The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-08-23
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST %, 1865.
APrntscnon IariG.

Protection Tartn.
We ofar no apology for devoting so
much Of our space this morning to the sub
iect of Protection to American Industry.
either as a e of r~eplenishing
the National Treasury, affording a home
market for our own agricultural products,
developing the resources Of the country or
furnishing remunerstiVe employment to
our labcring population, it is equally i'm
portsnt. No frst-class Power on the globe
has so stubbOrnly refused TO profit BY the
stern lessons Of experience in this regard,
as have we of the United States, We have
persistently attempted TO adhere to the
doctrine of Free Trade, Notwithstanding
the plain fact that it is responsible for
nearly all the financial difficulties that
have beset US. We sent our raw material
TO British ports in British ships bought 1t
back in the form of British manufactures
exporting large amounts of specie to pay
for British labor, whilst our W artisans
we're unemployed. Although the mines OF
the United States have produced the Dulk
of precious metals used by the world these
many years, there has at no lime Deen
enough of specie in our midst for the or
binary purposes Of business. We export
gold as we do wheat and SO manage that
the balance of trade is ever sgainst us. 1t
is argued that Great Britain takes u
grain in exchange for her manufacturers.
This is true only 10 q very limited extent.
Only about one. fifth offhe grain imported
into Great Britain is from the United
States. Our exports to Great Britain of
grain are much less than to countries n
the Western hemisphere, whilst the de-
msnd this side Of the Atlantic is constant
" increasing. Our exports o proVisions to
Great Britain during the three yearS sI1lsst
in 1860, we're s5792tf6fsS same time to
Countries on our wi continent to the
amount of $9,9l7s3s, showing a balance
in favor of American demand of $4,125.-
$40. Where then, is the reciprocity in
trade of which we hear 60 much2 But
ever though it were true that Great Brit
ain receives our agricultural products in
payment for her manufactured goods, how
much better would it be to have those
goods manufactured by operatives in our
own midst thus saving the cost of trans
porting both across the ocean. In order
to compete in English markets with the
grain growing countries of the Old World,
we are compelled to pay the expense Of
carrying thither. When we purchase
British goods, again does the cost of TRIMS
portstion fall upon our own people. A
system of legislation that would protect
American manufacturers against the IN
equal competition of Great Britain
unequal because of the chespness of labor
there-would invite to our shores the
operatives of Europe at the same time that
it would encourage industry and develope
skill at home. The presence of these
operatives in our own land would increase
the home consumption of our agricultural
products, thus benedtting the farmer as
HULL - VIC
We are too apt to be misled by nominal
or fictitious values. It is by viewing them
in the light of their relative value alone
that we are sble to judge of the chespness
or costliness of things. The farmer would
hardly think himself the gamer by the
adoption of q system of trade that would
reduee the cost of the manufactured arti-
cles used by him twenty five per centumi
II ne Knew TnEt the Same system was re-
lponsible for q decrease of fifty per cent
um in the value of farm products. This
is precisely the effect of ~pAtronizing
foreign TO the neglect of home manufsc-
lures. II matters not whether wheat is
quoted st one dollar per bushel and calico
twelve and a half cents per yard, or wheat
at two dollars and calico twenty-five cents.
II the articles are produced by our own Is
borers, they will mAintain their OWL rels-
tive values, which will be governed by the
laws of supply and demand. But when
we go abroad and patroDize foreign nj
f~acturers, because the starvation price paid
for labor there enables them to put their
goods in the market at prices which would
ruin an American manufacturer, we de-
range the whole system of commerce by
discouraging enterprise at home and de-
priving our lsborers of profitable employ
ment. There is no one class entirely in
dependent Of all others. An injury In
ficted upon n interest must OF
necessity affect all interests. No
country can ever become strong,
financially, that does not foster all the va
ried industrial pursuits. This is the only
road to Independence. If it pursue any
other policy, developing one interest and
s~mothering another, it will be continually
liable to disaster from financial revulsions.
Our experience in this regard ought to be
s sufficient teacher, but its lessons have
thus far been d~isregarded. The greatest
danger to our finances at the present time
and one which does more than all things
else to excite the gold markets. the fear
of excessive expectations of specie in pay
ment for excessive importations of foreign
goods.