The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-01-21

But In Staffordshire, owing 20 the existence
OF remarkable coal measure, called the ten
yard coal, and to the presence Of ironstone
abundantly interstrati6ed with the coal, the
royalty has often amounted to no less than
three shillings. This excess has a real analogy
to the surplus bounty of Mother Earth In
America. And when see her abating some
what Of her vast advantages through the
trick Of protection, am reminded OF the
curious fact that this unusual abundance of
the mineral made the getting Of it in Stat
fordshire singularly wasteful and that frac-
tions, and no small fractions, Of the tenyard
coal are now irrecoverably buried in the
earth, like the tribute which America has
been paying to her protected interests.
BRITISH FREEDOM HELPS AMERICA
Trade is, in one respect at least, like mercy.
1t cannot be carried on without comforting a
double benefit Again, trade cannot be in
creased without increasing this benefit, and
increasing it in the long rum on both sides
alike Freedom has enormously extended our
trade with the countries of the world, and,
above all others, with the United States. 1t
follows that they have derived immense ben
eft, that their waste has been greatly repair
ed, their accumulations largely augmented,
through British legislation. We legislated
for our own advantage, and are satisfied with
the benefit we have received. But it is a
fact, and a fact of no small dimensions,
which, in estimating the material develop
ment of America, cannot be lost sight of.
In no country, suppose, has there been so
careful a cultivation of the inventive faculty,
and in America the scarcity of labor has,
in truth, supplied the great republic with
an essential element of severe and salutary
discipline. Thus it has come apo-- that a
race endued with consummate ability for
labor has also become the richest Of all races
in instruments for dispensing with labor.
1t is thus obvious enough that remark
able faculty and habit Of invention, which
goes direct to cheapness, helps to fill up that
gap in your productive results which Is
created by the wastefulness of protection.
The leakage in. the national cistern is more
than compensated by the efficiency of the
pumps that supply it.
America makes no scruples, then, to cheaper
everything in which labor is concerned. be-
cause this Is the road to national wealth
Therefore, she has no mercy upon labor. but
displaces it right and left. Yet when we
come to the case where capital is most In
question, she enables her ship builders, her
iron masters and her mill owners to charge
double or semi-double prices; which, il her
practice as to labor saving be right, must be
the road to national poverty. e converse,
il she be right in shutting out foreign ships
and goods to raise the receipts of the Ameri-
can capitalist, why does she not tax the reap
ing machine to raise the receipts Of the
American laborerl
ENGLAND NOT YET FREE ENOUGH.
have still to notice one remaining point.
| do not doubt that production Is much
cheapened in America by the absence Of al
kinds OF class legislation except that which is
termed protection; an instance alike vicious
and gigantic, but still an instance only. In
our British legislation, the interest Of the in
dividual or the class still rather largely pre-
walls against that Of the public. In America,
as l understand the matter, the public OBJ
tains full and equal justice. ! take for ex-
ample the case Of the railroads; that vast
creation, one Of almost universal good to
mankind, now approaching to one-tenth or
one-twelfth Of our entire national possessions.
1t is believed that in unnecessary parliament
tary expenditure, and In abnormal prices
paid for land, tho railways Of this country
were taxed to between fifty and hundred
millions sterling beyond the natural cost OF
their creation. Tins does the spirit of pro-
lection, only shifting its form, still 20 raven
ing about among Us. Nothing Is 30 common
here as to receive compensation, and we get
it not only for injuries, but for benefits. But
while thegreat nation Of the Union rightly
rejoices in herfreedomfr from our superstttions,
why should she desire, create and worship
new superstitions Of her owni
THE MORAL ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT.
urge, also, that all protection is morally
as well as economically bad. This Is very
different thing from saving that all rrctac-
tionists are bad.
have seen and known, and had the oppor-
tunity Of comparing, the temper and frame Of
mind engendered first by our professionalism,
which we now look back upon as servitude,
and then by the commercial freedom and
equality which we have enjoyed for the.last
thirty or forty years. Theone tended to har-
den into positive selfshness; the other has
done much to foster a more liberal tone of
mind.
The American love of freedom will, beyond
all doubt, be to some extent qualified, per-
haps in some cases impaired, by the subtle in
huence OF gold, aggregated by many hands in
vaster masses than have yet been known.
How will the majestic figure, about to be-
come the most powerful on the stage Of the
worlds history, make use Of his poweri VIII
it be instinct with moral life In proportion to
its material strength
May Heaven avert every darker omen, and |
grant that the latest and largest growth of |
the great Christian civilization shall also be |
the brightest and the bestl
W. E. GLADSTONE.