Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-03-23

A dinner was given few wssks ago, in
New York, to wrLLIAn CULLEN BsrAKr, the
President Of the American Free Trade Lsag
ue, by q number Of the most emissnt ci.i
zsns Of that city. This signefs Of III. invita-
ton represented svsry divergence Of opn-
ion or other questions. while all met on
eommen ground Of faith in tho God given
right OF al men to exchange freely the runs
Of their labor one with another. Ia repy
. complimen,sry toast Nr. BaraNf INSIDE
Tue following fsrcbls aud common sense Ar
ment 10 favor Of Ne doctrine OF fres-tFads.
He said:
swim, | have done in applying the princi-
ni.. of human liberty TO the exchange Of
nropsrty between man aud man and between
nation ana nation, has been very easy to Dc.
1t was simply TO listen TO nv own convic-
sions, without any attempt to reason them
away, and TO follow whithsrsoever they
might lead me. In this manner have
been saved . good deal Of trouble, some per-
plsxity and bswildermsnt, some waste Of
ingenuity, If l had any to waste, and per-
haps no little rsmoras.
'ADotbsr Circumstance has made my
task easy. had only TO walk in = path
smoothed and lighted by some Of the best
thinkers Of the age-impartial, uuprejudic-
Cd men, who had no object in view but the
simple discovery OF truth. Grand and no.
BILE INTEL Gets held their torches over it, and
could not well step astray with such guild
anee. Besides, had only to follow in the
way which the werld is going. The ten
dsncy Of enlightened public opinion oil oil
countries il towards the freedom Of trade.
There is no difficulty in swimming with the
current. saw that the navigation was
safe, and let my boat float with the stream,
while others laboriously tried to stem u or
lay moored TO the shore wondering which
way they ought to 60. We shall have
them with us yet, Mr.. Chairman, merry
fleet Of all manner Of craft, bound on the
sams easy voyage.
"Another circumstance which has made
shs task Of free trade mere easy, 10 the vol
untary admissions which the protsctionists
italist 10 New England, owning cotton or
WOODEN mills, however great his attachment
to the protective system, has no idea OF en-
ploy ing any part Of his capital in raising
wheat in ths fields close to his mills. that
no may save the expense to him and his
work people Of bringing it from the distant
West. He brings ID from thousand miles
away and sends back his fabrics in OF
change, ct the very moment that he 10 pro-
curing laws to Be passed which will pre-
vent Us, the consumers, from buying
iron, and cloth, and paper from Europe,
that we may. 40 they say, save the sx-
penss Of freight.
"Whcn We make new acquisition OF ter
ri.ory, they do not object that We are to
have free trade with the new region. On
the contrary, they rejoice in . wider mar
kst This they did when Texas was IA
ken into the Union. They made no OPP
position to the acquisition of California,
on she ground that all revenue laws which
shut out tho trade Of that vide region
wsuld now b repealed. When W talk
Of annexing Canada, they do not object
that ~ and the Canadians will then be
no longer Independent Of each other.
'In this they are in the right in this
they taci,ly admit the advantage Of free
trade. Whatever other objection may be
made to tho acquisition Of new territory
the enlargement Of our borders by the
addition of new and extensive provinces,
Is . great commercial and industrial id
vantage, because ii makes the exchange OF
commodities between them and us per-
fectly free.
Yet lh.re is = certain plausiblity in
what the protec,ionists say when they
talk of home Industry aud home mar
ket "A plsusibfity which mislcads many
sensible IN all other respects, and whom,
as men, | admire and honor. There are
clever men among them, who bring to
their side Of the question q great array OF
facts many Of which, however, have no
real bearing upon its solution. There is
plausibility, too, in the idea that the sun
makes n iaily circuit around the earth,
and il there were any private interests TO
he promoted by maintaining it. We should
have thousands believing that the earth
| stands still while the sun travels round
il. See for YOURSELF they would say
will you not believe the evidence Of your
| own ssnsesv The sun comes up In the
East every day before ysur eyes, stand,
| over your head at noon. and goes down
in the afternoon in the West Why, you
admit the fact whom you say the sun
/ rises, the sun sets, the sun 10 up, tho sun
is down. What fool was Calico, VIA
| nonsense is tho aystsm Of Cnpsrnicus
what trash wos written by Sir Isaac New
| ton
| al remember case in pont-an anec
dotc which | oncc heard in Scotland.
writer to the signet, called in England AL
| attorney, of the Mol, who knew very little
except what related to the drawing up OF
| Law papers, once heard . lecture on astron-
| nmy, in which some illustrations were Civ
en- of the daily revolution Of the earth on
| t,sxis. The attorney WAS psrplsx.d and
bewildered b. the philosophy, which was
| so new 10 him, and one day, his thought
frsquently recurring to the subject, hs look
ed up from his aw-papsrs, and said "Ths
| young mon say the warld turns round. It's
| vera extraerdinar'. I've lived in this place
sax and thretty years, and that grasa-pl ot-
house that IL had sax and thrstty years
sin and yet tho young mon saws the
warld turns round. It's vera extraerdinar' y
Here Was = man who was net to BE- taken
in by this nonsense about the earth rsvolv-
ing on its axis and IL there were any real
or imaginary pscuniary advantage to be
gained by denying il, Mr.. Moll would have
| . whole army Of hisDway Of thinking, many
Of them far wiser and better informed Of
other respects than he.
Perhaps, Mr.. Chairman and gentlemen,
you will allow me TO make use Of another
familiar illustration. You have heard Of .
man attempting to lift himself from the
ground ~ the waistband Of his pantiloons.
Now, ifanything were to be gained By Il, .
very respectable p,isri argument might
be made in favor Of the possibility Of the
feast. One might say You can lift two
hundred pounds; your weight is but one
hundred and sixty. A power Of gravita-
tion equal to one hundred and sixty pounds
holds you down 10 the earth. You have
only to apply concentrating force . little
creator than this, and yoa Be lifted into the
air. Take hold Of your waistband there
tsre. with beth hands, and pull vigorously
II yeu do not pull youSselfup at the firss
trial, you must pull harder All that
might sound very plausible to one who had
no experience 70 gnide him.
"rhis country has been persuaded 70 IT.
tempt the fsas Of lifting itself from the
ground by the waistband. and for nsarly
century, with occasional shors rslaxations
Of the effort, prompted BY . return Of CON-
man sense. whsA the frst pull was mace
and was Intellectual, ~ were to try another.