did the institution seem on
the very eve of its destruction that its
permanence was freely predicted. The
writer remembers the prophecy of a
despondent anti-slavery orator at that
time , to the effect that the youngest
person in his audience would not live to
see the oppressive system abolish. Seven
years later , the emancipation proclama-
; ion was issued and the slaves were
'reed. The orator himself lived a gen
eration after the event , so long that his
connection with the great struggle was
almost forgotten.
It is well for free traders , when
tempted to take depressing views of the
situation , to recall these instances of
successful movements analogous totheir
own. The same world forces are active ,
the same victories are in process of real
ization. If the Free Trade League is
Less in evidence than during exciting
political campaigns , when parties can
make capital out of their issue , it is not
because the cause is losing headwaybut
rather for the reason that their doctrines
have permeated the high tariff ranks.
In the party which has made protection
a fetich there was never so much sober
thinking upon the question as now.
Honest and able men who have been
born into acceptance of this false eco
nomic creed , and have never been forced
to examine it in the light of duty and
conscience , are now brought face to face
with it for the first time. It is evident
that many of them are startled at its
hideousuess. How can they fail to see
the true spirit of the demon now un
masked and remorseless ? What are the
well-being and liberty of Cuba , the good
faith and name of the nation , in com
parison with the profits of the beet
sugar industry and the tobaogo growers
of the Connecticut valley ?
But the lively dissensions in the re
publican party , however , do not indi
cate a change of heart. It is self-inter
est that has changed. Where once the
exclusion of foreign commodities bene-
fitted certain manufactures , the new
conditions of production make such ex
clusion menacing. The dollar , as well
as righteousness , is now demanding
lower tariffs in self-defense. The price
of open doors abroad to admit our sur
plus goods is an open door in
the United States to foreign goods.
It muse be paid. Thus far we have had
the assurance to demand unobstructed en
trance to foreign markets while closing
our ports to alien nations. The game is
failing to work. All thanks to Russia
for her effective action and rebuke !
May she have many followers ! Only
the slamming of commercial doors in
our arrogant faces will make manifest
the fallacy of selling without buying.
As well attempt to square the circle or
to discover the philosopher's stone.
It marks a decided advance in the
cause of free trade when the burden of
conflict is at length made to rest upon
the right shoulders. - When' the
beneficiaries of monopoly are
'by the oars , " the victims
may well take heart. Two years ago it
was the common sentiment in business
circles , whore short views usually pre
vail , that the question of protection
was settled for an administration at
.east , probably for many more. Trade
was to vindicate the wisdom and power
of protection as never before. Out
wardly the edifice had the stable appear
ance of a granite bowlder. Yet , in less
than a twelvemonth , the great wool in
terest , which has furnished the extrem-
est advocates of the high tariff , en
countered the most disastrous year in
recent history.
More strange and unexpected than all
else was the last speech of President
McKinley , the recognized embodiment
and representative of the system to
which his name is indissolubly linked.
It was an utterance that would have
been scouted if made by free trade lips.
Nevertheless it showed that sagacity in
discerning popular tendencies so
exceptionally developed in that re
markable man , and his prevision
is justified by events now transpiring.
He saw and pointed out the warning
cracks in the protective structure ; to
these the body of his political adherents
were blind. As the artificial creation
topples to its fall , it threatens to crush
the party which reared it. Hence the
consternation in the camp of protection.
CORNATION CHAIR.
When Edward VII. is crowned king
of England by the archbishop of Can
terbury next Juno ho will sit in a
famous coronation chair in which for
600 years kings and queens of England
have sat on like memorable occas
ions.
The chair is built of English oak ,
plainly , even , rudely , constructed , a
venerable relic of the past , which
once only has been removed from
Westminster Abbey. That was when
Cromwell was made lord protector.
He had the historic chair taken into
Westminster hall , that the old cus
toms demanding that the rulers of
England and Scotland should receive
the authority of their high position
while seated in it might be preserved
unbroken' .
FATED GRAND VIZIERS.
Of the latest 200 grand viziers of
the Sultan of Turkey not more than
twenty-four , says a French statisti
cian , have died naturally. One hun
dred of them , ho asserts , wero.pojs-
oned , and thirty-six of the others
wore either beheaded or drowned in
the Bosphorus. Of the remaining
forty he has not boon able to find any
trace , but from the silence of Turkish
historians on the subject ho concludes
that their end was not happy. One
of the viziers was only four hours in
office , and another occupied the posi
tion for only ten minutes , being
strangled at the end of that time.
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