St. Landry democrat., 1884-08-02

amou' Ated to less than nne thousand mi
lion of dollars ($9,0O0 Q900Q on Cae - fSe
ast fiscal year exceeded Twelve LhouSaa dIa
millions of dollars (Sl2 mhole
of it being che product OF hneri ot iinrej
| Evidently protective tarif mas noI aJeo
| our export trade when, under 1te inlGeLo1,
we exported in twenty-four elrs l1re$ Pot
! cent. more than the total amount .Aia. ntlu
| been exported in the entire previous history
/ If American commerce All the details,
| when analyZed correspond WIN Enis glgaHllc
result. The commercial cities OF t9e On l,
never had such growth as they nave MAJ
| since 1860 Our chief emporium, the CITY OF
| New York with its dependencies, has With
in that period doubled her population ana IN IN,
| creased her wealth five fold. During the
same period the imports and exports Whlcn
| have entered and left her harbor are more
thar doubla in bulk and value the WOE oas
| amount imported and exported oy her pc
/ tween tue settlement of the first Dutch col
ony on the island of Manhattan, and tne QUIZ
| break of the civil war in 1850.
AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF.
The agricultural interests by far the largest
! in the Nation, and is entitled in every ADJUST
ment of revenue laws to the. first consIdefa-
| ton, ANY policy hostile to the fulleSI Cepel-
Opment of agriculture in the Unlted otaLes
! must LIE abandoned. Realizing this facG, tne
/ opponents OF the present system OF revenue
J have labored very earnestly to persuade Iue
/ turner's OF the United states that they are
| robbed by the protective tariff and the effort
| is hus made to consolidate their vast lnHuehce
! in favor of free trade. But happily the farm
|
! misled by sophistry when conclu aye 1aG q are
before them They see plainly that during
/ the past twentY-fOur years wealth mas not
| been acquired by one section or by one III
| tcrest at the expense of another section or
| another interest. They see that the agrscui-
/ tural States have made even more RAPID
progre than the manufacturing states.
| The farmers see that i'll 1860 MasSacnuseGts
| and Illinois had about the same Wealth-De-
/ tween 800,0000W aud $500, 600 600 each-and
| that in 1870 Massachusetts had advanced 70
IyaI
! $320O,UO0U00. They see that New Jersey ana
Iowa, were just equal in population IN lSGO.
! and that in twenty years the wealth q N S6
| Jersey was increased by the sum OF Sooo,G0o,
! Coz, while the wealth of Iowa was increased DY
the sum of $3.50, 100000. They see that the
| nine leading agricultural States OF the west
| have grown SO rapidly in prosperity that the
| aggregate addition to their wealth since lStO Is
| almost as great as the wealth OF the entlre
! country in that year. They see That the
/ South, which is almost exclusively agricuL-
| tural, has shared in the general prosperity.
| and 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 extraordinary Developments the
| farmers are the helpful impulse of home
| market, and they See that the financial and
I revenue system, enacted since the Republican
! party came into power, has established ana
| constantly expanded the home market. Tley
! see that even in th3 case OF wheat, which is
/ our chief cereal export, they have sold, in the
average OF the years since the close OF the
/ war, three Bushels at home to one abroad,
| and that in the case of corn, the only other
| cereal which we export to any extent, l0O
| bushels have been used at nome to three and
| q half bushels exported. In some Yeas the
disparity has been SO great that Tor every
| peek exported loo bushels have been con-
| sumed in the b )lne market. The farmers see
| that in the increasing competition from the
| grain fields of Russia and from the distant
| plains OF India, the growth of the home mar
| ket becomes daily of greater concern to them
ana that its Impairment would depre ciata. the
| yaiue OF every acre of tilable iaad in the
| Union.
OUR INTERNAL COMMERCE.
Such facts as these touching the growth
and consumption of cereals at home. give us
some conception of the yaStness of the in
ternal commerce Of the United States. They
suggest also, that in addition to the advan-
/ tages which the American people enjoy from
/ protection against foreign competition, they
| enjoy the advantages OF absolute free trade
| over larger area and with greater popula-
ton than any other nation. the internal
| commerce of our thirty-eignt States and n4ne
| Territories is carried on without let or
hindrance without tax, detention or Govern
mental interference of any kind Whatever
1t S, reads freely over an area of three and
8 half million square miles-alm0st eJual in
extent to the VIII ole continent of Europe. Its
! profits are enjoyed to-day by 560DU,U00 of
American freemen, aud from this enjoyment
no monopoly is created. According to Alex
andcr Hamilton, when he discussed the same
subject in 1890, 'tthe internal comp 4tition
which takes place docs away with everything
like monopoly, and by degrees reduces the
prices of articles to the minimum of reason
able profit on the capital employed" 1t is i'm
possible to point to single monopoly in the
Unit+d States that has been created or
fOstercd by the industrial system which is up
held by the Republican party.
Compared with our foreign commerce these
domestic exchanges are inconceivably great
in amount-requIring merely as one instru-
mentality me as large mileage OF railway as ex;
combined. These internal exchanges are es-
timGted by the Statistical Bureau of the Treas
ury Department to be annually twenty times
as great in amount as our foreign commerce.
1t is into this vast field of home trale-at
once the creation and the heritage of the
American people-that foreign nalions are
striving by every device to enter. 1t is into
this fcld.that the opponents of our present
revenue system would freely admit the coun-
tries of Europe-countries into whose inter
nal trade we could not reciprocally enter;
countries to which we should be surrender
ing every advantage of trade; from which
we should be gaining nothing in return.
EFFECT UPON THE MECHANIC AND THE La
BORER.
A policy of this kind would be disastrous to
the mechanics and working men of the United
States Wages are unjustly reduced when an
Industrious man is not able by his earnings to
/ live in comfort, educate his children and lay
by q sufficient amount for the necessities of
age. The reduction of wages inevitably con-
sequent upon throwing our home market open
to the world, would deprive them of the power
to do this. It would prove great calamity to
our country. 1t would produce conflict be-
tween the poor and the rich, and i'll the sor-
rowful degradation of labor would plant the
seeds of public danger.
The Republican party has steadily aimed to
maintain just relations between labor and cap
ital-guarding with care the rights of each. As
conflict between the two has always led in the%1
past and will always lead in the future to the
injury of both Labor is Indispensable to the
creation and profitable use of capital, ard cap
ital increases the efficiency and value of labor
Whoever arrays the one against the other
is an enemy of both. That policy is wisest
and best which harmonizes the two the
basis of absolute justice. The Republican
! party has prot e2ted the free labor of America
SO that its compensation is larger than is re-
allied in any other country. It has guarded
our people against the unfair competition of
CONT act labor from China and may be called