Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-03

| the temper and frame OF mind engendered first
| by our protectionism, 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. The one
| tended to harden into positive selfshness; the
other has done much to foster a more liberal
| tone OF mind"
MIR. Blaine's Argument.
"Our foreign commerce. very large in itself,
is only as to % compared to our internal
trade, and yet Mr.. Gladstone thinks that any
policy which is essential to an island in the
Northern ocean should be adopted as the policy
of a country which, even in his own vision, is a
| world within ITSELF
With these fundamental points of differ
ence between the two countries assume that
varied financial and industrial systems wrought
/ by the experience of both would be the natural
| logical result. Hence do not join issue with
Mr. Gladstone on both of his propositions He
! defends Tree trade In Great Britain; he assails
! protection i'll the United States The first
proposition l neither deny nor affirm.
! during this long period. 1912 TO 1861. free
trade tariffs were thrice followed by industrial
stagnation, by financial embarrassment, by
distress among all classes dependent for sub
slstence upon their own labor. Thrice were
these burdens removed by the enactment of a
protective tariff. Thrice the protective tariff
promptly led to industrial activity, to financial
ease, to prosperity among the people. And
tnls Happy cOnQltl0n lasted IN eacn case with
no dimnution of its beneficent influence until
llegItimate political combinations, having their
origin III personal and sectional aims, precipi-
tated another era of free trade.
KEEPING CAPITAL AT HOME.
'Mr. Gladstone boldly asserts that keeping
capital at homo by protection is dear produc-
ton, and is delusion from top to bottom 1
take direct issue with him on that proposition.
Between 1870 and the present time considerably
more than 100000 miles Of railroad have been
built IN the United States. The steel rail and
other metal connected Herewith involved SO
vast sum of money that it could not have
been raised 70 send out of the country in gold
coin. The total cost could not have been less
than $500. 900, 600. We had large interest to
pay abroad on the public debt, and for nine
years after 1870 gold was at a premium in the
United States. During those years nearly
Al, 900 miles of railroad were constructed, and
to import English rail. and pay for it with
gold bought ut large premium. would have
been impossible. 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 condition 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 large fields
for enterprise not heretofore accessible.
II might ask Mr.. Gladstone what he would
have done with the labor of the thousands of
men engaged IN manufacturing rail if it had
been judged practicable to buy the rail in
England. Fortunately he has given his ans wer
III advance of the question, for he tells Us that
III America we produce more cloth and more
IRON at high prices, instead of more cereals and
more cotton at low prices.
THE QUESTION OF WAGES.
"Alr. Gladstone makes another contention in
which, from the American point of view, he
leaves out of sight controlling factor and
hence refers an effect to the wrong cause. Re-
garding the advance of wages in England, he
says: Wages which have been partially and
relatively higher under protection have be-
come both generally and absolutely higher and
greatly higher under free trade do not
doubt the fact, but venture to suggest that
such advance IN wages there has been in
England Is referable to another and a palpable
cause, namely, the higher wages in the United
States. which have CONSTANTLY tempted British
mechanics to emigrate and which would have
tempted many more if the inducement of an |
advance IN wages at home had not been inter- |
posed. Especially have wages been high and |
tempting in the United States since 1861, when
the country became firmly protective by the |
enactment of the Morrill, tariff 1t will be |
found, think that the advance in wages in
England corresponds precisely in time, though |
not IN degree. with tue advance in the United |
States. and the advance in both cases was |
lection In this country as national policy.
STEAMSHIP SUBSIDIES.
''1f il has been his belief ever since he became
an advocate of free trade that all protection is
morally bad his conscience must have received
many and severe wounds as session after ses-
sion, while chancellor of the excheauer, he car
ried through parliament bounty-lnay not
say indirect protection-Of 1S0. 900 pounds ster-
ling to a line OF steamers running between |
England and the United States-a protection |
that began six years before free trade was pro- |
claimed in English manufactures, and con-
tinued nearly twenty years after.
In nearly the whole period of twenty-five |
years an aggregate of many millions of dollars |
was paid out to protect the English line against
all competition. 1t may be urged that this |
same was paid for CARRYING the Anglo American |
mails, but that argument will not avail free !
trader, because steamers of other nationalities |
stood ready to carry the mail at far cheaper |
rate. Does Mr.. Gladstone's estimate !
of the immortality of protection apply only to |
so important to British interest that 1t is better
to throw morals to the wind and resort to
whatever degree of protection may be neces-
sary to secure the lead to English ships?
WHAT SUBSIDIES HAVE DONE FOR ENGLAND.
1T will not escape Mr.. Gladstone's keen OBJ |
servation that British interests In navigation |
flourish with less rivalry and have increased in
greater proportion than any of the great inter- |
ests of the united kingdom. ask his candid |
admission that 1t is the interest which Eug-
land has protected, steadily and dete-minedly |
regardless Of consistency and regardless of ex- |
pense Nor Will Mr.. Gladstone fail to note |
that navigation is the weakest OF the great i'll |
terests in the United States because il is the |
one which the national government has con- !
stantly refused to protect. The steady |
argument of the free trader is that if the steam
ship lines were established we could not in |
crease our trade. because We produce under |
our protective tariff nothing that can compete |
Ill neutral markets with articles of the like |
kind from England. How then can the free |
trader explain the fact that long list of arti-
cles manufactured in the United States find
ready and large sale in Canada?
CANADIAN TARIFF AND COMPETITION.
''The Canadian tariff is the same upon En-
glish and American goods. Transportation
FROM England to Quebec or Montreal Is cheaper
than from the manufacturing centers of the
United states to the same points The differ
ence Is not great. but it is III favor of the En-
gllsh shipper across the seas, and not of the
American shipper by railway. 1t is for the free
trader to explain why, if the cost of transporta-
ton be made the same, the United States can
not compete with England in every country in
South America in all the articles of which
We sell q larger amount in Canada than England
does.