The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1890-01-09
Mr.. Gladstone and American
Free-Traders.


Protectipni-ts owe many thanks 10 Mr.
Clsdrt1ne for his oDtspOken mode Of
1ealing " It'll this question VI free trade
He gives Us bis conclusions without quail
incation and without Disguise. The
American Pree-Trader Is not 70 sincere
lie Is ever presenting half-truthz and
holding back the other half. thus creating
false Impressions and leading " false
conclusions. But Mr.. Gladstone is en-
tlrely frank. He tells the laoorers ION
protected articles that they would be bet
TER engaged In raising more cereals ard
more cotton at low prices Where does
Mr. Gladstone suggest market for the
additional grain and cotton n be raised
by American mechanics becoming farm
rrz aud Increasing the production Of those
great staples: The foreign market !.
nlled with competing graln-supply 10
-uch degree that already the price Of
whea, il nnduly lowered u the Western
farmer. The farmer needs a still larger
home consumption Of his grain, while Mr..
Gladstone thinks he needs still larger
home production. The legitimate involve
ment Of MIR. Gladstone's argument Is that
all mechanical and manufacturing enter
prises in America producing articles Of
higher price than the same produced In
Europe should be abandoned and the Ia
borers 80 engaged should pc turned 70 the
production Of more cereals and more
cotton al low prices, The Western
farmer instinct is wiser than Mr.. Glad
stones philosophy. The farmer knows
that the larger the home market the bet
ter are his prices, and that as the home
market is narrowed his prices fall.
II will not escape Mr.. GladsDne's keen
observation that British investments in
navigation flourish with less rivalry and
have increased 10 greater proportion than
any other Of the great interests of the
United Kingdom. | ask his candid ad-
mission that it il the one interest which
England has protected steadily and de-
terminedly, regardless Of consistency and
regardless Of expense. Nor will Mr..
Gladstone fail to note that navigation is
the weakest Of the great interests 10 the
| ni:ed States, because 1t is the one which
the National Government has constantly
refused to protect. II since the Civil
War the United States had spent in pro-
tectiDg her shipping merely the annual ID
terest on the great sum which England
has expended to protect her ocean trsfic'
American fleets would now be riyalling
the fleets of England, as they riyalled
them before the war, on every sea where
the prospect of commercial gain invites
the American flag.
The failure of the United States to en-
courage aud establish commercial lines Of
American ships is in strange contrast
with the Jealous efforts maize TO extend
lines of railway inside the country. even
to the point of anticipating the real needs
of many sections. If all the advances 10
rail u
right gifts by towns, cities, counties,
States, and Nation be added together, the
money value would not fall short of
thousand millions of dollars. No effort
seems too great for our people when the
interior of the country is TO be connected
with the seaboard. But when the sug-
gestion is made to connect our seaboard
with commercial cities Of other countries
by lines of steamships, the public mind Is
at once disturbed by the cry of subsidy.
We really feel as much afraid OF protec-
ton at sea as Mr.. Gladstone Is Of protec-
tion on land. The positions of the Amer
lean Congress aud the English Parliament
on this subject are precisely reversed
England has never been afrighled by the
word subsidy, and, while We have stood
still in impotent fear, she has taken pos
session of the seas Ivy the iudicious, and
even the lavish. interposition of pecuni-
airy aid. | have already said that the in
terest on the amount which England mas
paid for this object since she began II
with great energy, fifty years ago, would
give all the stimulous needed for the rap
id expansion of our commerce. Let II
be added that if the government OF the
United States will for twenty years to
come give merely the interest, al the rate
of ) per cent. on the amount which has
been free gift to railroads, every steam
line needed on the Atlantic, the Pacific,
and the Gulf will spring into existence
within two years from the passage of the
act-James G. Blaine in Worth -imersedn
Eeriet- for January.