New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-09-13

competition In purchase, and rise Of price.
Our views would. therefore, seem t. be IN
stIict accordance with the generally re-
ceIved opinion IN reference 10 supply and
demand.
1t Is asserted that protection facilitates
the acquisition Of the goods protected, but
tbs our correspoudentGeaies. T. determine
which Is right. We must study the course
Of events in protected and unprotected
countries Before the establishment of the
ZoH-Iere'n, Germany imported nearly all
her cotton cloths. and. we believe. all her
hardware, paying the British price. pins
the cost Of importation. She now pro-
cuces them 50 cheaPly that she undersells
tngland, her prices being the present
greatly reduced English ones. minus the
cost Of expectation. Such being the fact.
the power of purchase in Germany must
have increased greatly under protection.
# evidence of this be desired. let our cor
respondent see how slow was the growth in
that country Of the consumption Of cotton
goods. before the formation of the Customs
Union, and how rapid it has been since that
time. The protected Belgian consumes
Tar more than the unprotected Irishman,
and the protected Frenchman far more
than the unprotected Portuguese The
protected American consumes thrice the
cotton and thrice the iron that Is consumed
bv the unprotected Canadian. Our own
consumption Of iron. stationary under the
Compromise. trebled under the tariff of
lSl2, and has. in the last three
years. largely diminished in actual
quantity. notwithstanding am addition of
probably three millions to the population.
Such. too, was and IS the case with regard
to both cotton and wooden cloths We ask
our correspondent to examine these facts
and explain them to himself on any other
hypothesis than that protection IS an act Of
necessary resistance to an oppressive mo-
nopoly fastened upon the world by Great
Britain system denounced by Adam
Smith as manifest violation of the most
sacred rights of mankini"-that It's ten
dency Is that of increasing competition for
the supply of the world with manufactured
articles. with dimlnution OF price while
increasing competition in the demand for
raw materials and for food, with increase of
prices consequent upon a reduction of the
number of trausporters and exchangers,
middlemen, who live at the cost Of both
producers and consumers, producing moth
ing themselves-and that is the true and
only road to perfect freedom of trade.
If British free trade be true, where are
we to seek the facts by which to support 1t
Would our correspondent refer us to the
exhaustion and depopulation of Ireland ?
To the wretchedness of Portugal To the
famines and pestilence of India To the
stationary condition of Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick 2 Or to the ruin Of the
West Indies Let him look around and
satisfy himself. if he can find in the world
single prosperous country that has free trade
with England.
Our correspondent cannot, by any possl-
biTty, have agreater admiration for perfect
freedom of trade than ourselves and
were we Mt thoroughly satisfied that pro-
lection Is the safe and steady road-and
the only road-to that freedom, we would at
once obandon our position. and unite with
him for the destruction of the system. Our
objects, therefore, being the same, and the
only question being as to which Is the near
road By which to arrive at the destined
GOAL. should not we and every honest free
trader wish to see the subject fairly and
fully examined, with view to find the
truth Is il not, then. his duty to call upon
his friends of The Journal Of Commerce and
Tie POST to do by US as we now do by
him. permitting their readers to see both
sides of the question. and Judge for them
selves We have no objection To print his
views, provided he can persuade those jour
mails to print our answers and II ne cannot
induce them 10 do this, must 1t not be evi-
dent to him that they have no faith IN the
truth of the doctrines they are accustomed
To teach
We have at present neither time nor
space to 20 through his article but II We
had. it would not be difficult to show that
he has offered not single argument tend
irg in the slightest degree to disprove the
correctness of our position. that pending
the existence of the British monopoly, pro-
lection Is the true road TO perfect freedom
of trade
~ DAY.