The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-09-19
THE BALANCE OF TRADE.

We offered few comments yester-
day on the speech of President HAYES
at st Paul, Minnesota, wherein he
advanced the theory, that, as the
balance of trade was largely in our
favor, the country was SUI ely on the
road to prosperity. We only dealt
with the inference drawn by Mr..
Hayes from this that, 'sas these
balances are paid in cash--the money
Of the world it behooves us here in
this country to make our currency
correspond with that of other
countries. We show the fallacy of
this claim by pointing out that this
balance Of trade in our favor for the
past three years has not added any.
thing to our coin reserves; therefore
the claim that the 'sbalances'' are
paid in cash has no foundation. And
we showed the absurdity of Mr..
Hayes claim about the necessity of
the United States adopting sthe cur.
rency of the world,'' by citing his
own figures to show that we have no
balances to pay abroad.
We propose now to offer few COM
ments on the theory that the balance
OF trade shows where prosperity lies.
This is manifest error. The balance
Of trade was largely against us from
1865 to 1873. Was there ever time
when greater prosperity existed in
the United States! Our people were
regularly employed at good wages
and the land was contented and hap.
Ply. How has it been since the
balance of trade turned in our favor
We have been going from bad to
worse. The last five years have been
the most dlsasterous in all our expe.
rience. Isn't it nonsense then to
argue that prosperity rests with that
nation which has a balance of trade
in it's favor! We do not agree with
the New York Times on the financial
question, but on this subject that pa
per is sound. The Times we'll says
that it ''dOeS not require very deer
study or remarkable sagacity to con.
vince any one that, first and last. all
foreign taade must balance about
even. The real objects of trade are
merchandise, not money. and one
country can get from other countries
only IN equivalent of what it sends
them. Ina normal state of things.
there is no gain in an increase OF
money, and the real source of national
wealth is the nation itself, and not
foreign countries. TO make the
most OF our own resources and build
up our internal prosperity, we must
exchange what we produce for what
others produce, but the gain is in the
development of our powers of pro-
ductiOn, and the increase of their
results, and not getting more from
others than we give them" 1t holds
with us that the balances are rarely
paid in money. Most OF the bonds
held abroad were purchased in mer-
chandise. Now these bonds are
coming back to pay for the merchan-
disc we are sending abroad. There
is not country in the world having
a specie basis that could stand drain
of coin sufficient to pay a balance OF
trade of $2O,0O0,0OO annually. When
the arbitratOrs at Geneva awarded
the United States $l5.50O, 900 and
Boutwell, demanded this from England
in gold the financers of that country
declared that the withdrawal of that
amount of coin would create a panic.
The balance of trade now in favor
represents the prosperity of a few
monopolists. The county generally
is not the gainer.-Nesc Haren Union.