, 1873-06-15


balloon trips across oceans to such fanciful ar
! imaginative persona as Poe and others who ha1
delighted to construct weird stories based upo
ba1loon-voyages and moon-hoa1es~
FREE TRADE LEARNED THROUGH III:
BELLY. =.
The London Daily Neto,, in an article On th
subject Of protection and free trade, expresae
some astonishment TINT the Amarican peopl
have borne with the protective policy 30 long
It is surprised that the people Of the Unite,
States, possessing 80 much nstural shrewdnea
and proverbiA commercial insight, should fai
| 50 long to perceive the imposition practicet
upon them The explanation given for tli.
seeming Inconsistency BY the Nesos il PARTIAL,
true, but the implied reproach upon Americar
intelligence is hardly appropriate, coming from
England
It was once the boast in England that the
country was able to produce enough food to
meet the wants OF Englshmen, aud that it was
humiliation to permit foreign corn to be sold
in British markets. How long that idea con-
trolled the commercial policy Of England, lot the
Daily Nezos answer. It had been the ruling
principle Of Great britain for centuries and
forty years ago the men who proposed to abandon
It was held to be as dangerous to society rs are
| the Communists Of to-day. In point Of fact
Great Britain did not repeal her protective lava,
even on the article Of food, until starvation
stalked through the Kingdom, and until tho
choice lay between famine and f1ea
trade. John Bull did not learn Hee
trade through his heart but through his belly.
After generations Of stolid ignorance and
mgoty On the subject, when her industries,
"protected" at every point, had robbed and
plundered each other ot the last penny, and
crime, stagnArion OF buaineas bankruptcy, and
stark famine stared her in the tace,-then, and
no: till then, did England, With all har
"proverbial commercial foresight and nat
tural ahrewdneas," perceive the impoaition
that she had practiced upon herself. The
Minister who dared to avert famine
deserted by his party, and was thrust
from Office. He lived, however, to SEQ
that brave net become the foundation Of the
wider and more comprehensive policy which the
Daily Nezcs now wonders that the American peo-
pie do not adopt, In period OF tolezahle pros
perity, without the stimulus Of intense suffering,
which alone enabled Great Britain to learn its
advantages.
In point Of fact, the last thing that nation
learns In its advance in civilization, is that two
pounds Of iron arc better than ons pound, two
yards Of cloth better than one yard, at the same
cost, or, as Bastiat puts It, that "two and two
make four in political economy the same Is IN
arithmetic" The only nation that has learned
is Germany, and even hare the truth was &C.
quired through q necessary experimental
process, rather than through the e1er-
clse Of pure reason Formerly protection
State, large and small, in Germany. Each
tupenny kingdom and principality had its
tcr1ttvry bv.1o1ud wiLL ouztUlit-nuures ntu
revenue police It Was pretty much as 1t would
have been IN the United States, it every county
in every State had been separate nation, and
had collected customs duties on all goods
brought into or passing through it's territory.
Each Of these States had ita protective code to
preserve it's home market aud shut out foreign
competition But this eventually worked its
own euro. Nth the growth OF commerce and
the needs Of modern society, this cumbersome
system could not be executed So, finally, it was
agreed that, instead OF levying duties at every
cross-road, there should be hut one duty COL
lected, and that at the border Of Ger-
many. Ths prosperity which followed from
the removal Of artificial obstacles taught
the people that an import duty is nothing but
td1, and that there is no more sense in expect
ing to attain prosperity by imposing heavy taxes
upon themselves than in first loading their boots
with metal weights and then trying to lit them
selves by the straps. Now, all Germany receives
imports under one tax, which does not average
over IL per cont I'D ra1orena- It took the Ger
man States several generations, and cost many
long and e1penBive wars, to learn that the
Chinese system of e1clusiyeneas was wholly In
with commercial prosperity; and that
it WAS better to get Elk loaves Of bread for
shilling than three.
The present "pinch in the Western States
has enabled good many people to see the folly
Of paying s46 per ton extra for steal rails to
haul oorn to market, who would never have been
able to see it otherwise and We have consider
IL. L.
ton may be given to public sentiment which
will result in tearing down the whole vicious
System OF taxing one man for ths benefit OF
another.
Another Arctic Expedition.
On Saturday, May 10, an expedition toward
the North Pole loft Dundee, Scotland, OF which |
ne hope to hear good accounts in the future. It