New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-26

Wit
planned by the Professor at lengtn' hao 'ne GA
plspatIon been convenient.
Professor Rogers's discussion oil the money
ouestion is as dogmatically mono-metallic IN
theories. and as little supported by facts regard
ing the me notary supply, as that OF any ordinary
economist" But he distinctly admits, never
thcless, that partial disuse as currency mas peeh
the chief cause of depression in the market Vaiue
of silver and suggests that If CHINA shouid a'-
tempt to supply itself with silver coins the price
of that metal would again be altered throughout
the world. The argument that an excess Oh
paper currency cannot create wild speculation
because nc bank can make any people taKe
and circulate more than they want page 2lej
would have been improved by study OF the
doings of wildcat banks in this country prior to
1861. That a superabundance of currency tends
in certain conditions to create higher prices, and
these higher prices make needful the employment
of more currency than was previously needed
or even wanted is not news to Americans,
though apparently to an Oxford teacher. The
treatment of the labor question. in nearly all Its
aspects, is worthy of highest commentator, and
vct in his passionate justification of the right or
labor to organize and defend itself by all proper
means the Professor scarcely misses an unreserVed
Endorsement of boycottng lsee page 3lo) ana OF
the virtual enslavement of individual labor by
society," whether the laborer chooses to JOIN 1t or
not Whether organizations OF that nature teho
to raise the efficiency of labor and thus to make
etter wages possible, the Professor does not
appear to have considered
1t is characteristic of Professor Rogers that he
accepts from the ordinary economists for whom
he has only contempt their caricature of the pro-
tective policy, the absurd assumption by which
they suppose its weakness demonstrated, ana thelr
intolerant bigotry of tone His very DEFINITION
is a confession that he has never been conscien-
tious enough to look into a principle OF which
be is nevertheless ready 10 talk with shallow
fippancy. For he says;
No one will deny that what protection aims at Is
to secure. by the operation Of law higher price
T d oe IN make articles dearer more Inaccessible.
oa a. rv rate 10 demand from the purchaser greater
sacrifice han he would have to make II no protective
taxes were imposed (P. 1851
An honest and thorough teacher would have
learned and taught that the object of protection,
whether successfully attained or not, Is ana
ever has been to secure for n nation cheaper
supply of articles by developing production at
home. Next he would have examined facts,
where protection has been tested, 10 ascertain
whether it has accomplished that object But
Professor Rogers proceeds next TO the customary
assumption that high prices do not mako high
Wages Nobody asserts that they Edo. But
when three employers bid for labor where there
were only two, higher wages do result as facts
abundantly prove. And a protective policy does
encourage three men to undertake production
where there were but two, as facts also prove
Saws the witty Professor
You can no more extemporze capitalist farmers by
artificial prices than You can as ssr .e 'e could
encore an eclipse. (P 314J
But fine phrases do not alter the fact that
farmers by the thousand and other producers OF
every kind, are in fact induced 20 raise more
grain. 10 produce more iron and more CLOTH by
means of duties which secure them against foreign
competition. If the Oxford professor would for
a few hours cease to initiate the shallow theorists
whom he despises, and would look into the number
and production Of farms and OF manufacturing
establishments, before and since the adoption OF
the protective policy either IN TINS country or IN
Germany or France he would be in less danger
Of deserving the contempt which he feels fcr
others.
At the root of his only serious argument is the
ancient and musty assumption of free traders thau
exports of a country always pay for It's imports
P 90 that trade between nations is an exchange
of goods for goods, in which, if it is profitable,
imports should exceed exports. The threadoare
illustration of the single trader is dragged in;
his imports should he worth more than his ex-
norts.p P. 4O0 But that is just the sort Of
metaphvsical folly for which oxford professor
and nearly all practical men feel great contempt.
The facts of trade have nothing to do with these
theories Jones and $4,000 other men who are
snpplvinc foreign goods TO consumers III this
country send their orders each and all without
the slightest knowledge or thought about the goous
which Smith and other persons here have to sell
to foreigners. They get what their customers Will
nav them for, according to their best Judgment
They care not a rush about the effects upon the
prosperity of the country, if only they can get
their pay and their profits. If fit of eXtrdva-
eanee is on, the JOneses In the aggregate actually
do buy, invariably and always, more than other
men in the country are at that time selling TO
foreigners and the result is debt Professor Rogers
calls il the export Of securities, and lmaglneS, IN
deed he distinctly says, that anybody can de-
,ermine with certainty when securities are going
ont or in what amount. Practical men know
that nothing is more difficult. Nations can and do
run into debt, and into bankruptcy even, and no
professors theory ever hinders them particle.
II a blessed thing for this country that it has
At least 600 900 of plain citizens who never had
the advantage of education at Oxford Until teachers
of economy realize that in their spider-web spin
ming and their ignorance Of facts they deserve
from all the world the contempt which they feel
and express for each other; until they learn TO
study what is happening before their eyes, and
count one fact of weight than all the theories
and dogmas of all writers and teachers from Adam
| Smith and Ricardo to Thoroid Rogers, the world
| will have frequent occasion to rejoice that many,
who think themselves its wiseSt, are Iii practical
influence over the minds of men, by blessed
Providence, so INTEL, ctually impotent that they
are its weakest.