, 1876-01-31

1dE WElHAI UN 0uH MANUFACTURES,
An export trade Of American manufactures
is Of such importance as a factor in tho
untional resources TINT it cnnnot .bo OYER
looked by any intelligent man who under
takes to restore tho national credit to per-
manent and standard vnlnc. We hnre two
great products of wealth. We hnve prod
nets Of tho soil, including in these tho
yielding Of tho mines md tho cuttings OF the
forest; md wo haya also the products OF
skilled labor applied to the fashioning Of raw
materials, domestic and imported, aud their
conversion iuso commercial commodities,
We hayo within our limits large cons,,mp-
tion for all these, and there is in oil parts Of
tho world n dolnand for them. OF all tho
products Of tho soil, including NIL tho
forms into which they nro conycrted,-
ns grain into Aour, livestock into
meats, aud milk into cheoso,-wo prodncs
largo surplus, which We soil to the people
Of other countries, thereby adding to the itl-
dividunl md national wealth Of OR people.
Wo hayo nj our doors, as tho gift Of bouuti-
full Nature, m abundance Of all the raw mn-
torial Of which commercial manufactures aro
mada. Wo lnve tic fuel and tho means Of
transportation, and the labor needed for this
manufacture, in profusion unknown to any
other nation. Wo havo tho capital invested
and tho machinery in oporation. We havo
tic raw materials cheaper and Of better
quality than oil other peoples. We con, with
tho capital, tho machinery, aud the means at
laud, produce not only sufficient quantity
Of all theso classos Of merchandise to meat
homo consumption, but we can produce Of
them n largo surplus. Or tho agricultural
productions Of tho United states VIC export
an ayorago III valuo Of 10 per cent; tlat IL,
wo produce surplus e1ual to 10 per cent of
tho ontiro product Of tho soil, ns valued ut
tho place Of production. Tint is equivalent
to MI addition OF 10 per cont annually to tho
accumulated woAlth OF the country, which,
compounded, swolls tho aggregate to figures
which Hoom enormous.
We, however, willie rejoicing in this source
Of national md individual profit, steadily re-
jcct the other which ia producing silnilar ro-
suits. Wo produce cotton but tho Inv prnc-
tically prohibits tho sa!o Of manufactured
cotton beyond tho limits OF tho United Statcs
It fixes a minimum below which foreign
cotton goods shall not DO sold III tho United
States. Tho result is TINT tho prico OF cotton
goods is adyancel'S0 to 10 per cent; the con.
sumption IL reduced In the like proportion !;
mud tic manufacturer of cotton goods is con.
tlnod to tho production Of tho limited guam
tity needed for tho reduced domanll. Evon
the domestic market, boing tralnlneled by tho
high cost of production, is successfully in-
yadca by tho foreign manufacturer who soils
lis goods hero. Wo export nero trit]o of
cotton goods. Wo l4avo tho capital, the
machinery, aud tho labor, with the raw
naaseriai. and tho fuel, equal to large ex-
port to all the markets OF tho world, with
cotton gooaa at prices anil of quality that
can defy compotitiouL We refuse to ayail
ourselves OF this advantage. Wo run
our mills six months III tho yenr !;
we reduce our employment Of labor
to six months Of tho year; wo produce inst
half Of what VIC might produce, and hayo
nothing to sell, and no 1ncans to purchase OF
others. Wo produce no surplus. The shoe
maker, aud the tailor, aud the baker who
would conane their labors to tho mere pro-
daction OF tho shoes, clothing and broad
needed III their respective families, would
properly ba classed rs wanting in intolli-
gence, md their eyontua! pauperissn would
10 looked upon IS certain. Yot that Is pre-
| cisely tho policy established by law in tlia
country with respect to American nauufac-
| tures. In Lieu ot the foreign trade which
theao manufacturers arc deprived Of, the
Government imposes q tax upon all con-
s1amcrs OF domestic manufactures, to cont
pcnsato them fos the profits they loso by
/ non-producton.
In 1872, under the dread Of the pending
Presidential election, Congress- reduced tho
existing ta1 on certain lines Of manufactures.
The reduction was 10 par cent Of tho existing