Mexico weekly ledger., 1882-08-17
THE TARIFF, NO. ILL.,
WRITTEN FOR THE LEDGER.

Nothing can be more absurd than
to say that a thing is true in theory
and not in practice. A theory is SIM
ply an exposition of the principles of
any art or process ; and if the exposi-
ton or theory is true, then it must of
necessity be true in its application or
practice. The position of the pro-
t~ectionist is that there is no such
thing as general principles in econom-
ic science, but that every nation has
its own system and determines it's
own economic laws. The legitimate
inference of such a doctrine, and the
one that the protectionist must stand
on, is that the drawing of an imagi-
nary line on the surface of the earth
and calling one side Texas and the
other side Mexico; or one side Brit
ish America and the other side the
United Estates, invalidates the great
principle of the brotherhood of man
kind and the interdependence of ma
tions ; that it makes a conrse of ac-
ton, universally acknowledged a
blessing in one case, a curse and a
calamity in the other. Suppose we
proceed to discuss the question from
a standpoint of practice and not the
DRY :; from the actual and not the the
oretical, and let us see if protection
has accomplished and is accomplish
ing what is claimed for it,. The great
want and the desire of a nation,
apart from the protection of life,
liberty and property, is to establish
such a national. fiscal and commercial
policy as will ecu the greatest
amount of material abundance to its
whole people. Without sound fl
nance it is impossible to have sound
health in the body polite. Next to
this we want to secure the greatest
equality in the distribution of national
wealth and abundance and this Can
be done only by the enactment of
such laws as will, to the greatest ex-
tent possible, prevent the creation of
opportunities whereby one mar can
enrich himself at the expense of his
neighbor or the community. When
this is done then NO man can unnatu-
rally Or artiicially appropriate his
neighbours property to his own use,
and every one, unrestricted, enjoys
the fruits of his own efforts. Adam
Smith says: ''To prohibit a great peo-
pie from making all they can of every
part of their produce, or from en-
ploying their stock and industry in
the way they judge most advantage
Gus to themselves, is a vio-
lation of the most sacred rights of
mankind"
This country has what is acknowl-
edged to be the fundamental source
of all wealth in great abundance the
cheapest and most abundant supplies
of all food products; an unlimited
area Of fertile land the staple fibre
of the worlds clothing; unlimited
supplies of coal, iron and most all
the metals; timber and all kinds OF
building material; facilities for inter.
communication unexampled; the
highest standard of popular intelli.
gence, and every mar a sovereign and
the peer Of his fellow man. These
furnish the primary and essential
conditions for material abundance
and cheap production. What country
on earth possesses such facilities fol-
| cheapness and excellence of its pro.
auctions? Except as to such articles
as climatic conditions say must be
produced elsewhere, it ought to be
able to defy the competition of the
world. 1t stands to reason then that
if such a condition of affairs has not
been attained then the the causes
must be artificial and not natural.
There is no lack of ability " aptitude
on the part of the people to make the
most of these advantages; so then
the fault must be somewhere else.
We find a sufficient cause for the
failure of natural results in the ap,
plication of our government Of the
doctrine that a nation can be made
prosperous by the restrictions of the
freedom of trade by the instrumen.
tality of taxation, or the usual policy
of protection pursued by the govern.
ment. This is an old doctrine-the
legitimate heir of the middle ages.
Then the line was not drawn al
the frontier of a nation, but protected
citizen against citizen, n domestic
trade against another, and one city
and district of a country against the
competition of another city and dis.
trlct of the same country. This was
a logical application Of the doctrine
Of protection. Under such a system
sometimes there was a famine in one
district and plenty in a contiguous
district. Such were some of the laws
enacted by Great Britain for the
American colonies, and contributed
greatly to bring about the revolution.
Manufactures sprung into existence
in the colonies without any encour.
agement and flourished to such an
extent that England thought it nee.
essary to suppress them. History
tells us that under such laws, when
enforced, trade is completely de.
stroyed. To quote again from that
great writer on economic science, DIR.