Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-07-19

| lican party has protected the free labor o
! America so that its compensation Il
larger than is realized in any othel
country 1t has guarded our people sgains
the unfair competition of contract labor frou
! China and NAV be called upon to prohibit tht
growth of a similar evil from Europe. 1t il
obviously unfair TO permit capitalists to make
contracts for cheap labor in foreign countries
/ to the hurt and dIsparagement of the labor o.
American eitiz ems. Such a policy, (hSe that
which would leave the time snd other condi
tons of home labor exclusively in the contro
/ of the employer is injurious to all parties
mot the least so to the unhappy persons who
are made the subjects of the contract. The
! institutions of the United States rest upor
the intelligence and virtue of all the people
/ Suffrage is made universal as just weapon
I of self protection to every citizen. 1t is moi
| the interest of the Republic that any economic
system should be adopted which involves the
| reduction of wages TO the hard standard pre-.
vailing elsewhere. The Republican party
aims to elevate and dignity labor-not to de
grade it
| As substitute for the industrial sys-
TEN which under Republican administra-
tions has developed such extraordinary pros
perity, our opponents offer policy which Is
but series of experiments upon our system
of revenue-a policy whose end must be harm
to our manufactures and greater harm to our
labor. Experiment in the industrial and
financial system is the countrs's creates,
dread, as stability is its greatest boon. Even
the uncertainty resulting from the recent
tariff agitation in Congress has hurtfully
affected the business of the entire country
Who can measure the harm to our shops and
our homes, to our farms and our commerce,
if the uDcertainty of perpetual tariff agitation
is to be inflicted upon the country? We are
in the midst of an abundant harvest; we are
on the eve of revival of general pros
perity. Nothing stands in our way but the
dread of a change in the industrial
system which has wrought such wonders
in the last twenty years and which with the
power of increased capital will work still
greater marvels Of prosperity in the twenty
years to come.
Our FOREIGN Policy.
Our foreign relations favor our domestic
development. We are at peace with the
world-at peace upon sound basis with no
unsettled questions of sufficient magnitude
to embarrass or distract US. Happily removed
BY our geographical p, sition from participa,
ton or interest in those questions of dynasty
or boundary which so frequently disturb the
peace of Europe. are left TO cultivate
friendly relations with all. and are free from
possible entang in the quarrels OF
any. The United States has no cause and no
desire to engage in conflict with any power on
earth, and we may rest in assured confidence
that no power desires to attack the United
States
With the Nations of the Western Henri
sphere we should cultivate closer relations
and for our common prosperity and advance
ment we should invite them all to join with
us in an agreement that, for the future, all
International troubles in North or South
America shall be adjusted by impartial arbi
tration and not by arms. This project was
part of the fixed policy of President Garfield's
administration and it should in my judgment
be renewed Its accomplishment on this con-
tinent would favorably affect the Nations
beyond the sea, and thus powerfully contri-
butte at no distant day to the universal accep-
lance of the philanthropic and Christian
principle of Arbitration. The effect even OF
suggesting it for the Spanish American States
has been most happy and has increased the
confidence of those people in our friend
lv disposition. 1t fell to my lot as
Secretary of State in June 1881 to quiet ap-
prehension in the Republic of Mexico, BY
giving the assurance in an official dispatch
that there is not the faintest desire in
the United States for territorial extension
South of the Rio Grande. The boundaries
''of the two Republics have been established
lin conformity with the best iurisdictionai
Interests of both. The line of demarcaton
sis not merely conventional. 1t is more. 1t
Separates a Spanish-American people from
"a Saxon-American people. 1t divides one
great nation from another with distinct and
''naturai fnality."
We seek the cOnquests of peace. We desire
to extend our commerce, and in an especial
degree with our friends and neighbors on this
continent We have not improved our rela
tons with Spanish-America as wisely and as
persstently as We might have done. For
more than generation the sympathy of those
countries has been allowed to drift away from
US. We should now make every effort to gain
their friendship. Our trade with them ia
already large. During the last year our eX-
changes in the Western hemisphere amounted
to three hundred and fifty millions of dollars
nearly one fourth OF our entire foreign
commerce. TO those who may be disposed
to underrate the value of our trade with the
countries of North and South America, it
may be well to state that their population
is nearly or quite fifty millions-aud that, in
proportion to aggregate numbers, we i'm
port nearly double as much from them as we
do from Europe. But the result of the
whole American trade is in high degree I'M
satisfactory. The imports during the past
year exceeded two hundred and twenty five
millions, while the exports were less than
one hundred and twenty-five millions
showing balance against US of
of more than one hundred millions of
dollars. But the money does not go to
Spanish America We send large sums to
Europe in coin or its equivalent TO pay
European manufacturers for the goods which
they send to Spanish America. We are but
paymasters for this enormous amount annual
" to European factors-an amount which is
a serious draft, in every financial depression,
upon our resources of specie.
Cannot this condition of trade in
great part be changed: Cannot the mar
ket for our products be greatly enlarged?
We have made beginning in our effort to
improve our trade relations with Mexico and
we should not be content until similar and
mutually advantageous arrangements have
been successfully made with every nation OF
North and South America. While the great
powers OF Europe are steadily enlargng
their colonial domination in Asia and Africa
it is the especial province of this country to
improve and expand its trade with the
nations of America. No field promises so
much No field has been cultivated so little.
Our foreign policy sholld be an American
policy in its broadcast and most comprehen-
sive sense-a policy of peace, of friendship,
of commercial enlargement.
Tho nama NJ 4yns,-ir0a which hplonus q.