up the package.

In the course of several weeks I received a specimen, say about a
skein, of the most beautiful silk I had ever beheld, with an
order to forward the balance of the cocoons per Adams Express, which
I did at the expense of one dollar. Waited several months for
acknowledgement of receipt, wrote various letters, the postage on
which was two cents each. As considerable time elapsed while we were
"waiting for the returns," and as I was determined that Mrs. W.
should understand this great subject of the tariff, as I knew she
could if she gave her mind to it, I proceeded to eviscerate the
whole matter. Said I, "When a tariff is laid upon a manufactured
article, it enables the manufacturer in this country to pay his
workmen higher wages."

"And does he always do it?" said Mrs. W.

"Always," I replied. "Statistics show that when the tariff on iron was
increased twenty per cent the manufacturers of iron immediately raised
the wages of all their employes twenty per cent."

"I see," said that clear-headed woman, "what excellent persons these
iron men are. They do not hire their men for as little as they can,
but pay them more than they want."

"Exactly so," I replied; "the general rule I admit to be that a man
pays as little as he can for labor; but under the protective system,
the tariff increases the price of the manufactured article, so that
the manufacturer is enabled to sell his goods for that higher price,
and the workman thus gets the benefit of it."

This argument seemed to have great weight with her, as it gave her new
light on things, for she said it was contrary to experience; but I
explained to her that unless some flaw could be found in the
syllogism, the conclusion was irresistible, all experience to the
contrary notwithstanding. I then showed her how entirely disinterested
the manufacturers were; that all their efforts were solely for the
benefit of the workmen; that, personally, the tariff made no
difference to them; that they never besought Congress to lay high
tariffs; that no one ever knew of the iron men, or the sugar men, or
the copper men, besieging the legislators at Washington to impose
duties upon articles they made; that it was the workmen who always did
it.

I do not know exactly how long it was that we waited to receive our
fortune from those cocoons, but one day a postal card came to hand
from the parties to whom I had sent my wealth, stating that they had
received so many coco