The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, DEC. 14, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2719, 14 December 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, DEC. 14, 1889.

A very favorite phrase with Protectionists and one they hug to their hearts with the conviction that it is unanswerable, is that Protection " Keeps the money in the country." As a matter of fact Protection does not keep the money circulating in the protected country, and if it did there would be no advantage in it. Money and by money we will assume that gold is meant —for if it does not mean gold it means nothing—is only of value as a means by which the exchange of commoditiesis facilitated. Money or gold coined into sovereigns or half sovereigns is only a symbol of value. It is a recognised medium of exchange. Gold is the most convenient metal to be coined into symbols of values on account of its purity, its indestructibility and its scarcity. But as to its being kept in the country by any sleight of hancl or manipulation of tariff, one might as well attempt to retain water in the country by taxing whisky. And even if it could be kept in the country what would be the result. Simply that gold, the raw material, or rather the finished product of the miner would he depreciated in value. Gold is as much the finished product of the gold miner as wheat is of the farmer or wool of the wool-grower. Supposing any idiotic law or series of idiotic laws or any autocratic and tyrannical manipulations of tariff were aimed at keeping wheat in the country, or keeping wool in the country, would not the effect be to lower the value of wheat and wool, aDd ultimately curtail the production of thoso commodities? Certainly it would. And the more effectually the process of keeping wool or wheat in tlie countrj' by legislative process or tariff manipulations, the more certainly would the industries of wheat and woolgrowing be ruined. AVhy not have a law to keep beef and butter in the country, or eggs or bacon, or any other article the country can produce as well as gold ? There would be some shadow of an excuse, for sucli action as this would tend to keep the productions just enumerated in the country, for they can be eaten. There is not out of Bedlam a shadow of an excuse for the gibbering idiot who mutters in his dense obfuscation about the necessity of keeping the money (i.e. the gold) in the country. Gold i? as much a staple export of New Zealand as wheat or wool. The politician who drivels and howls about " keeping the money in the country " inflates his leather lungs for the purpose of demonstrating to a listening universe that he is an ass. Fortunately, all the asses in creation can't suspend a law of Nature 1 and it is as much a law of Nature that gold will find its level as that water will find its level. So when we hear a blatant politician tickling the ears of his audience by talking about " keeping the money in the country as an excuse for taxing the working man's clothes or boots, or imposing a duty upon a baby's pinafore," we put that politician down as a fool or a knave. If he does not know what he is talking about, he is a fool for talking ; if he does know what he is talking about and lies, then he's "an arrant knave " as any rogue in Denmark. No matter under what guise, Protection is a one-sided fiscal arrangement, a fact to which the farmers in the much-protected colony of Victoria are awakening to; they realise that the farmer derives no benefit from it, and under it their privilege of bearing ever increased burdens of taxation is recognised as an institution. It will be well, therefore, seeing that many of our rulers are drifting in the direction of Protection, to take warning from the experience of our agricultural brethren of Victoria. The Protection orators, when it" suits their purpose, blow hot and cold alternately ; at one time Protection cheapens production, in their next breath they must have Protection to keep up prices ; then, again, Protection neither cheapens the price nor enhances the price but preserves a stable equilibrium. Protection, in short, is the most wonderful combination of the impossible. But whatever it may be in the way, of contradiction and absurdity, it is always and everywhere an everlasting " Give ! Give !" It is the essence and concentration of robbery of the many to enrich the few. It robs the farmers, the wool-growers, the market gardeners and working men generally. By no possibility can these classes be protected. They can only be taxed.