The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-02-25
Our nuylns anu Selling Abroaa.


aertion Of free traders and revenue re.
formers" that foreign nations will buy OF
Us in proportion as We buy Of them; TINT II
we build up a home market for certain
products we break down the foreign mar
ket for certain other products; and, aH q
subordinate proposition, II we encourage
home markets by protective tariffs VIC dc.
o. ase the quantity Of manufactured srli.
s!es:which foreign countries can cell to up,
aud by that much rob the farmer OF his
foreign market.
The 1NTgLllaENcER has repeatedly shown
that tho home market is the first consider.
alton with the farmer es we'll as the manu-.
factuter; that II all other conditions were
equal, and could bs guaranteed TO remain
eqlal, the home market Is worth twice as
much as the foreign; and that all other
conditions not being equal, or likely to re.
main fixed, the home market is worth
much fuore than twice as much as The
foreign. II this essential point has not
been made clear, we shall be glad to demon.
slrate It again.
For the present VIC are willing to leave
out Of consideration this very strong argu.
ment in favor Of protection, and take up
the FREQ trade theory that "ioreign com.
modities arc always paid for by home
commodities" In fact, o purchases and
our sales abroad (imporIs and exports) de-
pend in no way upon each other. England
buys cotton, grain aud whatever, else she
takes Of us, not because VT buy pottery
and iron and steel and fabrics Of her, but
because che finds it 10 her advantage 10
buy Of us. She will take IS readily
from elsewhere, and preferably from
hcr own possessions; as witness
her growing purchases Of grain
from British India, France does not
ask how much we are buying or going to
buy Of her silk goods, her WOODEN goods,
her wines, her leather and manufactures
OF leather, or her watches, before she deter
mines how much Of Jul farm or other
products she will take. The same may be
said Of Germany and OF every other coun.
try. Each buys and sells where it can buy
or sell to the best advantage, neither trans-
action being dependent upon the other.
II wetake our trade with the world for a
period OF forty years ending with 1883 we
find that in eighteen Of these years we
bought more than We sod by amounts
ranging from less than a million in ls4S to
one hundred and sixteen millions in 1872;
that in twenty-five OF those years We sold
more than we bought by amounts running
from two millions in 1857 to two hundred
and %si1ly.nine millions in 1870; and the
closest investigation will fail to show that
our sales have been ut all dependent upon
or influenced by our purchases. In the de.
cade closing with 1888 We sold to other
countries n thousand three hundred and
thirty-ons millions more than we bought OF
them, an average Of one hundred and
thirty-three millions a year, In 1870, the
year Of the greatest balance in our favor,
1.-TWO hundred and ~sixty.one millions) We
took from foreign countries $780, 900 lees
than in the previous year, and they took
seven millions more from us. In 1883 We
bought fifteen millions less than in 1852,
but VIC sold ~fifty.six millions more. We
should have sold rs much if we had bought
nothing.
It does not follow at all that commodi-
ties OF one country must be paid for in The
commodities OF the purchasing country,
else the balance Of trade must always re-
main unsettled. Money settles the &C.
count. A British ship which comes to this
country in ballast and goes hack with grain
is a perfect illustration Of the point. Until
we buy something equal in value that
cargo OF grain represents money that must
come to this country. And this or some.
thing like 1t happened many times in 1883,
or We should not have had In our favor
one hundred and three millions on the
year. trading with the world.
At this time the country is agitated by
the prohibitary pork edicts Of France and
Germany. In spite OF the prohibition last
year We sent to France tifly.six millions Of
our products, instead Of ninety.eight mil.
lions, aB in 1880, a falling of Of forty-two
millions, or forty.three percent; but we
bought from France ninety-seven millions
instead Of sixty-nine millions, as in 1880,
an increase Of twenty-eight millions, or
forty.one percent. Our whole business
with Germany, buying and selling, footed
up in round numbers the same in 1888 as.
in 1881, Zone hundred and twenty.three
millionp,) but We sold to her four millions
lsi in 1883, and bought from her five
millions more, than in 1881. In the year
from 1851 to 1882 our d omestic exports to
Germany fell oil sixteen millions, but our
German imports increased more than three
millions.
The record shows, therefore, that other
countries buy from us and We buy from
them without regard to what either buys
from the other. The difference is paid in
cash drawn from the debtor country's prof.
its on lis trade with other countries or from
It's savings Of other years. Facts, figures
and illustrations might be multiplied, but
enough has been given to show the fallacy
OF the free trade theory. Whoever desires
to pursue tho inquiry further will find am
pie material in the publications Of the
Treasury Department.