The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-05-05

sense in which they are generally used Dy those io
whom the instrument was intended: that its provl-
sons are neither to be restricted into insgniicance
nor extended to objects not comprehended in them
nor contemplated by It's trainers
: | respectfully submit, therefore, that any
system of import duties laid for any purpose
other than that specified in the taxing clause,
or any regulation of commerce which en-
braces an arrangement of import duties, is
unconstitutional, and in the present condition
of our country's manufactures, unnecessary
and inexcusable.
The protective system has not only violated
the letter and spirit of the Constitution, but,
appealing to the most selfish instincts, has
been advocated for misleading ends, and with
delusive and deceptive purposes. Many OF
its advocates profess to be moved by desire
to make this country commercially indepen-
dent. But they should not permit their zeal
for a home market to render them unmindtul
of the TACT that the commercial independence
of any people can only be had and maintained
at the cost of their civilization, and that the
manifold blessings of creation are only to be
enjoyed by the interchange OF products among
the different nations of the earth.
An All ll-Wise Creator gave to no country
the possibility of commercial independence
by endowing it with soil and climate adapted
to the production of every commodity desired,
by and necessary to, the wants of man. No
single nation covers the earth from north to
south, and though Great Britain "has dotted
over the surface of the whole globe with her
possessions and military posts, whose morn
ing drum beat, following the sun and keeping
company with the hours, circles the earth with
one continuous and unbroken strain of the
martial airs of England it is political power
and not commercial independence that marks
her dominion.
1t is not independence but tinterdependence
which the providence of Almighty God de-
signed for the inhabitants of the earth when
He collected them into nations upon lands
of different soils and climates. 1t is this in
terdependence of nations which, compelling
the interchange of commodities, created COM
merce; and the substitution of commercial
independence among nations, if it were posi-
BILE, would rot every ship and close every port
Voltaire formulated the protective policy in
the selfish maxim that ''Such is the lot of
humanity that the patriotic desire tor ones
country's grandeur is but wish for the humil-
iaton of ones neghbor," and that it is i'm
possible for one country to gain except by the
loss of another That was the regnant idea
of the mercantile system of political economy,
which held that only money constituted
wealth. and of the manufacturing system,
which supposed that national prosperity de-
pended entirely on manufactures, and both
systems were founded upon the fallacious
doctrine that selling as much as possible to,
and buying as little as possible from, foreign
nations was the royal road to national wealth
and prosperity. Out ofthese chimerical ideas
sprang the desire for commercial indepen-
dence, which in turn gave origin to delusive
wish for
\ HOME MARKET,
at which agriculture was promised more re-
muneratiye prices than could be had in the
markets of all the world; and, pregnant
with promises, the protective policy pledged
@. itself to build a manufacturing establish
ment in every community whose opera
tives would consume all that the soil OF the
surrounding country could yield under the
most improved system of cultivation. In all
discussions of the tariff the home market fall
lacy has been the attractive feature relied on
to recommend the protective policy. But
after seventy years of waiting we seem to be
much farther in 1888 from home market
for all our agricultural products than we were
in 1876. Instead of consuming all we grew
in 1887 we shipped away from the home
market of 60,000,000 of people S525, 200, 900
worth of agricultural products. Not only is
! the .shome market impractcable, but if
every people could consume all the products
of their industry, to do so would turn back
the progress of the age and stay the march OF
civilization. And yet from 1876, when this
seductive policy was first broached, its advo.
Gates, in every party, have clung to the theory
of isolation and to schemes for shutting out
foreign productions, or admitting them only
under the restraining influence of high taxa
ton. The means by which we have been
endeavoring to create ''home market, and
which our friends on the other side of this
Chamber denominate the American system"
are all conpEehepded in that restrictive policy
which England once praeticcd, but has long
since abandoned, without its protective feature
to agriculture. The restrictive policy of
England was complete; agriculture was pro-
tected by corn laws, commerce by navigation
laws, and manufactures by duties and prohi-
btions. But we have emasculated the English
system and left agriculture without protection,
thereby enabling manufactures to rob it by
placing one hand of the Government in the
pockets of the people and with the other
hestowjpg their taxes on favored few. 1t
| is, howeVeF,
None the less robbery because is done under the
forms flaw and is called taxation.
Along with these fallacies of commercial
independence" and "home Market" the
advocates of protection mistake the interna-
tional account current of the custom house for
a balance of trade between nations.
This argument that an excess of exports
over imports indicates invariably a pros
porous trade, can be easier refuted by ex-
amples than by theoretical discussion. AS
! MERCHANTS do not give away the goods they
export, it can not be denied that every
measure of merchandise exported brings back
to this country measure Of foreign merchaR
disc, which, whether mora or less, is the
markets estimation of the two values. The
merchant at Baltimore who ships Western
corn expects to sell it in the European market
at an advance, and if he does not get that ad
vance, either in cash or in goods which will
sell in this country for more than he paid for
the corn, freight, insurance, interest, and ex-
change included, he does not repeat the ven
tura. But as the shipments continue it may
be assumed that Western corn sells in Europe
for more than it is worth in this country.
When 500, 600 worth of Western corn is
exported it is entered on the custom house
books at that amount, and when it arrives at
a foreign port either the invoice valuation is
entered on the custom house books or an APP
praised valuation is substituted, but neither
influences or affects the market value of the
corn, whether the custom house entry shows
800, 900, or $1,000 or Sll5,000 according
as the appraisement, when made, is below
equal to, or above the invoice valuation.
The corn is sold after the entry or appraise-
ment is made and brings the market price
without regard TO the custom house return.
If the Baltimore merchants venture sells for
Sis, 900, while the custom house at Balti-
more and at Liverpool shows only 100000,
there is profit, which be invests. in English
goods and ships to Baltimore. The export
entry at the Liverpool custom house is $ll5,-
900 and the import entry at Baltimore is
$1Ib, 900. The custom house returns tell
nothing whatever about the trade; that must
be learned from the transaction, and can only
be obtained from the merchant. The Balti
more merchant realized profit on the Amer
icau corn, and the Liverpool merchant realiz-
ed profit on the English goods. The
Baltimore merchant bought English goods
because they would sell in the American
market for more than he gave for the corn,
and the Liverpool merchant bought the
American corn because it was worth in Liver
pool more than the English goods. Both
merchants made a profit, and each nation
grew wealthier by the exchange.
The value of American exports, as shown
by custom house books, is restrained by no
duty charge; hence there is nothing to pre-
vent higher valuation than may be realized,
while American imports are more likely to
ha nndervalued tn escanp the navmant of