Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-02-02
FREE TRADE
LETTER FROM PETER COOPER.
From the N. Y. Evening Post.


with friends whom [ respect, In relation
to their favorite theory of an unqualifiet
free trade with foreign countries. | agre
| with all who contend for an INEQUALITIES
domestic free trade in every article tha
is the product of American soil or o
| American labor.
For all Of these [ would secure every
| facility of convenient and rapid exchange
| throughout the length and breadth of oul
| country.
[ agree with my friends that free trade
| is beautiful In theory, and would be II
practice between men and nations where
| all things are equal and where all would
actually weigh and measure all the pro-
duets of labor by one uniform standard
| of measure or value. Such a measure OF
value should be as unyielding in It's
nature as gold and silver.
1t should be a measure that has an in
| herent value In itself, the result CT labor
actually expended in producing it equal in
amount to the labor that has been ex-
pended on the article for whic:; gold and
silver, or its equivalent, Is to be given in
exchange When the government has
secured for our country such a measure
of value, and has paid the national debt,
and when it has caused a gold and silver
dollar to be held In readiness to redeem
every paper dollar that is allowed to cir
culate as money; when that time has ar
rived we may with less danger venture to
introduce a system Of free trade with for
eign nations. Every attempt that has
been made towards a system of free trade
with foreign nations In connection with
our use of an ver-expanding and con-
tracing system of incorporated bank
paper money must, as it has done, prove a
delusiOu and a snare. 1t must In the fu-
ture, as it has done in the past bring in
its train panic, pressure and ruin to the
untold thousands made bankrupt by the
change Of value in all kinds of property
caused by the many alterations Of tariffs
that have been made. Such a ruin must
inevitably follow a policy that would
leave our own people unemployed whilst
We are buying foreign luxuries to be paid
for by exporting the raw materials of our
own country, and then bringing upon our
country the waste of time. interest and
labor that must be lost between the pro-
ducer and the consumer. Such trade
will do for US what Dir. Webster said
paper money would do for nation it
will fertilize the rich mans field by the
sweat of the poor mans brow.
Those who desire protection for Amer
lean labor ask the government to adopt
the policy urgently recommended by
General jackson as the only true policy
| that can secure for the agricultural inter
ests Of the country steady and reliable
| home market and thus save the farming
| interests of the country from an entire
! dependence on the uncertain and huctu-
| ating markets of foreign nations, who will
| only buy of US when their crops fail, and
/ leave US with our crops to rot IN our
/ barns when they can do without them.
We should not forget that one of the
H. IL
! Revolution was the determination on the
part of Great Britain to force It's manu-
| factured articles on its colonies, to be
paid for by sending raw materIals-to Eng
/ land, and In this way to keep them entire
! " degendent and poor, by preventing the
/ colonies from manufacturing for them
/ selves. This is still the policy of the
| British government, by which it has
drawn to its little island the wealth OF
every country that has allowed itself tC
become the subject of its policy and pow.
er. 1t is trying still to persuade the peO-
ple of this country to run their plOughi
/ In competition with mighty machines II
| England, where a single engine Is doing
the work of a thousand men.
To see the folly of yielding to British
policy we have only to look at the effect!
produced on our country during the wa
with Great Britain.
At that time, when our foreign tradt
was cut off labor was in demand ant
money abundant furnaces and mills werl
built, and all actively employed; wage
were high, and our national debt small
| Four years later came the British fre,
trade system.
! At once all was ehanged-mills ant
furnaces were stopped, labor went beg
| ging. and our poor-hOuses were filled
| The price of land declined money be
! came scarce, and interest high. The ricl
who held mortgages became richer, ant
tlIe -pOUr- and those who were IN debt wer
ruined.
In view of all this widespread and gen
eral complaint, General jackson express
ed his deep concern for the welfare Of tn
nation when he asked, Where, wher
has the American farmer a market for hi
surplus product? "
| He was compelled to answer by saying
A. that except for cotton, the American
farmer has neither foreign nor hom
market"
| General Jackson, like a wise statesmen
j advised his cOuntrymen " to draw trOI
agriculture the superabundant labor an
employ it In mechanism and manufactor
les"
He then said, I'VE have been too lon
subject to the policy of British merchants
it is time we became little more Amer
} canized, and instead of feeding the pau
) per Iaborers of Europe, We should feed ou
; own and give them employment"
At this time complaints continued t
increase until things grew so bad that /
1928 our government found it necessaT
to adopt what I call a true American sys
: tenn of free trade. 1t was a system of fre
trade that extended to all parts of Ou
own country on all articles that are tn
5 product of our own soil or labor.
/ To encourage this system duties wei
J levied on imports, that soon gave ne
life and energy to the trade and bushes
of the country.
The public debt was soon paid off, an
prosperity became universal.
BY degrees, between 1884 and 1912, th
}. tariff was repealed the mills were agai
stopped furnaces closed lands faTle
. to half price the sheriff at work STATE
7 repudiating their debts the Treasul
unable to borrow at home or abroad, an
bankrupt laws passed by Congress.
In 1912 the national system was agai
S tried, and in less than in Eve years Il
t production of iron alone rose from 200
t 600 tons to 100000 tons.
S Prosperity was universal mines wei
z opened mills were built and none
9 plenty, and the public and private rev
:. nues greater than ever.
= Once more, in 1916, the British fre
: trade policy was adopted by repeating oil
4 tariff. and notwithstanding the discover
3 Of gold in California, money was as hig
> as ever.
1t British iron and cloth came in and go