Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1890-09-05


been incidentally bcnefcient, aggregat-
ing in quarter Of century Of national
and individual wealth beyond anything
ever dreamed Of before in the history OF
the world Without protection the
United States would have been poor, in
deed. after the ravages Of the war, from
1861 to 1865 With protection every
section has fourished and pros oered
grown aud gained Even where reye-
nue. duties have been laid with no ex-
pcctation Of developing industries. there
have in many instances been great 6uan-
cial and industrial results The heavy
duty on silk was levied primarily not for
protection, but simply to secure large
revenue from one Of the Injuries Of the
rich; hut as a consequences Of the duty
the silk industry has increased so rapid
" that it constitutes one Of the leading
fibrics of New Jersey, one OF the larg-
est manufacturing States Of the Union.
could readily advance other illustra-
tons to the same effect. As | have al
ready minated. am here to speak Of
the expansion Of our foreign trade, not
BY any novel process, not by any mode
that will shock or disturb home indus
tries. not by any mode that will invite
our people TO rash experiments or that
will lunch US in doubtful and danger
Gus investments. Whit | mean to
speak of briefly is a system of reciprocity
not in conflict with a protective tariff,
but supplementary thereto and present.
ing a Geld Of enterprise that will richly
repay the effort and energy Of the Amer
lean people.
We shall find it instructive and valua.
BILE to examine into the sources of our
imports, and TO strike a balance bet veeu
the two Take last year-lSS9: lu
that year our whole expor to all the
countries in he three continents Of Eu-
rope, Asia and Africa, and to Australia
Canada and Hawii amounted in round
numbers to seas, 900, 600. and our i'm.
ports from all those countries amounted
10 round numbers to $500 900, 900
showing that vast trade we had bal
auce of Sl29. coo. 600 in our favor
equivalent to that amount Of gold among
our people But when all the account;
were closed, Ds'eld of having Sl29.
900 900 in our favor, we had a balance
Of Sl3 000. 900 against us from our for.
eign trade. We must, therefore, have
lost. S142 100000 in our commerce,
with the countries outside of those Il
which have referred Wtegs coulc
we have found such !. large advance bal
auce? Let me tell you. We lost forty.
one millions in Cuba. from which oul
imports were So 000, 900, and TO which
our exports were only Sll 600, 0OO.-
Forty one million is u pretty l'rge sun
to lose in one island in a single year
In the Republic Of Brazil we lost fifty
one millions Our imports from Brazi
were 500, 900; our exports to Brazi
were 50 900 900 In Mexico We los
so, 000,0U0 Imports from Mexico
we're S21 zoo. 900; our exports to Mex
leo were Sll, 900. 900. TO sum it al
up. our imports from countries south o.
US, both insular aud contnen al, on this
hemisphere, were $2l6 900. 900, oul
exports to them were 81 900. 900 =
The balance against us in our trade with
those countries, therefore, is SIP 900,
900, exceeding our gains from all the
rest Of the world by SIG, 900, 600. BY
no figure Of speech can we fatter our
selves into the belief that our trade with
our American neighbors is in prosper
Gus condition How can tbs state q
affairs be remedied? You have Heard q
great deal said within the past ten years
by our Democratic friends about the mi.
putty of the Republican parry keeping
up the war tariff As matter Of fact,
the war tariff has not been kept up, but
has been amended over and over again
until the revision of 1868 left scarcely a
trace Of the actual tariff that was in
force at the Close of the war and for a
few years afterwards During the war
we were compelled to tax almost every,
thing in the all, in the water, on and
under the earth. The necessities of the
government were so great that We could
allow scarcely anything to be imported
without paying tribute. and think no
patriotic man can deny that that was a
wise policy We were not then study
ing the PHILOSOPHY of trade relations,
but how to save the life OF the nation -
Money was the primal necessity. and we
seized 1t wherever we could reach il
lawfully, but during the last eighteen
years great change has been made So
entirely has the war tariff been abolish
ed that in the fiscal gear ended June
3Qth, 1880, the articles admitted free
were considerably more tlan oae third Of
all the Imports To be exact, the i'm
ported articles that paid duty exceeded
SiSS 009 900 in value. and the import
cd artfs.los rlTu1 paid 10 duty exceeded
S216 eco 600 in value The inevitable
tendency is, think, toward the increase
IT the free list Our great mistake was
made when we begun to repeal the wal
duties on 50 large an amount Of imports
Any duty repealed was favor and an
advantage 10 the exporting country, and
We have asked nothing in return. In.
stead Of the course khich | must say was
one of carelessness and wastefulness BY
both political parties, every repeal Of
duty should have been preceded by a
most thorough investigation, and when
ever it was found practicable to export
Anything from the United States, and
thus establish reciprocity of trade. j,
should have been done.