Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-01
THE TARIFF CONVENTION.


nished by the telegraph show how per-
sistently the Protectionists travel in the
old paths. Their reasoning has distinct
flavor OF mediavalism. We are carried
back to the times when the so-called Mer-
camille Theory prevailed, before Adam
Smith came to reconstruct political econ
omy, and to teach its fundamental princi-
pies to benighted world. We hear, as In
those venerable days, of 'fthe balance OF
trade. We are grayely informed that it
is for the best interests of the country that
system shall be continued which has
destroyed our carrying trade entirely,
and which has built a Chinese wal
around us, to the prevention of the
extension of cur foreign commerce. But
with strange inconsistency the Protec-
tioaists, after fixing upon the country their
paralyzing and extravagant system, now
lament that our foreign commerce is in so
bad condition. They at least ought not
| to take this tone. The state Of our foreign
commerce is their own handiwork. 1t is
| the legitimate and inevitable consequence
| of the tariff and the navigation laws.
This truth, however, they will not recog-
nize, and so they have come together to
propose way out of the difficulties with
which they have surrounded the country.
And very ingenious and Characteristic
way it is, too. They propose that the
Government shall subsidize lines of steam
ers to number of foreign ports, /" in order
"to encourage American ship-building,
and in order to stimulate foreign copn-
merce. Truly, Convention of Daniels
come to judgment
When system has done what our tariff
system has, mere reason would suggest as
the quickest and surest way of regalnlng
what we have lost. the prompt abolition of
the restrictions upon our ship building and
commerce. The repeal of the navigation
laws would seem to be in order as pre-
liminary, and next the modification of the
tariff. But our friends at New York de-
sire nothing less than either of these meas
ures. What they want is to make the
consumers pay percentage of their earn
ings to maintain artifcially a carrying
trade which has been crippled by bad laws.
They will not advocate the removal of the
bad laws. They insist on keeping the
mans arms and legs fettered, but they
think that if the West will buy him 60
cart, and pay somebody to push him round
in it, everything Will be all right. And
here comes Mr.. Blaine, and solemnly ap-
proves this programme, and says we are
"paying to Brazil annually more than
'forty millions of dollars in gold coin to
settle the balance of trade against the
&c United States p and further expresses
his opinion that as long as we fail to s;pro.
"vide an easy mode for the merchandise
of Brazil to come to US, "the balance of
trade will annually increase against us.
From which it is evident that Mr.. Blaine
is still in the bonds of the Mercantile
Theory, or, to put the case in another way,
that he does not know what he is talking
about.
We have no steamship line to Brazil for
very sufficient reasons. In the first place
Congress has destroyed our shipping inter-
est by the navigation laws, and in the Sec
ond place we are not in position either
to establish or maintain that foreign trade
of which the Protectionists are saying Sc
much just now. To establish such trade |
we must be able to compete in foreign |
markets with the manufacturers of Europe, |
and this we cannot do, because of our tariff, |
which renders the cost of production SO
high in the United States that our mer.
chants could only hold their own abroad |
by selling their goods at a loss. And this
shows how utterly useless the proposed |
remedy of the tariff men would be. |
No doubt Congress has the power to
bride citizens to put on steamship lines to
foreign ports. There is no losing trade
which men will not consent to carry on if
some one will pay them for doing SO. 1t
must, however, be distinctly understood
that this is losing trade, and that it can
therefore only be resurrected in the arti-
fetal way proposed. But suppose that it
is thus established, what effect will it
have upon foreign commerce? We reply,
none at all. The dearness of American
manufactures will continue to exclude
them from foreign markets as before, and
the subsidized steamers will bring no car
goes to our ports.
If Congress wants to make the matter
perfectly clear to the comprehension of the
American public, it had better propose to
pay the merchants the difference between
the protected profits and the prices at which
alone they can sell in foreign markets.
Then it would be seen that the producers
OF the Great West were being forced to
pay part of their earnings to bolster up a
trade which could not stand of itself, and
the incapacity of which is due certainly to
that protective system which already plum
ders the consumer on all sides. But the
pretext of the tariff men is fimsy SUBJ
terfuge This subsidy programme is a
mere clumsy and palpable disguise for
fresh scheme of robbery under the much
abused name of Protection. No foreign
trade can be built up in any such way. It
is at best only trying to galvanizs corpse.
As soon as the battery is withdrawn the
rigor morris will return. The simple truth
is that the Tariff is the main cause of the
situation of which its supporters are com.
planning, and SO long as the Tariff remains
it will be vain to try to build up our for
eign trade. All the pretenses about past
successes in competition with Europe are
false. Protection never has and never can
help US to compete with Europe. On the
contrary, it has prevented US from having
a foreign trade, and it has wasted the SUBJ
stance of our people in preposterous efforts
to overcome natural laws.
The Tariff Convention is against the
best interests of the country. 1t is part
of an organized effort to riyet the shackles |