Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-06-28
Free Trade and Protection.

IneOrv IOunu III actuai pTactlcc only
in Utopia. Great Britain dissent
mates it, and glories in it as PAN
acca for all ills, and collects $780,
100000 per annum on imports.
She wanted cheaper wheat, on
which to feed her labor at low
wages and so enacted the corn laws.
Her silk industry was not quite
sufficiently advanced to compete
with France, and go a protective
tariff was retained till 1869. N was
even then too early, and the indus
try has lanquished since. The
gold plate industry is still protect
ed, and recently the humble re-
quest of British India for its re-
mission was firmly refused, even
after requiring the Indian Govern
ment to remit the export duty on
wheat. This is the sort of free
trade that is practiced by Great
Britain. She discards duties on
goods that cannot elsewhere be
made cheaper, and holds on to
protection where it is essential to
her welfare-enhancing ship build
ing, and granting subsidies to GER
tain steamship lines throughout
the world.
! What is protection ? tits duty
on imports which builds up nation
al industries; compels the foreigner
who shares the profits of our mar
kets to bear some part of our bur-
den of taxation; reduces by COM
petition the prices of our manufac-
tured goods, and increases by en-
larged demand the value of farm
products.
In this country the classes favor
ing free trade are the importers,
the dealers in foreign goods, the
British born citizens educated in
that theory, and incapable of change
of views with change Of location
and circumstances, and men with
fixed salaries who want low wages
! and low prices of goods, without
reference to the general good OF
their own best interests in the fu.
ture.
Those who want protection are
the industrial classes, manufactur.
ers, mechanics, miners, and farm
ers who constitute more than two
thirds of the people. There are
} some of these classes however,
short sighted and unintelligent who
! have been misled by demagogues
and fail to see their interest in pro-
, lection. To such we recommend G
careful reading of tho Issue.
Really merchants and all, indeed
1 are ultimately benefited by policy
; which benefits the industry of the
) country.
+, While the policy of protection
: obtains in come form, in every civ
ilized country, there are, theore
tically, diverse views held by indi
! viduals in each nationality. "Fret
trade is the child of hope and thu
mother of good will" says George
, Won Bunsen. The protectionist
j adds: "Her other parent is self
ishness, and the eldest Of her pro
'igeny thug trained to the stran
Cling of young industries" 1t il
! observed that only those industrial
] ly advanced nations in which nc
competition in prices favor it, while
, those in which labor is scarce ant
! skill undeveloped oppose and resist
it. 1t is also noticed that nation:
! change their policies as their con
ditions are reversed. 1t happens
when the need of raw materials
l whether for manufacture or fol
! food, is more potent than the feal
Of competition, that the bars of the
customs are let down; and also,
when the great continent, fertile
; waste, is suffering for an opportun
ity to produce all material for man
ufacture, the bars are somewhat
persistently kept up. 1t is phase
Of human nature very persistent.
: ly exhibited, that is seen in al
: these cases. These differences o
theory and practice, will continue
in the future as in the past, enforced
= by different circumstances, envir
). oning national industries, and die
q tated by the hard practical sens
n that recognizes the fact that "cir
5 cumsfances alter cases. Issue.