Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-19

consequent relief of the burden of taxation.
Not a dollar has been wasted, and the only ex-
travagance with which the party stands charged
is the generous pensioning OF soldiers. sailors
and their families-an extrayagance which en-
bodies the highest form of justice in the recog-
milton and payment of sacred debt When
reduction in taxation is to be made, |
the Republican party can be trusted to accom- |
plish it in such form as viii most effectively |
aid the industries OF the nation.
OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE.
A frequent accusation by our opponents is |
that the foreign commerce of the country has |
steadily deeayed under the influence of the pro- |
tective tariff In this way they seek to array |
the importing interest against the Republican |
party 1t is a common and yet radical error to
confound the commerce of the country with its |
carrying trade--an error often committed inno-
Gently, and sometimes designedly: but an error
so gross that ii does not distinguish between
the ship and the cargo. Foreign commerce
represents the exports and imports of coun-
try, regardless of the nationality of the vessel
that may carry the commodities of exchange.
Our carrying trade has, from obvious causes.
suffered many diseouragements since 1860; but
our foreign commerce has in the same period
steadily and prodigiously increased-increased,
indeed at q rate and to an amount which abso-
lutely dwarfs all previous developments of our
trade beyond the sea. From 1860 to the
present time the foreign commerce of
the United States, divided with approx
innate equality between the exports and
imports, reached the astounding aggregate of
twenty-four thousand millions of dollars. The
balance in the vast commerce inclined in our
favor, but it would have been much larger II
our trade with the countries of America, else
where referred to, had been more wisely ad-
iusted. 1t is difficult even to appreciate the
magnitude of our export trade since 1860, and
we can gain a correct conception of it only by
comparison with the preceding results in the
same field The total exports from the United
States, from the Declaration of Independence,
in 1776, down to the day of Lincoln election, in
1860, added to all that had previously
been exported from the American colonies from
their original settlement, amounted to less than
50 COO, 900, Co., On the other hand, our exports
from 1860 to the close of the late fiscal year ex
ceeded So coo O0O 600, the whole of it being the
product of American labor. Evidently pro
tective tariff has not injured our export trade,
when under its influence we exported in
twenty-four years 30 per cent. more than the
total amount that had been exported in the en-
tire 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 1850 Our chief emporium, the
city of New York, with its dependencies, has,
within that period, doubled her population and
increased her wealth five fold. During the
same period the imports and exports which
have entered and left her harbor are more than
double i'll bulk and value the whole amount
reported by her between the settlement of the
first Dutch colony on the Island of Manhattan
and the outbreak Of the civil war in 1860.
AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF.
The agricultural interests are by tar the largest
in the nation, and are entitled in every adjust
ment of revenue to the first consideration. ANY
policy hostile to the fullest development of agri-
culture in the United States must be abandoned.
Realizing the present system Of revenue, parties
have labored very earnestly to persuade the
farmers of the United States that they are
robbed by a protective 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 sophistry 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 1850 Massachu-
sets and Illinois had about the same wealth
| e, Ir,11
each-and that in 1880 Massachusetts, had ad-
vanced to twenty-six hundred millions, while
Illinois had advanced to thirty-two hundred
millions. They see that New Jersey and Iowa
were just equal in population in 1850 and that in
| twenty years the wealth of New Jersey was in
creased by the sum OF eight hundred and fifty
| millions of dollars, while the wealth OF Iowa
was increased by the sum of fifteen hundred
millions They see that the non-trading az
ricultural States of the West have grown SC
rapidly in prosperity that the aggregate add
ton TO their wealth since 1869 is almost as great
as the wealth of the entire country in that year
They see that the South which is almost ex
clusively agricultural, has shared in the gen
cral prosperity, and that having recovered from
the loss and devastation Of the war, has gained
so rapidly that its total wealth is at least double
that which it possessed in 1SG0-exclusive of the
slaves. In these extraordinary Development
the farmers see the helpful impulse of
home market, and they see that the finan
cial and revenue system enacted sine,
| the Republican party came into power has es
tablished and constantly expanded the HON,
market. They see that even in the case o
wheat-which is your chief cereal export-the.
have sold in the average of the years since th'
close of the war three bushels at home to on
they have sold abroad, and that in the incrcas
of corn-the only other cereal which We expor
TO any extent-one hundred bushels have beef
used at home to three and half bushels ex
ported. In some years the disparity has beel
so great, that for every peck Of corn exporte'
a one hundred bushels have been consumed il
/. the home market. The farmers see that in tn
! increasing competition from the grain fields q
Russia and from he distant plains Of India, tn
growth of the home market becomes daily c
' greater concern to them, and that its impail
' ment would depreciate the value Of every Gcr
. of tillable land in the Union.
i OUR INTERNAL COMMERCE.
: Such facts as these, touching the growth an
Is consumption of cereals at home, give us som
If slight conception Of the vastpess of the inerns
l. commerce the United States They sugges
Il also, that in addition to the advantages whic
a the American people enjoy from protectio
IT against foreign competition they enjoy the az
d yautaees of absolute free trade over large
e area, and with a greater population, than an
a other nation. The internal commerce Of OF
g thirty eight satesa and nine Territories is carrie
Of on without let or hindrance, without tax, d
y tention or governmental interference OF an
H. kind whatever. IL spreads freely over an are
IS Of three and half million square miles-a
" most equal in extent to the whole Cont
a nent Of Europe The profits are e
-y joyed to-day by 100000 of American fre
re men, and from this enjoyment no monopo
er is created. According to Alexander Hamilto
a when he discussed the same subject in 1880, Il