The Portland daily press., 1878-01-05
he Board of Trade Resolutions.

In protesting against the enactment of the
silver bill the Portland Board of Trade but
expresses the well-undsrstood sentiment of
the community. 1t is eminently fitting that
the. protest should go forth from body which
represents the business interests and large
portion of the wealth of the city. The pas
sage of the silver bill is urged by It's advocates
as measure to encourage trade, to stimulate
languishing industries and to revive COM
merce. So it is proper that our business men
in whose behalf these arguments are ad-
vanced should emphatically repudiate them
and put themselves ons record against any
further debasement of the currency. It is to
be hoped that the example of the Portland
Board of Trade will be followed by the repre-
sentatives of commercial and manufacturing
interests in all other parts of the State.
The resolution of the Board in favor of the
establishment OF Governmental Department
of Commerce, the responsible head of which
shall have Cabinet seat, will not SO unre-
servediy commend itself to those of our pee
pie who have given to the subject much
thought Indeed it may not be unfairly as.
sumed that the passage of the resolution was
owing more to general indifference than to
active sympathy. Most of our merchants up.
on reflection will come to the conclusion that
the less Government has to do with trade the
better. The establishment of an equitable
tariff is one of its duties. Further interfer-
ence though it may be at first benefit will
StNt tI1n ava1
resolution should be taught by the Arabian
fable Of the Bedouin and his camel. When
the Government once gets its nose into any
business 1t is ever after encroaching. Mer-
chants would do well to take for their motto
the Jeffersonian maxim which the elder Blair
used to faunt at the head of the old Demo
cratic Review: That government is best
whose rule is least felt. Eastern men TOO
should remember that the control of our pub.
lie affairs is fast passing to the South and
West. The economy of these producing see
tions is naturally opposed in spirit and meth
cd to the manufacturing interests of the East.
The new department will be In their hands
and its administration will probably be hos
tile to us.
But throwing these selfish considerations
aside, there seems to be no pressing need of a
subdivision Of the Treasury Department. If
it is oVer-worked new bureau can be estab-
lished. TIE great industry of this country
is agriculture. But the establishment of
Department Of Agriculture, the head of
which shall have Cabinet seat, is not favor
ably considered by business men generally.
Commerce, the handmade of Agriculture,
does not deserve higher consideration. 1t is
not clear what good the proposed Department
can effect. 1t certainly cannot correct any
supposed injustices in the tariff. The whole
matter of the tariff and the allied subjects is
within the control Of Congress, and under
our system of government the head of a
Department is almost wholly without infu-
ence in shaping legislation. About all new
Department could do would bo to vaxatiousy
interfere with trade regulations, and to give
forced or contradictory interpretations to its
own rules. Its head would in most instances
be man selected for other reasons than his
knowledge of the business of the Depart
ment; or If man was chosen because of
presumed fitness the choice would in all prob
ability be made from the ranks of the theo-
rists and doctrinaires, and we should be vexed
by Secretary possessing no executive ability,
welded to impractical methods, aad with a
head turned by visionary ideas.