Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-01-23
Mr.. BLAINE's ARGUMENT.

tlonS to augment"
Mr.. BLAINE's ARGUMENT.
In bis reioinder Mr. Blaine says:
Perhaps the most remarkable feature IN the
argument Of Mr.. Gladstone, as, indeed, of every
English free trader, except John Stuart Mill,
is the universally of application which he de-
mands for his theory. Free trade he believes
advantageous for England; therefore without
the allowance of any modifying condition, great
Nr small, the English economist declares it to
e advantageous for the United States for
Brazil, for Australia in short for all countries
with which England can establish trade rela-
tions. 1t would be difficult if not impossible
for Mr. Gladstone to find any principle Of ad-
ministration or any measure OF finance 20 eX-
actly fitted to the varying needs of all coun-
tries as he assumes the policy Of free trade to
be. Surely IL is not unfair to maintain that
deducting the results from observation and
experience in his own country, he may fall
into the error and fail to appreciate
the financial workings Of other countries, geo.
graphically remote and of vastly greater area.
Alaska excepted, the northernmost part Of the
Union is sixty miles south of the southernmost
part of Great Britain, and the southernmost
part 0f the Union is but little more than one
hundred miles from the tropics. Its natural
products are more varied, more numerous and
of more valuable character than those Of all
Europe. To quote one Of Mr. Gladstone's
in ourselves as world He tells US that we
carry ON the business Of domestic exchange on
a scale such as mankind has never seen. Our
foreign commerce, very large in itself, is only
as l to 25 compared to our international trade,
and yet Mr.. Gladstone thinks that a policy
which is essential to island in the Northern
Ocean should be adopted as the policy of coun-
try which, even to his own vision is "a world
within itself do not join issue with Mr..
Gladstone on both Of his propositions. He de-
fends free trade in Great Britain; he assails pro
lection in the United States. The first proposi-
tion neither deny nor affirm. During this long
period CS2 to 1861 free-trade tariffs were thrice
followed by industrial stagnation, by financial
embarrassment, by distress among all classes
dependent for subsistence upon their own
labors. Thrice were these burdens removed by
the enactment Of protective tariff Surely
it is by long series of experiments
and by that test only any country can establish
an industrial system that win best aid
in developing its hidden wealth and establish
ing its permanent prosperity. And each coun-
try must act intelhgently for itself. Questions
Of trade can no more be regulated by an exact
science than crops can be produced with ac-
curate forecast. The unknown quantities are
so many that problem in trade or agriculture
can not have an absolute answer in advance.
Mr.. Gladstone may argue for Great Britain as
he will, but for the United States We must in
on DelnB Bulueu Dy IdCLS anu not Dy
theories; we must insist on adhering to the
teachings of experiments which have been car
rled forward by careful generalization TO we'll
grounded conclusions. Mr.. Gladstone boldly
contends that keeping capital at home by pro-
lection is dear production, and is a delusion
from top to bottom take direct issue with
him on that proposition. Between 1870 and the |
present time considerably more than 10000
miles of railroads have been built in the United
States. The steel rails and other metal con- |
nected Herewith involved so vast a sum Of |
money that it could not have been raised to !
send out of the country in gold coin. The total |
could not have been less than s5O0,0O0OO0 We |
had large interest to pay abroad on the public |
debt; ami for nine years after 1870 gold was |
at premium in the United States. During |
those years nearly 1000 miles Of railway were |
constructed and to import English rails and /
pay for them with gold bought at large pre- |
MUM would have been impossible A very large |
proportion Of the railway enterprises would |
of necessity have been abandoned If the export |
Of gold to pay for the rails had been the condi- |
tion precedent to their construction But the |
manufacture Of steel rails at home gave an i'm
mense stimulus to business. Tens Of thousands |
Of men were paid good wages and great invest |
ments and great enrichments followed the line |
Of the new roads and opened to the American |
people large fields for enterprise not thereto
fore accessible Proteetionists owe many |
mode OF dealing with this question OF free trade.
He gives Us his conclusions without quSlifca- |
tion and without disguise. The American free |
trader is not SO sincere. He is ever present
ing half truths, and holding back the other half |
thus creating false impressions and leading to |
false conclusions; but Mr. Gladstone is entirely |
frank. He tells the laborers on protected arti- |
cles that they would be better engaged in rails |
ing more cereals and more cotton at low prices
Where does Mr.. Gladstone suggest market /
for the additional grain and cotton to be raised
by American mechanics becoming farmers and |
increasing the production Of these great staplesf
The foreign market is filled with a competing |
grain supply to such degree that already the |
price of wheat is unduiy lowered to the West |
ern farmer. The farmer needs q still larger
home consumption OF the grain, while Mr..
Gladstone thinks he needs still larger home
production The legitimate involvement Of Mr..
Gladstones argument is that all mechanical
and manufacturing enterprises in America pro-
ducing articles Of higher price than the same
produced in Europe should be abandoned, and
the laborers so engaged should be turned to the
production Of more cereals and more cotton
at lower prices The Western farmers in
stinct is wiser than Mr.. Gladstone's philos-
ophy. The farmer knows that the larger the
market the better are his prices, and that as
She home market is narrowed his prices fall
Ar. Gladstone however, commits himself to the
principle that all protection is morally bad;'
II this has been his belief ever since he became
an advocate Of free trade his conscience must
have received many and severe wounds, as
session sitter session, while Chancellor Of the
Exobequer, he carried through Parliament q
eounty-may I not say direct pro-ection-of
$4,000 to line Of steamers running between
England and the United States, protection
that began six years before free trade was pro
III imed in English manufactures. and con-
Inued nearly twenty years after. In the whole
Reriod Of twenty-five years an aggregate Of
many millions Of dollars was paid out to pro-