The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-07-23

Of the public debt and the consequent relief of
the burden OF taxation. No dollar has been
wasted and the only extravaganza with which
the party stands charged is the generous pen
sioning Of soldiers, sailors and their families
an extravaganza which embodies the highest
form Of justice In the recognition and payment
OF asacred debt. When reduction Of taxation
is to be made the republican party can be trusted
to accomplish IL In such form as will most
effectively aid the industries of the nation"
OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE..
frequent accusation by our opponents is
that the foreign commerce of the country has
steadily decayed under the influence OF the
protective tariff In this way they seek to ar
ray the importing interest against the repub-
lican party. 1t Is common and yet radical
error to confound the commerce of the country
with its carrying trade-an error often COM
mitted innocently and sometimes designedly,
but an error 30 gross that It does not distin-
guish between the ship and the cargo. Foreign
commerce represents the exports and imports
OF country, regardless Of the nationality of
the vessel that may carry the commodities Of
| exchange Our carrying trade has, from obvi-
Gus causes, suffered many dscouIagements
since 1860, but our foreign commerce has in the
same period steadily and prodgiously in.
creased-increased, indeed, at a rate and to an
amount which absolutely dwarf all previous
developments Of our trade beyond the sea.
From 1860 to the present time the foreign COM
merce of the United States divided with APP
proximate equality between exports and i'm
ports) reached the astounding aggregate of
| twenty-four thousand millions of dollars (S24,-
| 600, 000) The balance in this vast COM
merce inclined in our favor but 1t would have
been much larger If our trade with the coun-
| tries of America, elsewhere referred to, had
| been more wisely adjusted. It is difficult even
to appreciate the magnitude of our export
| trade since 1860, and we can gain correct
| conception of it only by comparison with pre-
ceding results In the same field. The total ex-
ports from the United States from the Declara-
| ton OF Independence, in 1776, down to the day
OF Lincon's election, in 1860, added to all that
| had previously been exported from the Amer-
| can colonies from their original settlement
| amounted to less than nine thousand millions
of dollars $4,000 900 000). On the other hand,
our exports from 1860 to the close of the last
fiscal year exceeded twelve thousand millions of
dollars (S12 900, 600, 000)-the whole of IL being
the product of American labor Evidently a
! protective tariff has not injured our export
trade when, under its influence we exported
| in twenty-four years forty per cent more than
| the total amount that had been exported in the
entire previous history of American commerce
| All the details, when Analysed, correspond
| with this gigantic result. The commercial
cities OF the Union never had such growth as
| they have enjoyed since 1860" Our chief en-
porium the city of New York. with its de-
tendencies, has within that period doubled
her population and increased her wealth FIVE
fold. During the same period the imports and
| Exports winch nave entered ana lett ner mar
Dor are more than double in bulk and value
| the whole amount imported and exported by
| her between the settlement of the first Dutch
colony on the Island OF Manhattan and the out
break OF the civil war in 1861"
| AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF.
"The agricultural interest is by far the largest
in the nation, and is entitled, in every adjust
ment of revenue laws to the first consideration
| Any policy hostile to the fullest development
| OF agriculture in the United States must be
abandoned Realizing this fact, the opponents
| of the present system of revenue have labored
| very earnestly to persuade the farmers Of the
United States that they are robbed by pro-
| tective tariff, and the effort is thus made to
| consolidate their vast influence in favor Of free
trade. But happily the farmers of America
| are intelligent and cannot be misled by sophis-
try, when conclusive facts are before them
They see plainly that during the past twenty
| four years wealth has not been acquired in one
| section, or by one interest, at the expense of
another section or another interest They see
that the agricultural states have made even
more rapid progress than the manufacturing
states. The farmers see that in 1860 Massa-
chusetts and Illinois had about the same
wealth-between eight and nine hundred mil
lion dollars each-and that in 1880 Massachu-
| sets had advanced to twenty-six hundred mil
lions, while Illinois had advanced to thirty-two
hundred millions. They see that New Jersey
and Iowa were Just equal in population in 1860,
and that in twenty years the wealth of New
Jersey was increased by the sum Of eight hun
dred and fifty millions of dollars while the
wealth of Iowa was increased by the sum of
fifteen hundred millions. They see that the
nine leading agricultural states of the West
have grown so rapidly in prosperity that the
aggregate addition to their wealth since 1860 is
| almost as great as the wealth of the entire
country in that year. They see that the South
which is almost exclusively agricultural, has
shared in the general prosperity, and that, hav-
ing recovered from the loss and devastation of
war, has gained so rapidly that its total wealth
is at least the double OF that which it possessed
in 1860 exclusive OF slaves In these extraor-
binary developments the farmers see the help
| ful impulse Of a home market, and they see
that the financial and revenue system, en-
acted since the republican party came into
| power, has established and constantly ex-
panded the home market They see that even
in the case of wheat, which is our chief cereal
| export, they have sold, in the average of the
years since the close OF the war, three bushels
at home to one they have sold abroad, and
that in the case OF corn, the only other cereal
which we export to any extent, one hundred
| bushels have been used at home to three and a
half bushels exported. In some years the dis
| parity has been so great that for every peck of
corn exported one hundred bushels have been
| consumed in the home market. The farmers
see that in the increasing competition from the
grain fields of Russia and from the distant
plains OF India, the growth OF the home market
| becomes daily OF greater concern to them, and
that its impairment would depreciate the value
of every acre OF. tilable land in the Union"
OUR INTERNAL COMMERCE.
| !" Such facts as those touching the growth and
consumption of cereals at home give us some
slight conception of the vastuess of the internal
commerce of the United States. They suggest
also, that in addition to the advantages which
the American people enjoy from protection
against foreign competition, they enjoy The
advantages of absolute free trade over larger
area and with a greater population than any
other nation. The internal commerce OF our
thirtyeght states and nine territories is carried
on without let or hindrance, without tax, de-
tenion or governmental interference of any
kind whatever. 1t spreads freely over an area
of three and half million square miles-al-
most equal in extent to the whole continent of
Europe. Its profits are enjoyed to-day by fifty
six millions of American freemen, and from
this enjoyment no monopoly is created Ac.
cording to Alexander Hamilton, when he dis
cussed the same subject in 1890, 4" the internal
competition which takes place does away with
everything like monopoly, and by degrees re-
| duces the prices of articles to the minimum of
a reasonable profit on the capital employed !"
1t is impossible to point to a single monopoly
10 the United States that has been created or
fostered by the industrial system which is up
held by the republican party. Compared with
our foreign commerce, these domestic exchanges
are inconceivaby great in manufacturing
merely, as one fundamentally, AS large mile
| age of railway \ exists TODAY In all the other