I when transportation is rapid and communication is instantaneous. there has been a reversal of the old feeling. It is Europe that fears America in industrial competition. and instead of depending upon the aid proposed here for fostering commerce. that Europe is alarmed. and the Austrian premier has suggested the idea to the chancelleries of the Old World that there must be a union of European powers against the trade of America. We find the protectionist system turned against us. and instead of walling ourselves in. we are about to be walled out by the manufacturing and agricultural interests whose "pauper labor" has been the bogie man for some and an exhaustless mine of wealth for others. Even if we could do something in this regard to advance commerce. there is a greater consideration due to those who produce. when we recollect that the increased cost of a larger standing army. of a military and civil administration in the Philippines. and of an increased Navy will be made necessary. and that the taxation for this burden comes. not from the middleman. not from the carrier. but from the creator of wealth. from him who tills the ground. from him who takes the raw material to the shop and turns out the finished product that is today to be found in all the markets of the globe. That which carries American commerce abroad is not the protection of this Government. it is not that the flag of the fighting Navy of the United States is found on every sea and in every port. it is the superior skill of the American workingman. who demands a larger wage. a better living. a larger reward. as his share of the fruits of his industry. than any other workingman on this globe.
Keywords matched
pauper labor