Blue-grass blade., 1890-10-25
hat they were paying It all the

of a gentleman's servants, that
they would be doing no wrong to
pilfer from him, so long as the
master was kept ignorant OF the
larceny, as they assume that no
man, in any proper sense OF the
word, can be said to have been
robbed, il he never knows about
the robbery.
I want to show that absolute free
trade and absolute protection would
have precisely the same effect upon
the people.
Suppose this country to be put
under tariff that would be abso-
lutely prohibitory of foreign COM
petition, what would be the result?
Would everything furnished the
consumer he advanced in price?
Not one cent; because the compe-
tition in our own country would
make producers sell just as cheap
as they could afford to do.
Suppose, for instance, nobody
outside of the city of Lexington
was allowed to sell shoes in the
State of X ehtucky. Would a paiSof
shoes that could have been bought
for dollar the day before the law
was passed, sell for two dollars the
day after it was passed? Certainly
not; for il that were to be the case.
there would be forty farmers in
Fayette County whs would 60 into
the shoe business the next week,
because that business would beat
farming.
With forty additional shoe mer-
chants in Lexington, all selling a
pair of shoes for two dollars, upon
which there would be a good liv-
ing profit at one dollar, how long
would it be before some fellow
would conclude that he would
make more money by selling those
shoes at a dollar and three quar-
tiers, by the increased patronage he
would get? And when all had
come down to dollar and three
quarters, how long would it be be-
fore some one Of them, from the
very love of gain, would drop his
price to a dollar and a half, and so
on the competition would force
them Just as low as they could af-
ford to go. Even if no additional
shoe dealers were allowed to come
to compete with the present Lex
ington shoe dealers, the effect
would be just the same, for the
shoe dealers there now, from the
very hope of increased profits, by
increased patronage, would reduce
these shoes to the very same per-
centage of profit that they make
to-day.
In the Government Of the United
States We Would see the suIne pIi1s-
ciple. If prohibitory tariff
should cut off all competition from
foreign countries SO that any
given article of our commerce here
would greatly appreciate in value,
the people who make that article
cheaper in foreign countries would
come here to manufacture it. Or
if the Government should limit
the making Of shoes to the shoe
makers now in the United States
from the very day the law passed
shoes would not sell at all higher
: from the principle that We have
seen in the case of Lexington shoe
dealers
This is the case under an abso-
lutte protective tariff, and we have
seen that there would be no change
in the practical result to the con-
sumer.
Now, suppose we try the expert
ment Of absolute free trade. What
would be the result? Cutlery, fol
! instance, would flow in here from
England until Henry Disten OF
Philadelphia, for instance, would
: have to sell his saws cheaper OF
shut up his shop. If it proved
; that Sheffield or Birmingham could
: make saws for the American peo-
pie for two millions of dollars q
year less than Philadelphia could
do it, would it not be wise finance
to retire Mr.. Diston and his men
on a million of dollars a year as q
pension, and let them live idle in
brown stone fronts, if by the trans
action the American people would
save million of dollars annually
by buying English saws.
If such a procedure as this would
not be doing the greatest good to
the greatest number, one OF the ba-
: sal principles Of good law, what
would it be?
Thus we have seen that the only
appreciable effect that any tariff OF
free trade regulation could have,
would be in the instance in which
absolute free trade would produce
the greatest good to the greatest
number.
Next in advantage to absolute
free trade is a tariff that would be
absolutely prohibitory. and any in
termediate ground between the two,
as tariff for revenue only, for in