MR. CHAMBERLAIN AND CHEAPNESS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR."]
Six,—Your comment on Mr. Chamberlain (issue of Novem- ber 7th) illustrates strikingly the logical conclusion of Pro- tection as we know it here in America. The comment was that Mr. Chamberlain "when he rises to his fullest height denounces cheapness as in itself an evil." The late President Benjamin Harrison is best remembered by a similar attitude toward cheapness, embodied in the one remark by which he is to-day recalled, that "a cheap coat often covers a cheap man." That remark was, when made during the campaign of 1888 (resulting in his election), regarded as rather clever by Pro- tectionists. But during the four years of his Presidency the changes were constantly rung on it by American low-tariff editors, until its philosophy was made most offensive. The inference that a person who is either too poor or too economical to buy expensive clothes is himself cheap naturally alienated many who came to appreciate the point from a high Protec- tion system which stigmatised poverty and economy. If Mr. Chamberlain pushes his Protection doctrine to the same logical conclusion, the result will be the same,—a reaction like that in 1892 which carried Mr. Cleveland into the White House by an extraordinary majority.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ARTHITR REED KIMBALL.
88 Linden Street, Waterbury, Connecticut.
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