The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-03-25
Professor Paul Again Replies
to Mr.. Thompson.
ON THE GREAT TARIFF TOPIC.
Who Pays For the TariG?-The COnu-
try's Imports and Exports
A Reasonable Paper.
BY I, q, PAUL,

marks on the same subject occupy over
thirty lines; and with his other person.
aiities occupy, on an average. one line
in four throughout his whole article
There are not ten lines in my three col
umns that can be taken in any personal
sense. In his one and three fourths OF
a column, there are s venty such lines,
exceeding NINE more than ten to one.
I did not care to continue on record
against an opponent that used slang,
bad grammar. etc the reference had
the desired effect, for he has evidently
obtained assistance. Now that an in
definite number of the wool-growing
fraternity have joined my TWO first OPP
ponents, feel more interest in the bat
tie, having now foe more worthy, in
number at least, of my steel.
Charity itself preventsme from asking
gentleman how it feels to have his wool
tariff offspring killed by what he calls
mad bull, then to have it watched by
the monster for two weeks, and finally
to have the relentless tyraUt attack the
victim "brute-llke" q second time, be-
cause there was possibility that 1t still
had spark OF life To the charge OF
killing his article, aud of then returning
and snnlhilating it, l plead guilty at
once; but l deny that either the e. ecu
ton or The subsequent disposition OF
the criminal was "Urute like 1t was
a calm, scientific method of capital
punishment that [ employed, ana the
felon suffered no unnecessary pang at
my hands.
Mr.. Thompson pretends to answer
my proof tina. the money itself was
rarely sent abroad when we import
foreign goods by saying: When
country imports more than ii exports,
it is poorer just Whatever that amount
is" This remark ible sentence will oe
correct if We insert the word richer"
instead OF poorer" Observe that he
does not say a man would be any poorer,
but that country would; whereas, il
was distinctly shown in my paper that
nations do not make exchanges. l also
made this issue, which he wisely ig
nors; defy any ne to show that
the wealth OF the country can be IN
creased without Increasing the wealth
OF one or more of its inhabitants Con.
versely if none of the parties concerned
III u nave lOSb
ANYTHING, then no one has.
Until quite recently, the argument
used by the prote :tiOnists was
that above quoted from my
opponent; and since ii is the found
alton of the whole protective system,
propose, as q Democrat, to expose its
fallacy.
When, g merchant ser DIS goods
abroad, he receives from his customers
the prrcs of the goods in the money of
the country to which they are sent. If
he desires 10 maxi a profit upon the re-
turn cargo, he causes that price to be
laid out in foreign produce and RENTED
home to him. If the merchant is free
to do as he pleases, he will prefer those
goods that yield him the largest profit,
and he naturally sits down to calculate
what he shall receive on the return
cargo. Should he find that it is more
advantageous to get his returns in
goods than in money, and if it be ad-
mitted that he knows his own interest
better than anyone else, the sole point
left for discus sion is, whether returns in
money, though less advantageous to
the merchant, may not be better for the
nation than returns of any other article.
The entire profits of the merchant or
any other man, are measured the
demand for his wares; and this de-
mand shows at once what the people ii,
e., the narion) are most in need of, and
what they make the most on. Now, If
We admit that the people likewise know
what their own interest is, it follows
that, in fair transactions, the true in
terest of the importer is from that very
fact, the true interest of his patrons also
Commerce is beneficial only when
imports exceed exports; and the very
thing that Mr.. Thompson would depre-
cate as calamity, Is o, all things the
one TO be desired. When for each eX-
port OF goods costing US 500 we receive
goods worth S125 is clear that some
citizen has gained $25 and the country
is this amount Ticner than if the trans
action had not been made. But
should we export goods costing $780,
and receive goods worth only SIS for
them, the country of course loses the
difference. The value of any export is
estimated at its value before shipment; |
which is increased by the time it reaches |
its destination. with this augmented |
value the return cargo is purchased, |
and the return receives like accession |
of value by the transport Thus, the |
result is that the import always exceeds |
the export in value by the amount of |
the outward and the homeward gain.
If the import is money, the trans ort |
usually adds no value to it, and there
lie only one gain-the outward. As an
item of national wealth. money does
not differ from other articles, unless it
be paper monev, which has only rep
resentatlve value. If more money than
the amount necessary to handle the
circulating capital accumulates in a
country and cannot be exported. it
quickly 0epreciates, and especially in a
country producing large amounts of
the precious metals. This has been
very painfully proved to US quite re-
Gently by the depreciation of our silver
since the various European nations have
ceased coming it Our export of silver
has been lessened, and the silver men
everywhere testify to the loss. The de- [
mand for money, after the circulating !
currency reaches certain amount, is
really more limited than the demand S
for almost any other commodity. If $
the nations wealth could be indefinitely I
increased by an indefinite increase In its G