Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-07-19
MR. RLa1gss LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE.


lished. In reference to the tariff he holds
that the two political parties are radically in
conflict on this question that the republi-
cans, when they came into power in 1861,
established the principle of protect on to
American labor and to American capital,
while the democratic party in Congress has
for fifty years persistently warred against
it.
Revenue laws she says are in their very
nature subject to frequent revision in order
that they may be adapted to changes and
notifications of trade. The republican
party ia not contending for The permanency
Of any particular statute. The issue be-
tween the two parties does not have refer
ence TO q specific law. 1t is far broader and
far deeper. 1t involves principle of wide
application and beneficent Influence, against
s. theory which We believe TO be unsound in
contention and inevitably burtful in prac.
tice. In the many tariff revisions which
have been necessary for the past % years
or which may hereafter become necessary,
the republican party has maintained and
will maintain the policy of protection to
American industry, while their opponents
insist upon revision which practically de-
stroys tt at policy" The issue, he thinks,
is thus distinct, we'll defined, and unavoid-
BILE, and the overthrow of the policy means
large and permanent reduction in the
wages of the American laborer, besides in
volvng the loss of vast amounts of Ameri-
can capital invested in manufacturing en-.
terprises. The value of the present revenue
system to the people of the United States
be asserts is not a matter oftheory. In at
tempting to prove his standpoint he pub
fishes statistics contrasting the prosperity of
the country before the war with that of the
present day.
In his attempt to explain the sense of
boarding surplus millions in the Treasury to
lie dormant and afford a temptation to dis
honest officials, Mr.. Blaine says:
Our opponents find fault that our reve-
nue. system produces surplus. But they
should not forget that the law has given a
specific purpose to which all Of the surplus
is proftably and honorably applied re-
duction of the public debt and the conse-
quent relief Of the burden of taxation"
Further on, in the face of the well.known
| fact that hundreds of millions have been
sqandered in the ostensible work of re6t-
ting the navy, but really to enrich certain
contractors, Mr.. B. makes the remarkable
| declaration
mo dollar has been wasted, and the on.
| ~ extravaganza with which the party
stands charged is the generous pensioning
| of soldiers, sailors and their families-an
extravaganza which embodies the highest
| form of Justice in the recognition and pay
| ment of sacred debt"
In speaking of foreign commerce he says:
"a 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 array the importing interest against the
republican party. 1t is common and yet
radical error to confound the commerce of
the country with its carrying trade-an err
| ror often committed innocently and some
times designedly-b an error so gross that
| it does not distinguish between the ship and
| the cargo. Foreign commerce represents
the exports and imports Of u country re-
gardless of the nationality of the vessel that
! may carry the commodities of exchange.
Our carrying trade has from obvious causes
suffered many discouragements since 1860,
but our foreign commerce has in the same
period steadily and prodigiously increased
Increased indeed at a rate and to an
amount which absolutely dwarfs all previous
developments of our trade beyond the sea.
From 1850 to the the present time the for
eign commerce Of the United States divided
| with approximate equality between exports
and imports), reached the astounding ag-
gregate of twenty four thousand millions of
dollars 1924 900 ,00O,00O). The balance in
this vast commerce inclined in our favor but
it would have been much larger if our trade
with the countries of America, elsewhere
referred to, had been more wisely adjusted.
The total exports from the United States
from the Declaration of independence in
1776 down to the day OF Lincoln's election
in 1860, added to all that had previously
been exported from the American Colories
from their original settlement, amounted to
less than nine thousand millions of dollars
($9, 0O0, ,000). On the other hand our ex
ports from 1860 to the close of the last fiscal
year exceeded twelve thousand millions Of
dollars $4,000, 900, 000)-the whole of it
being the product of American labor. 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"
He next treats of the effect Of the tarih
on agriculture, and after depicting the
alleged growth in wealth of the agricultural
interests of the New England and Western
States, speaks as follows of the South: 1.-THE
South, which is almost exclusively agricul-
tural, has shared in the general prosperity,
aud that having 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 developments he says "the farm
ers see the helpful impulse ola home market,
and they see that the financial and revenue
system enacted since the republican party
came into power, has established and con-
stantly expanded the home market. They
see that even in the case of wheat, which is
our chiefseria 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 half bushels ex.
ported. In some years the disparity has
been so great that for every peck of corn ex
ported one hundred bushels have been con-
sumed in the home market. The farmers
IL.