Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1890-01-16

ICALIY BAD.
urge that all protection Is morally a.
well as economically bad. This is = yer,
different thing flom saying thai all Protec
tioni>ts are bad Many of them. withou
doubt. are good, nay. excellent, as were il
this country many of the supporters of th'
Corn law. 1t is of the tendencies Of
system that | speak. which operate vari
ously. upon most men uncorsciously, up"r
some men not at all; and surely that sys
TEN cannot be good which makes an 'ndi
vifual or set of individuals, live on TIT
community and causes HIM relatively I;
diminish That store, which duty 10 his fcl
luw-citlzens and TO their equal rights
should teach him by his contributions tc
augment.
PROTECTION.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature II
the argument Of Mr.. Gladstone, as indeed
Of every English Free Trader except John
, Stuart Mill. is the univer>ality OF applca
iion which he demands for his theory Free
. trade he believes advantageous for Eug
land therefore. without the allowance Of
any modifying condition, great or small
vantageou> for the United States. for Bra
zil for Australia; in short, for all coun-
tries with which England can establish
trade relations. 1t would be difficult, If
not impossible, for Mr. Gladstone to find
any principle of administration or any
measure of finance 50 exactly fitted TO the
varying needs of all countries a. he as
sumes the policy of free trade to be. Sure
| ly il i not unfair to maintain that, de'lnC-
| ing his results from observation and eN-
| perence In his own county he may fall
into error and fail TO appreciate the imam
cial workings of other countries .geograph-
cally remote and Of vastly greater area
An IN>rLAR POLICY NOT iHE oNE FoK A
WORLD
Alaska excepted. the northcrnmo-t point
Of the Union j. sixty miles south Of the
>outhcrnmo>t point OF Great Britain. and
the >outhcInmost point Of the Union i hut
little more than a hundred miles from the
tropics Its natural products are more
varied, more numerous, and of more Nalua-
bic character than those Of Europe. In
quote one II Mr. GIad~tonc'> phrases, wr
constitute '.nnt % much country in our
selves A. a world He tell. u that "e
carry on the ''hu-ine>> Of domestic tx
changes On scale such ~ mankind has
uc@cr seen" our foreign commerce, very
large in itself j. ouiy ~ p compared -
our internal trade And Yet Mr.. Glad.
stone thinks policy v-hlch i essential -
an island in the northern OCEAN >huuld he
adopted a. the policy Of Il country, which
even to his own vision j. a world within
Itself
With these fundamental point. Of differ
ence between The two countr!e- | assume
that varied financial and industrial .y~-
tens, wrough, Ivy the experience "f each,
would be- the natural and logical result.
Hence | do not join issue with Mr. Glad
Stone On both Of hi propositions. He de-
fcud> free trade in Great Britain. He a.
sails protection in the United States. The
hr-t proposition | neither deny nor aflrm.
Daring This long period l>l2 Ia ls6lI
free trade tariff, were thrice followed hy
industrial stagnaiion by financial eInbar-
ra>>ment, bv distress among all class
8 dependent for subsistence upon
their own labor. Thrice were these hur-
dcns removed hy the enactment Of a pro-
tcctivc tariff Thrice the protective tariff
promptly led TO Industrial activity to H.
uancial ease to prosperity among the peo-
pie And this happy condition lasted in
each case, with no diminution Of its hene
.cial influence, until illegitimatc political
combinations, having .neir origin In person
al and sectional aims, precipitated another
era of free trade 4 perfectly impartial
man, unswerscd by the excitement which
this question engcndcr- in popular discus
sion. might safely be asked il the half
Cenlurys experience. with liz three trials
Of both SYSTEM. did not establish the Wis
dom of protection in the United States. II
the irduCtiye method OF reasoning NAV be
trusted. We certainly havea logical basis
Of conclusion in the facts here detail i.
EACH COUNTRY MUST ACI INIELLIGENrli
FOR II-ELF.
And by wha, other mode nf reasoning
can we safely proceed In This field oi con
troser-yy The great method of Bacon
was by rigid and pure observation, aided
by experiment and fructided 10y induction
Let u. Investigate "from effects To causes
and not from causes tO effects" Surely it
il by a long serie, of experiments, and by
that test only that any country can establish
an industrial system that VIII best aid iu
developing II hidden wealth aud establish
lng its permanent prosperity And each
country must act ntelIigenily for Itself.
Questions Of trade can no more be reIula
ted by an exact science than crops can be
produced with accurate forecast. The un-
known quantities are SO many that prob
lem in trade or agriculture can never have
an absolute answer lii advance. But Mr
Gladstone, with an apparent confidence in
results u un>hakrn as though he were
dealing with the science OF numbers, pro
cced> to demonstrate the advantage Of free
trade. He is positively certain in advance
of the answer which experiment Will give.
and the Inference Is that nothing Is To be
a
Gladstone may argue for Great Britain as
he will, but for the United States We must
insist on being guided by facts, and not by
theories; We must Insist on adhering to
tile teachings Of experiments which have
been carried forward by careful general
cation to well-grounied conclusions"
Nr. Gladstone boldly contends that
keeping capital at home by protection is
dear p oduction, 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 100 00U miles Of railroad have been
built in the United States. The steel rail
and other metal connected herewith in
VOWED so vast sum of money that it
could not have been raised to send out of
the country in gold coin. The total cost
could not have been less than $500 600 600
We had large interest to pay abroad on
the public debt, aud for nine year. after
1870 gold WIS at a premium In the United
States. During those years nearly 10000
miles of railroad were constructed, and TO
import English rail and pay for it with
gold bought at large premium would have
been impossible. very large proportion
| of the railway entel prses would of neces-
! sity have been abandoned if the export of
| gold TO pay for the rails had been the con-
| dltion precedent to their construction
| But the manufacture of steel rails at home
! gave an immense stimulus to business
Tens of thousands of men were paid good
wages, and great investments and great
! enrichments followed the line of the new
| road and opened to the American people
I large fields for enterprise not heretofore
accessible
! might ask Mr.. Gladstone what he
would have done with the labor Of the
thousands of men engaged in manufactur-
ing rail, if it had been judged practicable to
buy the rail in England? Fortunately he
has given his answer in advance of the
question, for he tells US that ''in America
| we produce more cloth and more iron at
| high prices, instead of more cereals aud
more cotton at low prices" The grain
growers of the west and the cotton-grow
ers of the south will observe that Mr..
Gladstone holds out to them a cheerful
prospect. They "should produce more
cereals and more cotton at low prices J.
Mr.. Gladstone sees that the protective
system steadily tends to keep up the price
of cereals and cotton" and he asks that
manufactures of ''cloth and iron" be aban'