The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-15 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN ARGUMENT FOR
PROTECTION.

Last Saturday an article appeared in the Times
on Protection in America, in which that journal
managed totally to misrepresent the question as it
now stands in the United States. We repeat, in its
own words, " there is no falsehood so mischievous
as truth partially and malignantly selected," though
we do not attribute malignity to the Times. Those
who pin their faith ou the Times, whose name in
England is legion, would be under the impression
that no question of Protection versus Free Trade
was discussed in America, where " Protection
flourishes in Congress, in the tariffs, and in the press.
It is still the creed of the American patriot" (goes
on the great London organ), " the topic on which
the statesman is most solemn and the journalist
most brilliant. One and all they refuse to re-
gard it as a matter of science that requres
handling and sifting. Protection is the pure milk
of the gospel, it must not he questioned, and
Free Trade a quackery, which it is enough to name
and abhor. The very beat American newspapers,
and no doubt their readers too, are satisfied with
that style of reasoning." There is much more in
the same strain, calculated to mislead the people it
professes to enlighten, regarding this important sub-
je3t on the other side of the Atlantic. Now the truth
is, that Protection. versus Free Trade is the great
question_ of the futaie in ihk United-Stites. Thi;
country is dividedio•parties are split on this sub
ject. Some statesmen "of both leading parties
strongly favour Protection, others as strongly, Free
Trade. Many newspapers are written wholly in the
interest of either side,. and the mass of journals are
pretty evenlydivided. Tne New England States, New
York State, and Pennsylvania, are devoted to Pro-
tection, because their interest is in manufactures.
Broadly speaking, the Prairie States and the chief
agricultural districts, including all the South, as
well as the City of New York, advocate Free Trade.
As we stated in our last issue, Senator GRIMES of
lowa, writing to the managing committee of the
Republican party to which he belongs, said that
four-fifths of the Republicans of his State agreed
with him in opposing Protection, as well as the ma-
jority of members from the North West. In New
York, newspapers have been started by combina-
tions expressly to advocate the principles on one
side of Free Trade, on the other of Protection ; and
it is a singular fact, though nevertheless true, that
the Protectionists offered to publish conjointly with
the Free Traders a journal, giving the arguments
pro and con, side by side, in its columns, and
it was the Free Traders who declined the
challenge. A Free-Trade League has been
formed in Boston, Maksachusetts. The Com-
monwealth, of that city says, " The new move-
ment has men of power and means behind it."
The principles upon which Americans advocate
Protection are in the main apart from political
economy. Their theory on the subject is broad,
simple, and patriotic, though perhaps heavily over-
loaded and interlaced with error. They assert, the
doctrines of Free Trade are sound, and should be
acted on except under peculiar circumstances.
There aro said to be exceptions to every general
rule, and Americans believe their country at pre-
sent, to be an exception to this rule. If we admit
foreign manufactures to compete on equal terms
with home manufactures, they say, the result must
be to annihilate the manufacturing industry of the
country, and to turn the United States into a great
agricultural farm. Europe will then become our
workshop, and America Europe's granary. We will
immediately sink in the scale of nations, for
agriculture cannot compete with manufactures in
creating wealth, cultivating intellect, concentrating
population, and thus quickly advancing civilisation.
Immigration would comparatively cease, for a great
spur would be given to the manufacturing industry
of Europe, and a corresponding decline would ensue
in the demand for labour in America. By such a
course we would elevate foreign countries at the
expense of our own, and the great future of the
United States would be indefinitely postponed. We
are aware that we found native manufactures at a
considerable expense, that we buy inferior articles at
a heavier cost than superior could be introduced.
But we do th's on precisely the same prin-
ciples, and for the same reasons, that we car-
ried to a successfel close our destructive
civl war. While expending hundreds of millions
of dollars to destroy thousands of millions of pro-
perty in our own country, we were manifestly not
working on the rules of political economy. We
were then engaged in securing the future of the
United States, at a great present and after sacri-
fice. Just so we regard the question of protection.
We are sacrificing our present ease and comfort to
the future greatness of our country. We are
nursing our child, which we intend to foster by im-
parting to his infancy some of our strength, till he
is able to take his place in the world and act
for himself. Then, and not till then, the
principles of Free Trade will become applicable
to us. Now here is the question as it
is regarded in the United States. Let the Times
show Americans to be wrong in the notions they
entertain, and strong as may be the influence of the
manufactureit in the New England States and
Pennsylvania, Protection will soon be doomed,
for, whatever may be said to the contrary,
its main strength is derived from the reasons
we have given. There is no necessity for
going over the old ground for again exploding ex-
ploded errors. A large section of Americans un4
derstand and admit the doctrines of Free Trade who
advocate Protection in their own country, although
sufferers by it. They thus act, in one word, from
patriotic motives, refusing to build up England and
other European countries at the expense of their own.
MONADNOCK'S letter in the New York Times, which
has furnished the text for the article in question,
was probably known to the writer to be untrue, and
imposes on very few but the most ignorant in
America. Americans are prepared to admit the
truth of Free-Trade doctrines as applied to Eng-
land, and a large section of them earnestly advo-
cate their applicability to America also. But the
general feeling of the country is that Protection
must be upheld until manufactures are firmly
established and rooted, when the props can be cut
away, and the industry thus fostered may be left to
take care of itself.—Anglo-American Times.

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