East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1865-12-06
WHOLE NO. 33f.
Free Trade.aiieq

Afom eho thtieh" Et"tc Dtutihofsf
The death Of the great apostle Of
free trade, Richard Golden, is Sincere
ly, no doubt, lamented by many in
this country, for he was good friend
to the United States, during the terri
bic struggle we have passed through.
Now, would TO Heaven, his mantle
would fall on some great American
statesman to advocate the same theo-
ries Of trade in this overtaxed laiid.--
The true commercial theory is this:
Buy in the. cheapest and sell in tho
dearest Market" Mr.. Morrill, and the
prote, t;onists to the contrary hotwith-
standing. We do this always in daily
life we go many blocks away from
our homes to deal with man who
sells cheap and gives good value for
our money, rather than patrouize our
next neighbor, who gives less value
In the great community of nations
the same thing should prevail. Eng
land never was commercially so pros
porous as under her Free Trade policy.
Mr.. Gladstone, this year, has surplus
of twenty million dollars, and is yearly
reducing taxation, and yet ever real
izing more revenue the lower the tax-
alton. France, under her shrewd
Emperor and his Free Trade policy,
taught by the example of England
and the arguments of Golden, this
year has surplus, and as that policy
is better developed, no doubt her com
merce and finances will show better
and better. Our merchant navy is
almost ruined-partly, no doubt, by
the privateers-but l think more es-
pecially by the high tariff prevailing
and the avowed policy of the republic
can party to live within themselves,
isolated from the rest of mankind.E
Under ther theory Chinese like, lack
ing the high h'wally every man. woman
and child in these States must pay
tribute to few New England manu-
facturers whose whole interest is TO
squeeze as much as they can out of
the pockets of the many. Are they
the whole United States? Thir num-
Der and those they employ arc inIsig-
nificant compared with the rest Of tie
population. The virgin soil and UNI
cleared forests of this country must
for years to come be the Legitimate
industrial object of our population. -
Is it right to tax tho whole for tho
benefit of the few? The U. s. Treas
ury is robbed too-for out of the Gus
toms alone they must look for gold to
pay the interest on the national debt,
and if the duties are so high that inn
porters are powerless, they abandon
importing for some other pursuit, and
our shipping may liei idle. The eexcharg,
Of commodities with Canada before the
war amounted to fifty millions of dol
lars annually-thus giving employ
ment to railways, canals and ships,
besides paying probably twenty per
cent. profit all round. is it good
policy to destroy this trade ? Is Great
Britain oJhged TO buy her breadstuffs
here? The Baltic and Black Sea ports,
besides Canada, parts of Germany,
Australia, &c, are open to her if we
'S'"''i" hoi '"'h ohig, dlu TeiuSe u
buy her productions, 1t is our interest
to trade with her, if she will sell
cheaper than we can manufacture
leaving our population at liberty to
raise the raw materials. The obsolete
theory of protection is now being
given up in all civilized countries bus
this; and il we want to take rank III
the future as one of the foremost ma
tions on earth, we must give up the
absurdity too. Free traders have no
objection TO a small tariff for revenue
for, in fast njFmJfgventie,
as England's commercial policy shows,
and as common sense wonld naturally
dictate--the contrary kills the goose
that lays the golden eggs. u The war
of tariffs is looming in the future, and
L hope the great democratic party win
earnestly take it up and rescue this
country from financial disaster, and
themselves ride into power. IDl4f