, 1878-03-29
The Want of a National Policy.


ening of labor, we are beginning 10
disnnte with England for supremacy
in the empire of the forge, the loom
and the hammer. That it is our hnal
destiny to here stand without rival
there i, no question. The evidence
is seen in our geographical position,
in Abe genius of our institutions, ana
in The infnitudc of our resources
But that the advance we have made
toward sovereignty in the manuiac'
turing realm is premature and sur
ronnded with doubt Of immediate
success, there is also no question.
The recent placing of some OF our
fabrics in successful competition
with those of England in her own
warehouses in Manchester, and IN
Birmingham, as well as in the great
marts of India and of China, is but
the result of an elastic force which
is prematurely breaking beyond its
boundaries, without the certain
promise of permanence. lrue, ~ 10
the first impulse of movement that
must a, scme time in the future not
onlv prove permanent but dominant.
That we are not to day the leading
manufacturing nation of the world is
the result of our own follies. Had
we been true to ourselves as Amerl-
cans, the products of our handicratt
would now burden every ship and
cumber every shelf of the habltable
globe. Thus far we have failed to
comprehend our needs. To develop
domestic manufacturers we have re-
sorted to that unnatural and oppres'
sive system known as the protective
tariff. Instead of establishing a
sound financial policy. whereby
money at cheap rates of interest
would become abundant for the los
tering and maturing Of manufactures
as well as that Of all the industries,
we have been stupidity cropping our
way along in doubt and darkness,
subject to the subtle and mastery
diplomacy and financial fnessing Of
English statesmen and capitalists.
For hundred years the nation has
INDUCED in bombast and in pyrorech-
MICS over its success in throwing off
the English yoke in l776. We, how
ever, only Their escaped from one
bondage to become subject to
another. The success of the Revolu-
tion and the congratulations of Chat
ham and Burke over the birth of
new Anglo,Saxon nation we're not
tokens of full and complete eman-
cipation. The sovereignty Of Eng
land over her refractory offspring of
the New World was the transferred
from her Parliaments to the chambers
Of her great financiers. English
capitalists, in their own interests and
that of their Government, intriguing
through the wealthy of our own citi-
zens, demonetized the paper issue of
the United States, and brought upon
the country the terrible results which
followed the reputation of the $780,.
100000 of Continental notes which
had played so important part in re-
sisting the arms Of England during a
seven years struggle. At no mo.
ment since that period have we, in
complete sense, been a free people.
England imposed upon us, through
our own capitalists, the United States
Bank in 1871, and succeeded in per-
petuating it until President Jackson,
in the interests of the Government
and of our industries, gave it its
quietus. Then the Anglo. American
money ring, bent upon revenge, con-
centrated in their vaults the greater
part of the coined money in circula-
ton, that disaster and ruin might
destroy credit and paralyze industry.
All that was anticipated by these
wreckers of national prosperity fol-
lowed this artifce to bring about
suspension of specie payment. AS
consequence, English goods flooded
the country, while our industries
were for the time dead. The neces.
sites of the hour seemed to demand
a protective tariff. OF course this
checked the influx Of English goods
and gave temporary relief. But the
demands of trade soon called for an
increase of money. Ten millions of
Treasury notes were issued yearly in
1887, 1888 and 1889. In i849
another financial revulsion followed
through the scheming of the Anglo
American Bank Ring. And so has
the country, from its first wear of in.
dependence, been struggling along
IN the fulfillment Of its destiny under
financial embarrassment to the pres.
ent hOur And thouOb