New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-07-14
FREE TRADE ISSUES.
Mr.. DAVID A. WELLS REVIEWED
the Editor or The Trfbuns.

PEELED to do out of respect for truth, out of shams
for my country, and ont Of for the great
fathers of the science Of Political Economy. Ibeg
leave, then, to make brief quotation from Mr..
Wells, and / will endeayor TO confne my criticisms
to that portion Of his speech which here follows:
The has full complete The circumstances
OF The country the disposition Of the people ana OF
been nothing but failure and disaster In fact, chat
one single favorable result which has not been moro
than connterbalanced by some directly consequent in
has prospered through Protection In other sense
s s ys 81 H1 n ns
twnes simply TO paralyZe and destroy. II the Protec-
wages Of the industrial classes Of the United staes
te him In reply that measured BY the purchasing power
crease In wages during the last ten year.
thar has taken place IN Europe and that
iaborer Of Che United states receives today in OK,
change for his labor s less than at any former period
country compeers In wealth and civilization. II
am referred to the great absolute Increase nat the last
to 1870 my answer Is that the percentage increase
less than that experienced In the corresponding period
from 1850 to 1890 or 50 per cent in the protective against
SO per cent In the decade OF low tar1s; while the
% VeM Se % showing sGs IS nns For the &
principle and ayowed object OF proeecton IS 20 eecs
national dependence on foreign skilled labor But in
place Of becoming industriaiy independent there las
SO Of products
other countries exporting so te ., t1e b own se
rather than with products, Indeed inc isc1' are
striking oo 1nd 80 history that it seem.
to me I warranted In asking your atten
on o the United States Increased in the twelve
years 1SG0 20 1872 sli6OOOC0i put OF TINS
breadstus coin and bullion, provisions leaf tobacco
petroleum. aud lumbor-prod;s three, IoGrths OF ths
other oneourth labor of the most unsked and poorest
paid description And OF the other $1,000 increase 9r ..
hfoI,ta no
ducts OF high wages and skilled industry II Is ony SUI
hcient 70 say that fully During this
period protective papermoney Influences horeSse'
"a IL were swept from ocean, shown by the faet
that while in 1860 II per cent OF the tota IOregn
OF the United States was carried in American bottoms
in 1868 the proportion had fallen to "a per cent ana Tor
1878 will not be in excess OF % per cent II oe ae.
therefore charged that the advocates OF Free
In the United States, conformity with those OF Grest
Britain, engaged In conspiracy 10 underinihe 700
people industraly dependent on Europe IL Is most cer
tam Judging IRON an GsGspt iSeecye method Of pro-
cedure and If they really DESTROYS OK success
accept the theory of Protection applied to the United
States aud ali in their power TO secure It's acceptance
can conceive OF higher proof OF the purity ana AIS
interesedness OF motives on the part OF the eeohoss
o0 81 the PRINCIPLES Of Free Trade than She has
the success OF their policy would AT once 50 la
the cost of production and transportation Ia the Ohe
states az 10 deprive Great Britain OF her present largest
and most profitable Market
First: Passing the challenge with which have
nothing to do, beg to say few words as to the
purchasing power of the wages received by tho
American laboring population. What Is the COM
modify in comparison with which, TO the aborer. all
others are insignificant Why, Jood-wheat, rye
corn potatoes beef pork, butter, cheese, tea, and
coffee. So long as these are abundant as they un-
auesionably are in the United States are taught
by the Rev. T. r. Nautilus, Mr.. Ricardo Mr. Mill
A. nd oil no Free Trade fathprs that
the laborer will increase and multiply, because then
his condition is a fortunate and happy one. Not
only are money wages higher but all kinds Of food,
and also fuel and land, are much cheaper in thu
United States than they are in England. The
laborer will be rash to complain of the purchas'
ing power of his wages so long as bread, meat
and potatoes are cheap He must be supplied
with food three times a day, and he must, il
he be an English common laborer expend three
times as much in buying food as in all his other
purchases together including beer And why,
if the aboring be so much better off IN Europe
does he come and keep coming from every quarter
and corner of those great empires Great Britain and
Germany, to America He is intelligent, and he
knows that he can better his condition. Let Mr..
Wells be sure that if he were to station himself
one of the Liverpool docks and attempt to stop the
English emigrant, saying Stay, my friend you ara
going where the rich grow richer and the poor
poorer, into the den of the Monopost and Protec-
zionist" ne would be knocked into the water with
out ceremony.
Secondly: The statement about American exports
and imports is a most astonishing Misrepresentation
Never as find consulting the official returns Of
trade and commerce, have the United States eI-
ported much of the products of their labor as in
the fiscal year just closed. The increase in values
at the port of New-York alone is about S45OOOOOd
andt ba in nuanti.
ties corresponds. In the year ending June 30, 1871
the United States sold and exported to England
alone 100000 bushels of Indian corn, 100000
bushels of wheat, 100000 barrels of wheat -four.
100000 bales of cotton, 100000 pounds Of hops.
900 pounds of leather $4,000 tons of bacon and
hams, 1000 tons of beef 100000 pounds Of butter.
o. 900 tons of cheese $1,000 tons of lard 900 tons Of
pork 900 tons of taow and 81 900 tons of tobacco
beside a vast quantity of grain and provisions
exported indirectly TO England by the way of
Canada. These are not the exports of a country in
which the laboring population is plunged in misery.
These are not the surplus products of region where
population presses on the means of subsistence
and where a statesman. philanthropist, and Free
Trader like the late Mr. Mill, is forced to tho
masses to be prudent before they marry, and tenn
perate after, lest their children come TO misery.
Thirdly: VIII Mr. Wells inform me how, without
violence to the principles of Political Economy a
country can attract foreign capital without thereby
increasing its imports from the country whence the
capital is drawnf What is capital in the scientific
and true sense of the word. but commodities which
are to be consumed in the production OF other COM
moditesi When you borrow English capital you
borrow English goods and the lender relies for his
return on your promises and your good faith As
Free Trader am bound not to object to free bor-
rowing and to borrow from foreigners is to pay for
r. ...,,r ;,,norta in nrOmises A duty on