The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-09-20
PROTECTION.
An Able letter from Hon. A. =. BIddIa
10 the Cleveland TariR AssOeiatiOu,

WAsHmeToN, D O., August, 1865.
DEAR SIR: Your circular was received
with the liveliest interest. The necessity
for your organization is an impeachment
of the intelligence, and almost reflection
upon the patriotism of the American
people.
In our career of subduing savage con-
tinent, and developing its resources, we
seem unable to profit by our own expert
ence ); otherwise at the end Of the war for |
national existence, we should not find our
selves Obliged to form associations, to pre-.
vent our drifting back to colonial depeA-
dence upon the kihgly governments of
Europe.
We are an industrious people We
produce food, wool and cotton, and sell
Them in the raw and q convenient, am
pie market is our prime necessity. " Give
US the world for a market" cries the free
trader. Certainly but it is to be remem-
bered that whoever sells must seek mar.
ket and himself transport his products
thereto And any of your intelligent lar.
mers will tell you at just what distance by
horse power on the read to market, the
value Of load Of Whest of given price
will be expended in its csrrisge The dis
tance is mot great
It now probably costs one bushel of
wheat to export two from Illinois, and sell
them in Europe; and about seven Of corn
to realizs the going price of one bushel OF
that product in the same market.
1 think with you, that one half Of given
crop of wheat, and seven eighths OF that
of corn, can be turned to bstter account
than carrying the other fraction to market
Do these foreigners buy our products TO
favor US and because we favor them !?
They buy of us only when their own har-
/ vests fail-when they would otherwise
starve; and then they buy OF us, no matter
what may be our policy. So that our. for
eign market in no way depends upon our
/ commercial policy, but upon causes that
We can IN no way lnnuence. And this
market, though of little value, will be al
wsys ours. And how recent was it, with
this "woTld for market" that the work
ers starved to death in Europe, and the
workers burned corn for fuel on the plains
of Illinois.
Can any body say word in favor of
buying up and carrying TO Europe the
wool clip of Ohio, and after some years
bringing back again q small quantity of
cloth, manufactured from tin effect, to
pay for the wool at an exofbitSnt price for
| the cloth2
Is there any reason why we should bring
iron rails scross the ocean, and over or
around the intervening mountains of iron
and coal, that lift their rebuking SUBMITS
between Ohio and the Atlantic2
Would it not be well to change "the
world for market" so that the poor work
ers of Europe could directly buy the corn
| which the Illinois farmer might otherwise
burn, and permit him to receive the full
value of it, instead of ore-eighth Why
not manufacture the wool on this side the
ocean2 Why not disembowel some of our
mineral mountains2
1t is said the necessary restrictions upon
1 foreign productions would give q monop.
| oily of those articles to the American man
ufacturers. Indeed Does not the foreign
artizln have that monopoly noW2 And
would it be un-American to transfer that
monopoly to American citizens Would
it not be as we'll to give the profits of
making and selling these goods to our
friends and neighbors ITO keep at home
the immense sums of money that We now
every year send abroad IN gold, to pay for
these goods, and avoid the enormous for
eign debt which, with other parts of the
same system have twice in our own time
involved US in general commercial ruin2
But it is said the duty on the foreign
article adds 10 the price Of it by at lesst
the amount of the duty If thst is SO, still
there weuld be gain. Our foreign COM
mel ce is in effect an exchange of our
meats, grain, wool, &c, for their msnufsc
tured articles, we paying the costs of sll
transportation. Suppose wheat worth one
dollar per bushel and brosdcloth five dol
| lars per yard in Cleveland. If the latter
could be bought in Liverpool for three
dollars per yard, which would really be
cheaper for a Cuyahogs farmer exchange
his wheat for cloth in Cleveland or Liver
poolP But the price is not even nominally
enhanced, except temporarily.
Without tariff, the foreign srtizan can
eontrel the price of his fabrics to the Anne.
rican consumer, and if an American man.
| ufacturer attempts to compete with him he
has but to reduce the price of Whist be
sells here, for short time to destroy bis
American rival, after which he can sd
vance his rates and indemnify himself
With reasonable protection, the Amer
icsn can defy him, but he cannot maintain
q monopoly. If he makes shove a fsir
profit other Americans compete with him;
and when American ingenuiry and enter
| terprise secure control of the American
! markets, they invest capital, improve ma
chInery, and compete until the article is
made and sold In the home markets cheap
or and better than the foreigner ever did
sell, or ever would have sold it. and the
protection is no longer needed.
For instance, we once laid specific duty
on unblesched cottons. Under this tariff,
our manufacturers went to work ard soon
produced and sold in the home market, q
better article than was ever sold here BY
foreigners, and Tor about one half the
amount of the duty per yard. Indeed,
our artizsns went abroad, and under sold
Bi.ish manufacturers in the European
market With settled, steady policy of
this kind, which no vicissitudes of politics
could sh-ke, the same results would follow
in most other articles.
Your circular sends trooping through
any mind the half forgotten themes, with
which was once more familiar, and of
which there is nothing new to be said.
Ard the little that / have said is limited
to hints OF the lowest economical view,
which permit direct cash estimate of the
two policies,-the protection of American
industry, diversifyiDg its object, and indu-
cling our people to become mutual pro-
ducers and consumers Of each others pro-
ducts, thus securing TO each full return |
for his work; and that other system which |
would reduce US to d nation. of corn, cotton |
and wool rsisers for Englands benefit
A glance at the history of our policy,
would alone be sufficient to settle this con-
troversy, if 1t wss capable of ever being
settled. 1t would appear that every period
of = low tariff wss followed by q CONNER
cisl catastrophe, general in its scope, and
reaching downward 10 the foundations of |
cur financial system; that we have made
our escape ITOIrE vvs,,I--s.~y,-Sl---
through resort to protective measures,
and that no general commercial revulsion
has ever come upon the nation, during
the existence of protective t, riff.
q Trusting that your society will be the
means of difusiDg valuable information In
favor of correct national policy, am
-'I Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
n A. q. RIDDLE.