The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-12-27
The True Policy of the Union.
ny HENRY c. CAREY, LID.

Five and thirty years since, the internal re
letions aud the policy of Germany on the
one hand, and Of these United States on the
other, differed, toto eopl5. the one from the
other. The first presented to view dong.
cries of disunited Utates. which having its
separate custom house, and each jealous @Sits
Immediate nesghbor, while well dispostdto
court connections with communities abroad.
As consequence of this. manufacturers had
scarcely an existence: wool. rags, and food
went abroad. TO be paid for in the cloth and
iron of Belgian, France, and England the
people were poor and uninstructed; and the
nation at large was little more than an lnstru.
ment in the hands, of Russia or Austria.
France or England.
Directly the reverse of this was then. the
state Of affairs on this side Of The Atlantic,
the union OF the States having then been per
feet; the revenue system having then been
uniform throughout the length and breadth of
the land: full and complete protection hav>
ing then been accorded to the farmer in his
efforts To draw consumers to his side; the in-
ternal commerce aud the revenue from Gus.
tom duties having been great beyond all for
mer precedent the demand for labor having
then been so active as largely TO stimulate
immigration, aud the powey of the nation
having been so great as fully to warrant Gen.
tEal %AGhSOl w Say 4llE ~ tit pUfETuHtcDt Oh
France that the day had then at length ar
rived when claims for spoilations must be
settled. AS settled they soon after we're.
Setting thus from opposite points. the
course OF the two nations, for neatly all the
time that has since elapsed, has been as d.
rectly opposite; Germany having then soon
after been united in the establishment of q
commercial system winch gave protection 10
the farmer and the aborer. while, we aband.
oned protection, and resestablished that Brit
ish ree>trade system under which, but few
years before. we had so severely suffered.
The policy of the former has, throughout the
whole Of this long period. looked to the crea-
ton of a perfect internal commerce rs the
basis OF great external one; and how well
it has in this succeeded is found in the fact
that whereas, before the formation of the
Customs Union, Prussia had but seventeen
vessels in her merchant service, the %ussian
flag now floats over more than ten thousand
ships. The policy of the latter has, with
slight exception, been based on the idea of
sacrificing the internal commerce, in the
hope >of thereby obtaining a large external
one. What has been its success is shown by
the facts that, throughout the last few years.
the Stars and Stripes have been almost who'll
ly driven from the ocean; and that even now
with peace restored nearly all onr inter
course with the outside world is carried on
through European ports. nearly all our COM
merce with those ports being maintained by
means OF foreign ships
With the growth OF German domestic
commerce there has been growing tendency
toward the establishment OF political union,
the result now exhibiting in the facts that the
great disturbers of German peace. France
and Austria. have recently been driven from
the field, and that Northern Germany nov for
the first time stands before the world a united
nation, Numbering thirty millions, and exer-
eising an amount of influence greater than
that of either France OF England. fThe
greatest work ever vet accomplished on En-
ropean soil has been thus achieved, and bv
means of measures SO generally peaceful and
profitable that the period Of war scarcely ex-
tended beyond "A month, while so abundant
were the means by which to meet itk cost
that the whole amount Of loan asked for by
the Prussian Finance Minister was less con-
siderably ,han $4,000. 900.
With the decline of American domestic
commerce and corresponding growth of de-
rendence on foreign markets, the course of
things has here been directly the reverse of
all that has been above described the tens
dency to disun;un, the belief in the divine
origin OF human slavery, the love of slavery
and the slave power having grown with every
step in that direction. sectional fedliuo
grew steadily. until a, length it ripened into
a rebellion that has cost the Union, North
and South, more than ten thousand millions
of dollars Of property, and more than half
million of human lives, the whole of this
great mass constituting the price we have
paid for following in the direction indicated
by those British free traders By whom the
first and greatest Of all the commandments is
found in the traders maxim, " Buy in the
cheapest market and sell in the dearest
one"
What, however, II is that they need 10 buy?
Is it not raw materials-the things we have
to sell? That it is so is certain, and that
their pecuniary interests are promoted by in.
creasing competition for their sale, is equally
certain.
What is it that they desire to SELF Is it
not iron and cloth-the things we need to
purchase? That such is the case is certain,
and equally so that their pecuniary interests
are promoted by increasing competition for
their parchase
The more they can crush out foreign man
ufacture, the greater must be the competition
for the sale in British markets Of all the pro-
ducts OF the earth; the lower must be their
prices; the poorer must be the men who have
them to sell, and the weaker and more de.
pendent must be their governments. That
such must certainly be the case was seen By
Prussia, and hence was il that she adopted
thaf protective system which has resulted in
the formation OF German nation now 20
powerful and so united that It must Of neces-
MY attract to itself oil that portion Of South
eyn Germany not Jet included. Our coun.
9yuen did not zee this, and hence it wss that
Ne adopted fhst British free trade system
winch hA4 gwen to the world the ereaAna&