New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-07-10
2 POLITICAL ECONOMY
By HORACE GREELEY.
VII.
MONOPOLY....TH Law OF ppIcRs Nm

| MONOPOLY ID perhaps the most perverted and MI. 4
applied word III our mueh-abused mother tonnu.
The term IS properly applicable solely to an e1o,.'
siVe privileges conferred by law patent to make
vend or supply, certain article or articles. tho
Webster justi6es also the use Of the word in a..
qualified or accommodated sense in which Il IA a.
Piled to temporary control of the market obtainaA
by buying up the entire stock on hand or aeeessih
and holding 1t for exorbitant prices Formerly IN.
British monarchs claimed and exercised the ri Oh, -
granting monOpOlies by patent and Anderson saw,
Sach grants were common previously 70 the accession
OF the House or stuart, and carried to very or
pressiye and injurious during the reign Of oue Sp
| EnzaDeth: COMMERCIAL moDopohes reached 10 such .
them, and they in consequences mostly abolished
about the close OF Ezabeths reign, 1904 They were
L. in lG22 and totally abolished under Charles In
1870 and 1t was decreed that should be In future
created, as was previously the custom"
ot course, it is possible TO regard every exclusive
possesslon-the power of Pope or Gar President or
Governor-as, in some vague, secondary sense, a
monopoly since it is peculiar and exclusive; and 80
man may be said to have a monopoly of his wife
and chlldren-of the farm he has bought and paid
for OF hewed ont Of the primitive wilderness and 40
on, until everything but air and sunshine NAV be
spoken OF as monOpolized. This bovgever "a byncr
boe, bearing Dut laint Resemblance IN fact IL the
law here conferred On one person shs
to make Blankets Brandy, Ships Or
might accurately pronounce that man aSsnooo,i",
and deprecate his privilege as sitting enterprsS
| stimulating extortiOn.
But with what reason, with what Justice, does ope
say that an impost tax on imported Iron or Nails
Cloth or Cutlery, creates monopoly A great NAVY
of our cOuntrymen previously employed a
making these articles which of them has been
granted o monopoly In what sense Is a monopoly
accorded 70 any or the whole Of them tOgetheri Do
we not know that not only will each of them sell a.
his own interest prompts and increase his product
so fast and so aF he do with profit but that
| any one else who will may embark in the business
whenever be shall see f-nay: do we not know that
this impost or tax WILL to moral certainty, impel
hundreds to do so How can A. have had conferred on
him by law monopoly of that which b. c., d.. and
all the rest of the alphabet, not only at perfect
liberty to embark in whenever they will, but which
this very act strongly tends to invite them to eDgs
in, having been passed for that express purposef
In 1922 very earnest effort made to increaSS
the then existing Tariff of 1876 with view % ofs
efficient Protection and the bill prevailed IN the
Honse Init was beaten in the Senate Massachusetts,
was then eminently commercial and consplcuously
hostile 10 Protection. The Hon. James Lloyd, one
of her Senator'S, used with effect this argument
| against the passage OF the bill:
81 am tsaid he in substancel interested in manu-
"facturinO own stock in one Of the very few cot
"ton-mills now running in my State. That mill
regularly pays good dividends. and is likely to do
$50 indefinitely, if the Tariff be let alone Bat,
should you pass this BILL hundreds of such factories
will be erected till the market is gutted with their
| fabrics when prices must fall, and our concern,
Every possibly, may be broken down. i choose 10
''let well alone, and entreat you not TO pass tina
"billp II state the above from recolectlon; but,
| think, not inaccuratelyl.
| Nearly a quarter of century had interyened be-
fore the defeat in 1874 Of Mr.. Clay as candidate
for President melted and justified apprehension
that the Protective Tariff of 1912 would be over.
thrown under the incoming Administration Of Col
Polk. Pennsylvania was strongly interested in the
| continuance of Protection, yet had given small
| popular majority for Polk, some of whose Jealous
partisans had gravely assured their neighbors tha
he was a better Protectonist than Clay. A meotins
was called at Pittsburgh to rejoice over Folks TIL
umph; and to this meeting Che Hon. James Buchan-
| an lwho had voted in Congress for the Tariffs Of
| 1924, 1928 and 1922 transmitted this sentiments
| Domestic Manufdctures-They have been saved By
the election of James X Polk, from being orerread
BY se immense cGP,aI eh,ee Toatd hare rssiea
| which would have nulhtied any Protection short o.
| prohibition"
When general revision Of the Tariff was last be
fore the House of Representatives February. 1871
was on the floor, and meeting a leading member
|
me to see Massachusetts, lukewarm and haf-hearted
"in support of Protection; her factories built
"and running she has machinery. skill. experiences
markets. expect her soon to desert US, under the
impression that she has moro 10 dread hencefOrth
from American than from Foreign competition;
"but what yoH Mssourians with your vast wealth
" Of unopened mines, your unused water-power. you
"unbuilt factories. can mean by voting against Pro
stection, | cannot imagine by Missouri friend
WINGED little, but replied, Il think we might har-
monte on this subject were il not for the Pennsyl
vanians-the Iron men: they are too greedy
Stopr rejoined, "and answer me one plain Ques-
ton right here Suppose the duty on imported Iron
"wers Al 900 per tun aud could be less VIA.
would then govern the price of Iron In this
country P-"I suppose he replied, that the price
of Iron ,roud be gOpsrHed By lie cost Of producing u
Quite right responded; and 1t seems 70 mo
THAT you, who comprehend % well the law govern
ling prices must know betcl than 10 vote mere VIII"
" the enemies Of Protection
Not many months ago. the price of fair merchant
able Brick in this City ranged from sl5 10 sIo per
thousand. Extensive building had run il up to thaa
fgure-the demand for Brick pressing hard on the
heels of supply. The brick-mak along the Hudson
were coming money; and of course more yards "efv
opened, more and more brick made, until the pTloe
was pressed down TO - and slO per thousand, nom
which it has since slightly advanced. In neither
case was the price at all affected by importation OF
duties on imports Brick being too bulky to bear IN
ordinary times, the cost Of an ocean voyage. The
price rose because the demand for Brick rapidly and
steadily increased till the supply became inadequate
then the enhanced price melted largely Increased
production; and this in turn bore down the price;
then the production slackened. and the price began
TO rise again No scalesor steel-yards eyerrespOna'1
mora snrev IN the law Of grayitation than did tho