New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-11
Al(ER1oAn PROTECTION.

We have read with much interest the
speech of Hon. W. D. Kelley, Of Pennsyl-
vania, upon the necessity of an American
system of protection. We may discount
whatever is due to the zeal of repre-
sentative for the special interests OF his
constituents, whether for protection on
iron OF sugar, and there results from the
views of Mr.. Kelley sound and patriotic
policy tending to make the republic more
prosperous and more independent We
do not assent entirely to his proposition
that the free trade doctrines of England
| account for the decline of some of her
principal manufactures, nor need we ad-
NIT that the protective system of France
will account for the extraordinary pros
perity of her industries. We were struck
some years since with this bold idea of
Mr.. Kelley that the science of political
economy, as expounded by all its pro-
fessors, was not universally applicable
under all conditions to the policy of every
country, England imports the food and
raw material of some principal industries.
She re-exports the products to foreign
markets. It is plain, therefore, that she
must sustain, in the importation of corn
and cotton and the re-export Of the per-
fected fabrics for foreign consumption, q
very heavy and exceptional charge on pro-
duction.
What Mr.. Kelley may perhaps call free
trade is but the admission of food aud
material duty free, and inasmuch as this
reduces the cost of labor, such free trade
is in effect protective Suppose we offer
our theory for the expectation of Amer
lean cotton goods to England:
l. England imports and stores raw cot
ton. This is ate nded with more cost of
freight, insurance and interest. The i'm
portation is accompanied with that Of
food for the oper atives.
2. England imports cotton from India
at almost the same expense as from
America. The cotton of India is inferior
to that of America. 1t requires mixture,
and is also adult Grated by sizing that
exceeds that of the United States as five
to one in weight
The assembling of these elements costs
good deal. These heavy mixed fabrics can
not be so good as those made exclusively
from American cotton. The foreign con-
sumner prefers the American article. If
English machinery. 80 far as it may be the
best for any particular department Of
be imported into the United
States; if the operative be likewise i'm
ported; if the motive power, whether of
water or steam, be of equal cost here as |
in England, why should not the fabric, if |
made of the same cotton, be the same
whether made by the same agencies on
this side of the ocean or the other? With the |
advantage Of spinning on the spot, there |
can be no question but that the protec-
ton of nature, and of opportunity, has
been a leading factor in working out the |
of the American fabric in the |
foreign market. With the creation of |
these fabrics in a country in which all |
their elements may be assembled, and ex-
ported to foreign market in the compact
form of finished wares, the theories of |
Adam Smith, Say, Condorcet or Mills are
controlled by conditions which render
them inapplicable. The mechanical pro-
auctions of France are of character that
perhaps require no protection from COM
petitors. France produces surplus
If food. Many of her most profitable
abrics are the product Of hand skill The
element of style, which can neither be
Weighed or computed as a component,
commands an exclusive market. Mr..
Kelley himself. We think, stated that twen-
y-five cargoes of the finest French goods
would pay for the whole tonnage exports
If American cotton.
We are not prepared then to accept
'ither, or in fact any, foreign example for
American policy. Henry Clay commended
hat if the United States would, for few
7ears, exclude certain manufacturers of
prime necessity, such for instance, as
hose of iron, wool and cotton, these arti-
les would be furnished by our own man
factories on cheaper terms than they
ould be imported. MI. Kelley testifes
hat the United States is now sending
otton goods and ironware to England,
nd that in all the manufactures neces-
airy to national defense or subsistence the
United States is independent of the
7orld. Mr.. Kelley, however, adverts to an
Incidental cause of these successes which
either Mr.. Clay nor Adam Smith fore
aw. The superior attractions of food
nd freedom, the improved facilities of
and settlement afforded in
ne United States has attracted the skilled
.bor Of Europe, and there has been
ransfer Of this labor to the food and raw
laterial instead Of the unending trans
ortation of those elements to the labor.
% one can regard the product of more
IAN s2,O00,O0O,OOO of manufactures in
10 Western States alone, without being {
that this transfer exists. Al
wing to our protection all it may claim, {
lese incidental attractions have brought 6
J many as 10000 skilled workmen an s
ually into the port of New York.