The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1883-02-14
Free Trade.

Free trade Is not acceptable 70 tn
people Of the United States, and til,
statesman who does not forsakc thi
thrcadbare policy of the ante-bclun
past may as well consider his polilica
usefulness. if not at an end, as sadly i'm
paired. An intelligent construction o
free trade teaches that the spirit an,
letter Of this theory is simply drcc
taxation, which is an Objectionable
method Of providing a revenue for tn,
carrying on Of the varied department
of the government.
We repeat that direct taxation is no
popular with the people Of this country
hence the two parties Of the country
have to a great degree ignored this, W,
may ms well say, exploded issue, that il
the past appealed to the passions of tn,
hour in the compound cry of free trad,
and sailors rights" A new era ha
dawned upon the political field of tn,
United States, industrial changes, in
lluenced by geographical arrangements
OF soil and climate, have TRANSFORMED
our country from sectional producing
area to largely prcpondcrating manu-
featuring district,
This state of affairs naturally involves
us in II dilemma, one of the horns of
which We arc compelled to accept. If
We advocate II protective policy, its
abuses may destroy the motive that es-
tabIishes it five advocate n tariff for
revenue only, we open pandora's box
II evils, lnasmuch as government me-
'cssllles, creating stringency, might oc.
'rr from time to time or else Il redun-
!ncy or plethora, thus causing constant
fluctuations in the desired amount de-
handed to meet the current expenses of
he government, which would naturally
,rca;e necessity to make tho tariff con.
form to the claims of the government
Tor revenue uses. What n wretched
state Of affairs would be presented if we
accept this phase of the matter. The
merchant, II commercial necessity de.
handing, must anticipate his purchases
OF manufactured goods twelve months
prior to delivery in many cases but il
he buys on basis of the fabric being
taxed at forty per cent, not knowing
before delivery but that government ne.
cessllles may force an increase to sixty
per cent, it would be confusion worse
COMPOUNDED, and would be from n com.
mercial standpoint Noticeable, in fact
too burdcnsome to be borne. 1t is not
in accord with the temper of our people,
That our importations should be at the
mercy of a constant changing schedule
made to conform to certain wants. Ii
would be Il droll view for our cousins
lcross the Herring Pond" to talk of
uch a condition of national economy
We would be the laughing stock of in.
irrational, diplomatic and commercial
oclety' What is really wanted is an
4 ca'orcm tax upon all imported arti.
lcles, and where an imported article
ompetes with one of home production,
uch production must be afforded to an
xtent that will make the manufactur.
X of the article competed with profta.
lie to the American manufacturer.
This is simply a common sense view
f the subject, and it is the sentiment of
large majority of the American PEG.
lie. That obsolete idea that nearly
andicapped one of the great parties of
ne country that q tariff revenue was
Nc panacea that was to extricate them
0 rom inc slough of antagonism to a pro-
t. s;.',';s @rili, was simply grotesque, as
: s,ghincs nothing and Is but n tub east
= !, ' ns , Young whale of the country. But
~ US take the three cardinal fsotures
the questions at issue and weigh their
espectlve merits with the scales Of con.