of the products of the skill, intellect, and genius of all the nations
of the earth.

A third erroneous impression sought to be made upon the public mind is
that whatever increases the amount of labor in a country is a benefit
to it. Protection, it is argued, will increase the amount of labor,
and therefore will increase a country's prosperity. The error in this
proposition lies in mistaking the true nature of labor. It regards it
as the end, not as the means to an end. Men do not labor merely for the
sake of labor, but that out of its products they may derive support
and comfort for themselves and those dependent upon them. The result,
therefore, does not depend upon the amount of labor done, but upon the
value of the product. That country, therefore, is the most prosperous
which enables the laborer to obtain the greatest possible value for the
product of his toil, not that which imposes the greatest labor upon him.
If this were not the case men were better off before the appliances of
steam as motive power were discovered, or railroads were built, or the
telegraph was invented. The man who invents a labor-saving machine is a
public enemy; and he would be a public benefactor who would restore
the good old times when the farmer never had a leisure day, and the
sun never set on the toil of the mechanic. No, Mr. Chairman, it is the
desire of every laborer to get the maximum of result from the minimum
of effort. That system, therefore, can be of no advantage to him which,
while it gives him employment, robs him of its fruits. This, it will be
seen, protection does, while free trade, giving him unrestricted control
of the product of his labor, enables him to get the fullest value for it
in markets of his own selection.

The protectionist, relying upon the propositions I have thus hurriedly
discussed, urges many specious reasons for his system, to a few of which