Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-05-11

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advocates ot Projection and rce Trade.
81 thal Gati,ol Nh Carey was handsome.
~ compllmcnlod for HE lohe and labor.
QUE cllors in hvot of The Protective sys,
tenn ilbis which we may consciout.
uusly tny wcto worthy of "a bcltof cause
efforts which, from The publication Of his
earliest work down to his latest rroduc.
ton, Principles OF Social Science ere
bound down and circumscribvd within
the space Of one idea the exploded, hack.
ncycd, and altogether hlacious one,
which bears the name of Protection TO
Home Industry,
What does IL signify for Mr. Carey to
stigmatise the policy OF the United States
Government, because it has abandoned
the people to the tender mercics of for.
cigh traders and manufacturers Because
its policy looks to tile exhaustion of the
soil Because il denies TO the people the
power of diycrsilyng their employments,
and thus limits them TO the choice be-
tween becoming, on the one hand, mere
dolves, and on the other, mere traders in
the products Of other hands and other
lOnds Because, as n consequence of this,
the power of production is steadily de-
cining! Because we are becoming from
day to day more colonized :" Can Mr..
Carey and the hundred and fifty gentle
men who surrounded him, and who may
be held fairly TO represent the opinions Of
the Protective School of Politics, echo
these sentiments when they look abroad
over our country and see its astonishing
development in natural resourcesY What
does it mean, that the population Of the
United States doubles itself every twenty
five or thirty years "a rate three or four
times rs great az England in other res
Tccts the most prosperous nation on the
earth? What means her networks of rail
ways covering an extent Of mileage, great
cr perhaps than the aggregate Of all the
other railways i'm the world? What does
it mean, to see the hardy bands of emio
grants penetrate tho untroddcn wilderN
ness and build up, almost by magic -four
ishing communities? ? On what ground
can it be accounted foi5 that the country
is continually reaching out its long arm,
and adding member upon member to the
Coniederacy, thus stretching its length
over the whole extent Of the continent 2
How can these things be? What are they
all the signs of? Do they betollen the
prosperity of nation, or its decline? If
we look abroad to the history OF the world,
and mark the decline of nations, what are
the signs, which in that condition, they
exhibit? DO they show such an exteno
sion Of empire by the arts of peace? Do
they exhibit activity and enterprise among
the people Mt a continually accelera!ing
pace? These are the tokens which dis
play the progress and development of our
loved Confederation and we would ask
in matter Of fact terms, if the picture
presented by Mr.. Carey, exhibits the state
of the case in its true colOrs.
We do not wish to revive here the elab-
crate arguments which have been used
over and over again on this question:
The country and the people know them
by heart, ard there is no power which
can remove fIOm the Protectionsts the
effects of early training in that school Of
politics. Before children have had time
to inquire into the nature and causes of
things, they hear the spacious arguments
of Protection to Home Industry rang into
their ears and it is no wonder they can
not afterwards remove the effect of the
carly lTeJuIllCts NulCl are tlluS ldStcUtu
upon them. But we would say to the
people, in tones that they can all under,
stand, close not your eyes to the exist
ence of facts; place these facts before you
in q clear light-fortiiied by the figures, if
you please-and then ask yourself if the
mournful dirges Of the Protectioni5ts are
well founded, or whether they do not pro-
ceed from the dicLations OF an inferior
minority of manufacturers, who are ever
anxious, like the scheming lago, to put
money in their purscs-ior what was the
SOLE obvious and inevitable effect of the
Protective system, but to tax the million
for the benefit of the fevl The progress
of the American nation has been one Of
rapid, brilliant and unprecedented sues
cess since the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, and so it will continue, in
spite of all the dcnunciations of the Re-
strctive school.
Mr.. Careys late work. Principles of
Social Science" may be considered the
climax of the arguments which ure used
by the Protectionists; but while it shows
q familiarity with the timsiest possible
theories, with the mateHalistic and utter
'iy impracticable hypothesis of NJ. Comte,
it exhibits, at the same time, an ignorance
of the simplest facts which are visible to
the most superficial man of business. Not
the least of the peculiarities Of Mr.. 'Carey's
work is the fact that it conflicts in evcry
particular with all the principles Of politi-
cal economy since the time of Adam
Smith; and the most remarkable of its
peculiarities, and one which we were ut
terly unable TO understand on rcrusing
the work, is the fact of his dependence on
that great initiator of the system for ar
gument in favor of Protection, when we
all know that nearly the whole purpose,
and certainly the most important pur-
pose which Smith had in his mind was
the destruction of that principle. So
strong indeed were his arguments in favor
of freedom of commerce that it has been
said by Lord Brougham, we believe, that
the "Wealth Of Nations" was rather a
polemic agninst the protective system,
than q treatise on political economy. And
upon perusal of "The Principles of So
cial Science" we are still more convinced