Statesman.—“Have you, indeed? That is good news. Our country is richer by one new natural resource than we have supposed.”
Iron man.—“Yes, and I now want to begin mining iron.”
Statesman.—“Very well, go on. We shall be glad to hear that you are prospering and getting rich.”
Iron man.—“Yes, of course. But I am now earning my living by tilling the surface of the ground, and I am afraid that I cannot make as much at mining as at farming.”
Statesman.—“That is indeed another matter. Look into that carefully and do not leave a better industry for a worse.”
Iron man.—“But I want to mine that iron. It does not seem right to leave it in the ground when we are importing iron all the time, but I cannot see as good profits in it at the present price for imported iron as I am making out of what I raise on the surface. I thought that perhaps you would put a tax on all the imported iron so that I could get more for mine. Then I could see my way to give up farming and go to mining.”
Statesman.—“You do not think what you ask. That would be authorizing you to tax your neighbors, and would be throwing on them the risk of working your mine, which you are afraid to take yourself.”
Iron man (aside).—“I have not talked the right dialect to this man. I must begin all over again. (Aloud.) Mr. Statesman, the natural resources of this continent ought to be developed. American industry must be protected. The American laborer must not be forced to compete with the pauper labor of Europe.”
Statesman.—“Now I understand you. Now you talk business. Why did you not say so before? How much tax do you want?”
The next time that a buyer of pig iron goes to market to get some, he finds that it costs thirty bushels of wheat per ton instead of twenty.