St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-30
OUR FOREIGN TRADE.
1t May Be Enlarged, Says the
Plumed Knight, by Rec
iprocity.
Hitherto the United States
Has Gotten the Worst Of
It All Around.
at Present the Balance Of
Trade Is Against I'm
Gle Sam.
This Is the Accepted Time to
Get Even, and Bet
ter.

WATERvILLE, Me-, Aug. 29.-A pub
Lie mass meeting was held tonight, and
after Gov. Burleigh had made speech,
President A. W. Small. of Colby uni
VerSity, introduced as ''the leader of the
Republican party and a famous advo-
cate Of an interesting and progressive
protective tariff, Hon. James q. Blaine"
III regard to national questions Mr..
Blaine said: 81 wish to declare the
opinion that the United States has
reached a point where one of its highest
duties is to enlarge the area of its for
eign trade. Under the beneficent policy
of protection we have developed vol
ume Of manufactures which, in many
departments, overruns the demands of
the home market. In the field of agri-
culture, with the immense propulsion
given in it by agricultural implements,
we can do far more than produce
breadstuffS and provisions for our own
people: nor would it be an ambitious
destiny for so great country as ours
to manufacture only what we can con-
sumo or to produce only what we can
eat. We are already, in many fabrics
and in many products, far beyond that,
and our great demand is expansion. l
mean expansion of trade with countries
where we can find profitable exchanges.
We are not seeking annexation of terri
tory. Certainly we do not desire it UNI
less it should come by the voition of
people who might ask the priceless
boon of place under the flag of the
Union. i feel sure that for long time
to come the people of the United States
will be wisely content with our present
area and not launch upon
Any scheme of Annexation.
AT the same time l think we should
be unwisely content if we did not seek
to engage in what the young Pitt so well
termed annexation of trade. For nearly
thirty years now the United States has
had the great advantage of protective
tariff-by far the longest unbroken pc
riod that its industrial policy has been
in force since the federal government
was organized. Happily the great ma
1ority of our people, without strict re-
gard to party lines, believe that the re-
suits to the American people from the
protective policy has been incalculably
beneficent, aggregating in a quarter of
a century of national and individual
wealth beyond anything ever dreamed
of before in the history of the world. |
do not mention protection, because do
not intend to speak in reference thereto
before this audience. That would be
needless if not an impertnent effort.
merely wish to proclaim its victories.
Without protection the United States
would have been poor indeed after the
ravageS of the war from 1861 to 1865.
hoC HnI1t
iShed and pr0Spered. grown and gained.
Even where revenue duties have been
laid with no expectation OF developing
industries there have in many instances
been great financial and industrial re-
suits. The heavy duty Oh silk was
levied primarily not for protection, but
simply to secure large revenue from
one of the luXuries of the rich; but as
consequence of the duty the silk indus
try has increased so rapidly that
it constitutes one of the leading
fabrics of New Jersey, one of
the largest manufacturing states of the
Union. l could readily advance other
illustrations to the same effect. As [
have already intimated, l 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 industries, not by any mode that
will invite our people to rash expert
mentS or that will launch us III doubt
full and
Dangerous Investments.
What L mean to speak of is only
system of reciprocity, not in conflict
with a protective tariff, but supple
mentary thereto and presenting a field
of enterprise that will richly repay the
Nf +I,O A ,n,.tfo
pie. We shall find it instructive and
valuable to examine into the sources of
our imports and the destination of our
exports and to strike balance between
the two. Take last year, 1889. In that
year our whole exports to all the cOun
tries in the three continents of Europe,
Asia and Africa, and to Australia, Can
ada and Hawaii amounted, in round
numbers, to S65S. 100000, and our i'm
ports from all those countries amount
ed, in round numbers, to S529, ZOO, ,0O0,
showing that from that vast trade we
had balance of S129,000,000 in our
fagor, equivalent to that amount OF
gold among our people. But when all
the accounts were closed, instead of
having S129,000,O0 in our favor, we had
our foreign trade. We must, therefore,
have lost S142.000,000 in our com
merce with the countries outside
of those to which l have re-
ferred. Where could we have found
such large adverse balance? Let me
tell you. We lost forty-one millions in
Cuba. from which our imports were
s52,O00,0O0 and to which our exports
were only S11, ,000,0 900. Fortv-one millions
is pretty large sum to lose in one ISL
and in single year. In the republic OF
Brazil we lost fifty-one millions. Our
imports from Brazil were $60000 600:
our exports to Brazil were S9.OO0,000
In Mexico we lost Sl0,000,000. Imports
from Mexico were S21 ZOO, 600; our eX-
ports to Mexico were S11,000,0Q0. To
sum it all up, our imports from coun-
tries south of us, both insular and con-
tinental, on this hemisphere, were S216,-
100000; our exports to them were S74,-
100000. The balance against us i'll our
trade with those countries, therefore, is
S142. 900, 900, exceeding our gains from
all the rest of the world by S13,000,000.
By no figure of speech can we fiatter
ourselves into the belief that our trade
with our American neighbors is
Ina Prosperous Condition.
How can this state of affairs be rem
edied? You have heard great deal
said within the past ten years by our
Democratic friends about the iniquity
of the Republican party 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 1888 left scarcely trace
OF the actual tariff that was in operation
at the close of the war and for few
years afterwards. During the war we
were compelled to tax almost everything