Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-02-03

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% the price he pays, and consequently to the
| circulating apital which he requires in order
| o carry on this traffic; but it adds nothing
| % the rate of profit which he receives, and
! nothing whatever to the employment which
| ne gives This forced increment of capital
| cts il motion no labor, and Is compelled to
| work IN the uncovered field of open trade. 1t
! Ias not the prina face apology such as that
| apology may bel which the iron maker or the
| nil owner may make, that he is employing
| American labor which would not otherwise
! be EMPLOYED If the waste under protective
| eIutv OF 10 per cent. be waste of 30 per cent.
| the waste OF the extra capital required in dis
! trbUtion is waste of 100 per cent. on the
| .ost of the operation; for it accompanies alb
! aouteiy nothing on behalf of the community
| ghich would not be accomplished equally if
! lie commodity were 30 per cent less in price;
| ,ust as the postman distributing letters at a
Milling performs no better or other service
| han the postnlan distributing letters at a
! Jenny But Of distributors the name is
.egion; they constitute the vast army of the
| wholesale and retail tradesmen OF a country,
with all the wants appertainlng to them. As
| Consumers, they are taxed on all protected
commodities; as the allies of producers in the
business of distributing, they are forced to do
| with more capital what could be done as well
with less
PROTECTION CANNOT WORK IMPARTIALLY.
But tie view of the genuine protectionist l
understand to be that protection is a mine
# wealth; that Il greater aggregate profit re-
suits from what you would call keeping labor
and capital at home than from letting them
;eek employment wherever in the whole
world they can find it most economically.
But if there be this Unborn fertility in the
principle itself, why are the several states of
the Union precujlad from applying it within
tho f
rate would be made richer by this internal
application of protection to the parts, why is
il not so applied! On the other hand, If the
country, as a whole, would by this device be
made rot richer, but poorer, through the in
t,errerence with the natural laws of prOduc
ZION, then how is it that by similar interior
nee the aggregate Of tie states, the great
commonwealth of America, can be made, in
its general balance sheet. not poorer, Int
richer.
But, in America, besides the iaaloGsly pail
Saded field of dear production, there Is q vast
open expanse of cheap production, namely,
III the whole mass ito speak roughly of the
agricultural products of the country, not to
mention such giftsof the earth as its mineral
oils In raising these the American capitalist
will find the demand of the world uneXhaust
ed, however he may increase the supply. Why,
then, is he to carry his capital abroad when
there is profitable employment for it at home?
If protection is necessary to keep American
capital at home why is not the vast capital
now sustaining your domestic agriculture, and
raising commodities for sale at free trade
prices. exported TO other countries! Or. con
versely, since vast capitals find an unlimited
tield for employment in cheap domestic pro
,lucton without protection, why is it demon
strated that protection is not required in OF
der to keep your capital ct home?
No adversary will, l think, venture upon
answering this by saying that the profits are
larger in protected than in unprotected in
1ustries, because the best opinions seem to |
testify that in your protected trades profits |
are hard pressed by wages.
My claim is this: A country cannot possibly |
raise its aggregate wage fund by protection, |
but must inevitably reduce it. 1t is a con
urivance for producing dear and for selling |
dear, under cover of a wall or fence which |
shuts out the cheaper foreign article, or |
handicaps it on admission by the imposition |
of heavy fine. Yet | may for the moment
allow it to be possible that, in some particular |
trade or trades, wages may be raised lat the |
expense of the community in consequence OF |
protection. There was a time when America |
built ships for Great Britain, namely, before
the American revolution. She now impose
heavy duties to prevent building ships
for her Even my own recollection goes back |
TO the period, between sixty and seventy
years ago, when by far the most and also
the best, part of trade between us was carried
n American bottoms
IT MAY RAISE WAGES IN ONE TRADE.
If the labor market, although open to the
world is insufIiciently supplied, then the wage
Garner may possibly, i'll given case, come in
for a share of the monopoly price of ships
If the hand work be one requiring long ap
premiership $50 to call it,, and thereby i'm
Dading the access of domestic competitors.
his vii augment his share Then why no.
the Ike, some one viii ask, in all cases? Be
cause the community il the given case pays
the price of the monopoly-that is to say,
throws the price to waste, and because, while
q trader in multitude of commodities may
lose upon of them, and yet may have
good balance sheet upon the whole, he must
not and cannot lose upon them all without
ceasing to be trader; and a nation, with re-
spect to its aggregate of production, is as
single trader.
Without, then, absolutely denying it to be
possible that in some isolated and exceptional
cases there may be a relation between protec-
ton land all protection, so far as it goes, is
monopoly aud high wages, | contend that to
refer generally the high rate of wage3 in the
United States to this cause would be nothing
less than preposterous.
"How, then is it that America, which, as
y 1
ton, nevertheless outstrips all other coun-
tries in the rapid accumulation Of her
Wealth. Ny general answer is that the case
is like that of an individual who, with waste
full expenditure, has vast fortune, such as
to leave him large excess of receipts
Let me observe, first, that America pro
duces an enormous mass of cotton, cereals,
meat and other commodities, which is sold
in the unsheltered market of the world at
such prices as it will yield The producers
are fined for the benefit of the protected in
terests, and receive nothing in return; but
they obtain for their country, as well for
the world, the whole advantage of a vast
natural trade-that is to say, a trade in
which production is carried on at a minimum
cost in capital and labor as compared with
what the rest of the world can do America
invites and obtains i'll a remarkable degree
from all the world one of the great elements
of production, without tax of any kind
namely, capital While securing to the cap
italiSt producer a monopoly in the protected |
trades, she allows all the world to do its
best, by free immigration, to prevent any
corresponding monopoly in the class of work
men, She draws upon a bank of natural re
sources so vast that it easily bears those de
auctions of improvidence which simply pre-
vent the results from being vaster still
WHY AMERICA is PROSPEROUS.
Let me now mention some at least among
Those elements of the unrivailed national
strength OF America which explain to us why
she is not ruined by the huge waste of the
protective system. And first of these place
the immense extent and vastness of her terri
tory She carries on the business of domestic
exchanges on a scale such as mankind has
never seen. Of all the staple products of hui
man industry and care, how few are there
which, in one or another of her countless
regions, the soil of America would refuse to
yield
Apart from this wide variety, | suppose
there is no other country Of the whole earth
in which, if we combine together the surface
and that which is below tho surface, nature
has been so bountiful to man Now, this vast
aggregate superiority Of purely natural
wealth is simply equivalent to the gift. say,
of a queen in a game of chess. with this diff
ference-that America could hold her own
against all corners without the queen. By
protection she makes q bad move, which helps
US to make fight, and ties a heavy clog upon
her feet. so that the most tilnid among us
need not now to greatly dread her competi-
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