The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-18
Taxes for Revsntse Only. sc

reform of our system Of reyennea
I Dr. Lieber. in taking the Chair.
expressed the hope that the meetingl
! would 'prove an Important step In the
, progress of civilization, by advancing
what he deemed the sacred cause OF
free trade. +i IL ltsssss.sss 8
/ The chronicles of the middle ages
make mention of the comfort enjoyed
by the English peasants, compared
! to, the abject state of the correspond
ling classes on the Continent where,
it was. said, that the peasant lived
worse than d;a The dog of his mas.
ter. This contrast was, no doubt,
owing to various causes combined;
doubtedly, first, that England was
then the only nation in the world
which enjoyed national Govern
ment. And, secondly. that the
Magma Charta, as early as 1915, freed
England from evil tolls on her coast,
on her high roads, and on her rivers.
The continental countries, on the
other hand, were divided into petty
jurisdictions, each exacting s'evil
tolls" at every point; trade, traffic,
progress we're stayed at the bounda-
ries of each petty State; protection
had it all her own way, and civiliza-
tion stood still or went backward. It
was not until the end of the last cen
tury that ''evil tolls" in France were
abolished. Why, even when the first
emigrants left the Palatinate for
Pennsylvania, centuries later, it took
weeks and weeks before they could
reach from Mannheim, or any of
those Palatinate places to Rotterdam
or Amsterdam. And whyP Because
they were stopped everywhere by
those insolent barons, and made to
pay those "evil tolls"
He then referred to the rapid de-
velopment of the United States,
which was essentially owing to the
absolute freedom of trade, establish
ed by the Constitution among all the
States of the Union. Mankind, when
they reason at all, admit that domes-
tic free trade ct least is desirable.
Granting this much, is there then a
single reason that free trade with
France, with England, with Ger
many, is undesirable? Mans mate
rial, mental and moral progress de-
pends first of all on three elementary
principles or laws, and its incipiencyi
is insured by them. They are the
all-pervading inter-dependence of
men,. the equally pervading law of
the manifold appetites of men, with
the infinitely varied faculties and
capacities of men, and of the earth
ON which they are placed, to satisfy
those manifold desires; and, lastly,
the fact that man would be, as lie is
created, far more helpless than any
animal, were it not for his ability to
produce any exchange. Everything,
indeed, in this life, depends first of
all on exchange; and all obstruction
of exchange is an offence against |
humanity. The freer the, exchange
the greater the production; the more
production, the greater the wealth of
nations.
DR.. J. P. Thompson believed that
appeals in every way should be made
to the working men of the country.
They were liable to be misled by the
fallacy that the protective tariff
created a production which could not |
exist without it, and which rebound
ed to the benefit of the working man
in increased wages. They must be
taught that the rate of wages thus
created was artificial, and was accom-
panied by increase in the price of all
articles wages had to procure him;
that in the end this was worse for
him, for it enabled the manufacturer
to place fictitious value on his pro-
ductions. The story of high rates
for labor soon got abroad, and this
brought over the loborers of other
countries, also misled, tempted by
the nominal prices for work. Then |
followed the reduction of wages, but
did the price of commodities fall at
the same time; did the farmer or the
grocer lower the price of produce?
No, it only afforded n new screw to
depress the working man still lower.
"LET US HAVE PEACE when the !
Russians eXterminated one-half of Po-
land and brutally trample upon those
surviving, even to the extent of abo-