New-York tribune., 1889-12-31
MR. GLADSTONE AND Mr.. BLAINE IN DE-
BATE.

mastery of the English tongue than Mr. Glad
stone employs in his contribution to line
North American Review Those who see most
clearly that his cause is weak will all the more
admire the dexterty with which he drapes its
defects. Mr. Blaine was of all men the one to
respond on behalf of the United States and i
NAV be frankly admitted that he had one great
advantage The question for discussion con
cerned the policy proper for this country ana
Mr. Blaine's historical labors have made him
exceptionally familiar with the long experience
from which the American policy has been
evolved But Mr.. Gladstone was able TO ap-
peal only to the experience OF Great Britain
and Mr. BlaineS reply, that the experience OF
a little island in the far north may not be safe
guidance for a country which is world within
itself is at the same time sufficient answer to
countless trcatises of British origin. Extracts
from both papers are given to-day, and 1t VIII
not be the judgment of Americans that their
National policy suffers in the encounter. Limits
of space exclude all but the brief summary OF
Mr.. Blaine'S convincing review OF events PRIOR
to 1860, but the wealth of information and
keenness of reasoning with which he treats
American experience during the later era of pro
lection will excite the admiration of foes and
friends alike.
Mr.. Gladstone, with all his marvellous
ability. or perhaps it should be said because OF
his rare dcXterity as debater, succeeds in miss
ing and almost conceaing the crucial point OF
the discussion. Is it childish innocence in this
trained statesman, or is it mastery adroitness
to argue as'if the aim of protection were to in
duce Americans to employ their capital at
home and not to send it abroad? Surely none
know better than the veteran eX-Chancellor
that this country has no surplus capital for en-
ployment elsewhere but in these years OF its
most abundant wealth draws most largely upon
those measureleSs accumuatiOnS of foreign
capital which Mr. Gladstone rightly considers
an important source of American progress.
Surely the historical fact is not unknown to
him. though he does not mention it, that the
vast migration of European capital to this cOun-
try, as OF European labor came only after an
established protective policy had insured to
productive enterprise here the largest the most
profitable and the most rapidly growing market
in all the world. Until Mr.. Gladsone's policy
was expelled from American government, no
man ever heard of British capitalists buying
American flour mills or cattle ranges, iron mines
or furnaces, but thousands are now sending
money hither by the hundred millions to pur-
chase lands and works of every description
under the magic influence Of Protection.
"produce less costly iron and cloth and
more cheap cotton and wheat" is the son hat
too candid advice of Mr.. Gladstone. Rightly
Mr. Blaine answers that all PrOtectoniSts will
thank him for pulling off the mask with which
opponents of protection in America strive TO
hide the true meaning of their theories. For
many years this country produced more cotton
and wheat than it could consume, and offered
the surplus in the markets of the world, many
times in vain. Again and again was production
of the great staples checked because foreign
markets could not be expanded to keep pace
with American growth, even by depressing
prices and keeping part of the producing labor
in state of slavery. The progress and even
the very existence of industry turn, not upon
ability to produce things cheaply, which is but
one way of winning more consumers, but upon
finding market for products and for labor.
Then the Nation decided to foster those other
industries which afford home market for the
cotton and the corn. The result, Mr. Glad
stone testilies, has been a grander progress
than any other nation has ever attained Yet
Mr. Gladstone reasons that ineXhaustible fer
tility for the production of wheat or cotton was
and is all that capital needs. The natural re-
sources of Africa or of Brazil may be boundless.
but English capital does not venture to buy or
TO build enormous flour mills on the Congo or
the Amazon. Can it be accident that the ex-
perienced statesman ignores what the practical |
American instantly pcrceives, that boundless |
resources are yet but a wilderness until in
sured an adequate and enduring market for the |
products of capital and labor?
Mr.. Gladstone's glowing appreciation of "kn |
beyond sea" does not prevent him from char
actenzinG the American policy as folly and |
robbery. But his own persistent protection of |
British shipping and commerce is cited in reply !
by Mr.. Blaine, and his virtue is shown TO be |
one that Twill not stand salt water" If pro-
lection be robbery of the farmer low comes it |
that the farming States have grown more
RAPIDLY in wealth, as Mr.. Blaine shows. than
tne other States, for whose benefit they are by
Mr. Gladstone supposed 10 be plundered? If
protection be folly, how comes il that the
Nauons growth has been incomparably more
vigorous ana rapid, and its prosperity more
assured, since that policy was adopted and
persiStently maintained than at any previous
timeP The plea that consumers are unius.lv
taxed is answered by abundant plocf that tho
development of American production has won.
deriuly cheapened the products of protected in
dustries, not merely here. but throughout the
civilized world And Mr.. Blaine leaves an an
tag0nst nothing more to say when he asks
Where would the many thousand men now
making rails find other employment where
would the farmers who now feed them find
mother and adequate market, If this country