New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-25
.s,..ssges OF British FREQ Trad"
Policy.

ro,nnercc IOI Ho'i'| Va '"A
.,s ;mportant fact that the consumption OF
;,oo which trebled under the tariff OF 1912,
!. now rapidly diminishing, but 1t has not
.ome nor do we see reason to hope that 1t
IN, 40 50 very soon. The fact cannot be
I.0;ed The tariff of 1912 was to be re-
-..,ed. rs we were assured, in order that
.he ueople might obtain iron with greater
facility. twas repealed, and the facilities
ar obtsining iron are so much diminished
that we consume now less by twenty per
rent. than we did four years since, although
the population has since increased almost
fifteen per cent. and although we then paid
for all we consumed, whereas we now pur-
chase hundreds of thousands of tuns on
credit, and are rapidly exhausting our credit
With the world in the effort to obtain the
little that can be purchased.
Next to denying disagfeeable fact is the
power to offer good reason for It's exist
ence but far better is it to be enabled to
prove not only that ii is right and proper
that il should exist, but that it would be dis
advantageous were il otherwise and we
confess our surprise that our nelghbors have
not before this time undertaken to prove
that increase in the consumption of iron is
disadvantageous to the people of the Union,
and that great advantage must result from
a continuance of the present policy, under
which the dlminution IS 50 steady and SO
great. That they have not so done must
have been the result of a failure to recoi-
lect the high authority that might be ad-
duced in support Of such view, and as
they appear to be in a dilemma, we will now
sndeavor to refresh their memories, expect
ing in return their warmest thanks.
Mr.. Walker is the apostle of British free
trade. His reports were published by
order of the British Parliament, and they
are the uade mecum of The Ersnfng Post,
The Journal of Commerce, The Union and
All others of the journals which advocate the
maintenance of monopoly by Great Britain
of the manufactures and commerce of the
world, by aid of which she may be enabled
to dictate to the farmers and planters of the
world the prices of all the commodities that
they desire to sell, and Of all they re-
quire to buy, thus taxing them at her own
good pleasure. Such being the ease, 1t is
matter to us of great surprise that they
should have failed to recollect that in those
reports il is maintained that the condition
Of the people is deteriorated by bringing to
their aid " on-cOnsuming machinery" and
that one of the great advantages resulting
from the enactment Of the tariff Of 1916
had been the dimnuton of the growth of
such machinery to be used in aid of labor.
Supposing that it may be useful to them'
we here give the precise words OF the enc
hehtened Secretary
1.-THE duties have been reduced, and yet wages
have adv anced, and are higher now than under any
nrotective tariff There are many more working
men concerned in other pursuits than IN mahuiac-
lures. and nth much less machinery as s"os"e"eJ%
labor"
That under such circumstances wages
should rise, appeared to him most natural,
for when urging the abolition of the tarli
of 1912, he had assured the nation that
there was
IAN absolute loss, In so far as the machinery OF
the manufacturer, which consumes no breadstuis OF
PROVISIONS Is substituted for the manual labor en-
Iaged in agriculture, commerce, or navigation
Machinery produced much and ate moth
ing, and therefore the country was, in the
opinion of the Secretary, to be benefited
by closing the furnaces that produced the
iron of which machinery was made, and
the machine-shops in which were employed
the artisans who made IT, His tariff had al
ready closed many of the furnaces and roll
ing mills, and it was gradually closing the
cotton and wooden mills, and there was there
fore good reason to hope that it would even
tually close all the machine shops, the iu-
evitab,e effect of which must be 4 further
rise of wages, the direct consequence, ac-
cordng to this high authority, of the sub
stitutiou of manual labor for spinning jen-
MES, power looms, steam engines and rall-
TOAD cars and this rise was to take place
in accordance with law Of political econ
omy, 4 science all the ld,cs Of ,chlch, says
this enlightened fnancier, are fired and
certain.
Ii is quite clear that the way to increase
the ptoductiveness of labor is to diminish
the quantity of machinery used in aid of it,
and such being the tendency of our present
policy. we are clearly in the high road to
great prosperity, as is manifested by the dl-
minished demand for cotton and wooden
cloths the hankrnntcv of merchants and the