Daily Republican., 1885-04-09
the GOOD Ola Days of f rec Trade

THURSDAYs AFsstL ~ ASSos
The Good ola Days of + rec Trade
We often hear of the coed times of
our fathers, and of the glory OF the
country in the days of free trade and
sailors rights" OF how cheap every
thing was, and how muck you could
buy for q dollar, before all the wealth
of the country was absorbed by the pro-
tected monopolists. OF how happy the
farmer was before he was taxed TO sup |
mort manufa cturers. II is a very pretty |
storx. but it lacks one important thing
If Ia not true. Let as look at few
facts.
Bssore manufacturers were fairly es- |
tablished in this country--in those days
when Andrew Jackson asked w men |
shall the American farmer find home
market for his products % our farmers
we're in a moor condition indeed, selling
cheap and buying dear, as compare
with their present situation. An ONO
pioueer once told US OK hauling his wheat
forty miles to Cleveland, selling II AT
forty cents bushel, and buying SAT- 70
haul home, at five dollars a barrel, and
of selling his butter at i've cents per
pound, to buy tea at one dollar ana
ffty CENTS, and calico al thirty cents per
yard.
Mr.. Ewing, of Ohio, in q speech IN
the United Sta.es Senate il 1857, made
this graphic statement
EVERY farmer III Ohio long knew
and felt the pressure, year after year :;
their stacks of wheat stood unthreshed
So low was i, reduced, in comparison
with manufactured az -icles, that ! have
known forty bushels OF wheat givesa for
pair of boots; such was The state CT
things in the western country prior 10
and at the time Of the revision OF the
tariff in 1924.
The building up of home manufac-
lures and of railroads necessary for the
factories and mills, has lifted tie
American farmers out of this poor con
dition and he is better off than the til.er
of tho soil in any other country.
Our breadth of rich soil, the new
wealth of precious metals, and the su
pericr skill and industry Of our people
doubtless helped this great change, bI
wise national industrial policy was
very important element, without Will
it would never have been made. SJi
and climate were the same IL thcs
days of the poverty Of our farmers a
now. Elderly men can well remen De
the plain and careful living of the farm
ers in their youth, and now see thei
children still industrious and thrifty
like their parents, Tut able to live a.
dress in a style that would have aston
ished their worthy ANCESTOR.
Turkey has ample space of fine LAM
and climate favorable to good farm
ing, but ill-governed and ignorant, 81
did not adopt protective policy. +
merly she produced wool, silks, &C
and cotton III large quantities co;
lion and copper abound. Two hundr
years ago her trade with ElroEe W
an evil hour tie government made
treaty with England and France, ayr
ing 50 charge no more than five /
cent duty on their Imports, and
exemp their vessels from port charg
Great Britain forbade the expo-tati
OF her machinery to Turkey, as well
her mechanics, who might have g.
there to H. AXE it. OF course Turk
manufact<.zes were ruined.
What hGs become of the rich cit
and prospere-s Villages OF ireland,
What has teeeme of her lace, sill
voollen, lineu, iron and other ind
tries Her fers..e hillside5 and VALE
blooming with gEcging crops, the p
pie yell fed, happy and coutentei
Whe1e are her schools and colleges,
poets and historians Alas the t
is quickly told. Her ruion with Fl
land, by admitting EBgixh goods
of tariffs, broke down ir-sh manuf
lures, turned her people int poor ial
ers, brought ca the potato root, Z
famine swept down over two milli
o. her population.
A century ago, not only id
native hand looms of Hindos.an We;
the finest ccttons Snd Toclens or ca
nleres, but the richest silks, such
for centuries had been carried acr
the deserts Of Central Asia on cam
10 Europe. Bat free trade was carr
into India a. the poin. of L q
bayonets, and with it came t g
struction. of manufactures, and tbs II
ing out of EN- ployment Of millions
workmen. Theoretically they v
free to buy in the cheapes. ma:k:t g
Il in the dea est but, il fact, {,
could sell nothing ard buy no.hi
Weavers could not make their clio
bN9SfbsS thV is-447I h4lAFi In
The English would not ALLOW ii
machinery to go TO India. Those '
made their cloths in E lgland did
buy their crops. Hence the !
Hindoos had no resource, but sta
and die by millions, by the roads
and in the fields. Famires preva
periodically, As many as two mili
of persons dying in single year.
These countries have rich coil,
fine climate, bu. q bad Industrial pc
has wrought Tuinous disaster in
midst. Hindostan, now a part
province of tie British Expire,
for protective tariff 10 guard he
against the rapacity Of Engli.h m
factuIers, tut asks IL vain Cuba
soil OF wonderful fertility, yet her
pie have M systematic industries
are miserable.