| Disadvantages. | Advantages. |
| 1. The protective system imposes a tax (which doesnot get into the Treasury) every time we eat, drink,warm, or clothe ourselves. | None. |
| 2. It imposes a similar tax upon our neighbors, andhence, having less money, most of them use woodenpegs, instead of buying nails, which deprives us oflabor. | |
| 3. It keeps the price of iron so high that it canno longer be used in the country for plows, or gates,or house fixtures, and our trade, which might givework to so many who have none, does not even giveourselves enough to do. | |
| 4. The deficit occasioned in the Treasury by thosegoods which do not enter is made up by taxeson our salt. |
The other reports, with which I will not trouble the reader, told the same story. Gardeners, carpenters, shoemakers, boatmen, all complained of the same grievances.
I am sorry there were no day laborers in our association. Their report would certainly have been exceedingly instructive. But, unfortunately, the poor laborers of our province, all protected as they are, have not a cent, and, after having taken care of their cattle, cannot go themselves to the Mutual Aid Society. The pretended favors of protection do not prevent them from being the pariahs of modern society.
What I would especially remark is the good sense with which our villagers have perceived not only the direct evil results of protection, but also the indirect evil which, affecting their patrons, reacts upon themselves.
This is a fact, it seems to me, which the economists of the school of the Moniteur Industriel do not understand.
And possibly some men, who are fascinated by a very little protection, the agriculturists, for instance, would voluntarily renounce it if they noticed this side of the question. Possibly, they might say to themselves: "It is better to support one's self surrounded by well-to-do neighbors, than to be protected in the midst of poverty." For to seek to encourage every branch of industry by successively creating a void around them, is as vain as to attempt to jump away from one's shadow.
V.
DEARNESS—CHEAPNESS.
I consider it my duty to say a few words in regard to the delusion caused by the words dear and cheap. At the first glance, I am aware, you may be disposed to find these remarks somewhat subtile, but whether subtile or not, the question is whether they are true. For my part I consider them perfectly true, and particularly well adapted to cause reflection among a large number of those who cherish a sincere faith in the efficacy of protection.