The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-02-28

logical and fallacious position assumed
by him and those who share his opinion.
TO be concise
1. In the first place, 1t is serious
defect in the Judges premises that the
depression to which he refers is not con-
fined to this country or to its agricultural
interests alone. 1t is worldwide, and
affects every industrial interest, being
more marked in England-which, en-
cept in its colonial interests has estab
lished free trade-than in this country.
With equal propriety the EngliShman
can charge to free trade what Judge
Robinson charges here to protection.
?. Asthe effect (depression) is world
wide, the cause, in our opinion, is equal
ly universal That cause is the general
over production of raw material (not
manufactures which the tariff affects in
all countries which produce raw mater
ials. The producer Of such raw mater
ial not being able to sell it at Il profit,
is in turn unable to buy the manufac
tured goods, and a comparative stand
still naturally arises in every branch Of
commerce and industry.
5. This condition of business mac
ton, or as it is popularity called, depres
sion, is supplemented by the rapidity,
cheapness, and ease of steam commu-
nication and traffic, which makes the
distribution of the raw material grown
in any and every portion of the globe
SO easy, by which there is no longer any
necessity to hold or accumulate large
stocks for purposes of consumption, and
thereby diminishing the inducements
for merely speculative purchases.
If this cause for the prevailing de-
preston be granted, it follows logically
and naturally that we are to look for the
remedy not in an increase of the produ
GERS of raw materials, but in the increase
of the consuming classes of manufac-
tured goods.
How can this be brought about IN
this country? Or, stating the question
differently, how ca11 America get the
benefit 81 an increased demand for the
raw material she produces? How can
the American farmer realize a more re
munerative price for all his farm pro
ducts, the result of a stimulated de-
mand for them?
I. BY such a governmental policy as
will foster and encourage manufacture
ing industries and create home de-
mand. Ninety per cent. Of the emf
grants, who, in rapidly accommodating
thousands, are now tlockingto this coun,
try, are transported by great trunk lines
of railways to the far west to become
farmers. Yet, with the increased pro-
duction resulting from so large an an
nual addition to our agricultural pro
ducing class, America only sends abroad
10 per cent. of her gross production Of
breadstufs. England, heretofore the
principal purchaser of Americas sur
plus of breadstufis, now is about to be-
come her chief competitor in the mar
kets of 1.-THE world. England, i'll the
past, as now, our principal competitor
in manufactured goods, offered no mar
ket for such simply because she paid
less for labor. For the same reason
India produces wheat at far less cost,
and promises to shut us out from mar
kets heretofore open to us.
If these facts and statements be tue
it follows
I. That the policy which tends to
increase home consumption will inure
to the benefit of our agricultural classes.
2. Experience demonstrates that the
number of domestic consumers can be
most rapidly multiplied by such a sys-
tenn as will protect our industries against
the cheaper foreign labor.
This is the true SYSTEM, the American
system. With the full production of
American farms consumed in her large
cities and business centres, and the
prices of breadstuffs controlled by the
inevitable laws of supply and demand,
the realization of remunerative prices
must be more fixed and uniform. The
farmer thereby realizing the advantages
of proximity to market, the saving in
cost of transportation and freights, and
necessarily gaining in net returns.