The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-13
PREE-TRADE PALLAc1Es EXPOSED.

FREE-TRADE PALLACIES EXPOSED.
A favorite argument of the advocates of
free trade is based on what they call the reci
procity of trade, the idea being that trade is
an exchange of courtesies-if l trade with
you you will trade with ne-and consequently
that every country will trade with the coun-
try that trades most with her. Hence they
say, by pursuing protective policy and en-
couragng our own manufactures instead of
those of England, the United States closes
the English market against herself and loses
a frst-class customer; for if we do not trade
with England she will not trade with us.
Based on this idea is the further claim, sort
of free-trade axiom, that for every import
there must be an export one set of commodi-
ties offsetting another. Both Of the free
trade arguments-that trade is essentially
reciprocal, and that there can be no import
without a corresponding export--are effectu-
ally punctured and disposed of in paper
recently read before the American Philosoph-
ical Society," by Mr.. Thomas Fl. Dudley, late
United States consul at Liverpool In the
first place, he shows that international trade
is not an exchange of courtesies be-
tween governments on the principle, if
you will trade with me / will trade with
you. In fact, governments, as a rule, have
nothing to do with trade. 1t is carried on by
individuals, one merchant with another, the
manufacturer with the dealer, the producer
with the consumer, ETC., and in any case the
transaction is purely business one. 1t is a
question on both sides of making money, and
the IDEA of reciprocity does not enter into it.
"The English merchant" says Mr.. Dudley,
wherever he purchase what he requires
the cheapest. He never looks, considers or
cares about the balance of trade, whether it is
on the one side or the other. His object in
doing business is to make money. And all
his contracts ard dealings are based on this
idea, and he buys wherever he can buy to the
best advantage without regard to reciprocity.
If it is ten thousand bushels of wheat that he
requires, and he can buy it cheaper in New
York than he can in Odessa, he buys it in
New York; if, on the other hand, he can buy it
cheaper in the Crimea or India, he buys it
there and not in New York It is price, and
it alone, that controls the matter" This is a
common-sense view of business by a business
man, stripped of the sentimentalstuff preached
by free-trade doctrinaires as RECIPROCITY in
trade" If we bought in England all the man
ufacturer consumed in this country it does
not follow that EngHshmen would buy any
thing of us. They would not unless it was to
their advantage TO DO so.
From the fallacy of reciprocity in trade Mr..
Dudley passes to the other, growing out of it;
that for every import there must be an export
He disposes of this most effectually, not by ar
gument. but by facts, the figures of arithme-
tic being in this case much more convincing
than figures of speech. While English free
traders have been preaching that there can be
no import without an export, English mer-
chants have been giving the lie to the state
ment Statistics show that the aggregate i'm
ports of England for the last thirty years. ex-
cept one, have exceeded her exports. During
the last ten years figures taken from the Brit
ish trade reports, printed by order of Parlia-
ment, show that their imports have exceeded
their exports in every single year, the total
excess of imports over exports in ten wears be-
ing, in our money, $500, 565 O9l. These
figures show tremendous balance of
trade against England, and yet all
the while the Golden Club is
promulgating the doctrine that for every i'm
port there must be an export The figures
show conclusively that an export does not al
ways follow an import, and that there is really |
no such thing as reciprocity in trade between
nation and nation, each buying from the other
what it requires and nothing more The sig |
nifcance of the conclusion is that it effectual-