The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-04

verge of such a panic, and the apprehensions ere
ated in our commercial centcrs by the eNporta-
tons of gold to settle our balances abroad did
not pass away until the crop of that year had
been assured. The danger we were then exposed
to must continue until we are prepared to enter
foreign markets with the products Of our fac
tories well as the products Of our farms, and
in quantities sufficient to supply any deficiency
in farm products, arising from any cause
whatever.
A FOREIGN MARKET FOR MANUFACTURES.
1t has been insisted that to compete with for
eign manufactures and foreign markets it will
require a reduction of wages in this country to
reduce the cost of manufacturing. This might
be true of such articles as derive their chief
value from the labor bestowed, and where the
raw material costs but little. In most of this
class of goods France has taken the lead and it
is not likely that we. or any other people, will
enter into serious rivalry with her. but it is not
true in respect to the great bulk Of manufac
tured articles, either textile or metallic 1t is a
fact well known, that the higher price of Amer
lean goods and wares, which have heretofore
kept them out of foreign markets, has not re
suited to the benefit of the labOrers engaged in
their production. That labor is not paid nor the
price of it fixed on any scale dependent on the
Vi CdJlldl invested Is Il Idcl lildI HAS DCcll
often demonstrated, and that capitalists viii i'm
port labor readily any other commodity, if ii
is profitable to do so. The great law of supply
and demand regulates its price, as it does of any
thing that is to be bought or sold 1t is also sus-
ceptible of demonstration that the wages of
labor at this time in the United States, when
the cost Of living is taken into account
cannot be reduced without, in many instances,
putting it below the subsistence point.
And no interest can flourish for any length of
time if the wages paid are not sufficient to sup
port the employees and those dependent upon
them. On the other hand, the present system
OF manufacturing for home market at prices
that cannoV be realized in foreign market has
this serious consequence attending it; if, in any
given branch OF manufacture the production Is
in excess of the home demand, the excess cannot
be Sent abroad but must remain on hand until it
can be taken up for home consumption This
produces for the time being paralysis in the trade
connected with that industry, and there is what
is called shut down." and the laborers are
thrown out Of employment for a longer or shorter
period, depending upon the state of the home
market. Within the last few months we have
had some striking illustrations Of the truth of
this statement How far they are to extend
and what financial disasters will result
from them is yet to be determined But, so far
as the American laborer S interests are involved,
it is easy to see that there is safely to him in
a system of labor under which he is liable to
be thrown out of employment at any time be
cause his employer has supplied the only
market to which he has access. Nor
does that manufacturer derived any benefit
from his ability for a short period to make large
profits if he has to be idle good part of each
year 1t would seem, therefore to be the interest
of labor and capital to combine in an effort to
extend the market. and thus avoid the evils
of production Our agricultirists sell all
their surplus production. both at home and
abroad by the prices fixed in a foreign market;
and while in some branches our manufacturers
could not do so now it is the part of wisdom to
DC Tn he
which will follow the manufacturer has this add
vantage over the agriculturist. Almost every
market in the world is open to the manufacturer
while the aglicultmist can only. sell to those
countries where there is a deficiency of natural
products.
An important subject connected with our com
merce with foreign nations is the condition of
our merchant marine, past and present 1t Is
becoming generally known that fast los
ingour maritime character, and that the carry
ing trade for our merchandise on the high seas is
passing under the flags Of other nations. Should
the decadence of American tonnage continue in
the same ratio for a few years longer that
it has for the last twenty years, it
cannot be long before our ships will not
be seen outside of the lines of our coast trade
From the adoption of the federal constitution
down to the year 1880 about SO per cent
of the tonnage of our foreign commerce was
carried by American vessels: from 1881 to 1860
there was a loss of % per cent; from 1861 to the
present time "a loss of 46 per cent, the present
American tonnage BENG ABOUT ~ per cent; but
the value of our own merchandise carried in
American vessels is only is per cent Since 1886
while other nations have greatly increased their
tonnage, there has been an actual decrease in
ours, so that do not register now as many
tons as we did then.
1t may make no difference to the merchant
what flag floats above his cargo of merchandise
eXcent far only as itmay effect its safety. But
it makes great difference to usas nation, with
our extended coasts upon the two great
oceans, whether we shall havea merchant marine
bearing some just proportion to. the magnitude
of our ocean commerce. or whether we shall be
driven within the lines of our coastalIg trade You
will notice i'll recalling the fact showing the de
cline in our shipping interest, that while that de
cline has been much more rapid III the last
tweny years than it was in any
like period before that time, yet it has
been Dersistant and continuous so far
back as 1890 Many have supposed that our losses
during the hate civil war were the chief cause, but
able to estimate our exact loss during
that period. and as the decline has been equally
great since. ii is evident that must look furth
err and find some cause which operated to that
end before as well as since the war before we
have solved the question. The Chief of the Blu
reau of Statistics, in a very interesting report
made in 1882, on the subject of our foreign com
merce, suggests the chief cause of decline in
American shipping to be the diversion of
the enterprise and capital Of this country
from the sea to the development of the vast
area of territory lying west of the Alleghenies.
There is undoubtedly much in this suggestion.
Our loss of tonnage during the civil war. as
the result of the presence of rebel cruisers the
high seas, direct and indirect, amounted to 49,
Isl tons. OF this amount only 1O4, Cos tons were
of vessels destroyed by the rebel cruisers, while
vessels aggregating tonnage of ia, $50 tons ex-
changed the American flag for "a foreign flag, for
protection as much against the exactions of war
insurance as the danger of seizure; and when the
war was over, our government acting under
some malign Influence, refused to permit their
return by denying them the right of reg
istration This loss, great as it was and to a
great extent self inflicted is not sufficient to ac
count for the present condition of our shipping
interests. But if we take the suggestion of the
Chief of the Bureau of Statistics as the chief or
moving cause the solution of the problem be-
co,nac loco difioult