The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-02-01
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the national strength by enacting highly
protective tariff. BY its own terms this
tariff must end with the war. When the
new tariff was TO be formed, "A popular cry
arose against war duties though the coun-
Try had prospered under them despite the
sxhausting effect of the struggle with Great
Britain. But the prayer of the people was
answered, and the war duties were dropped
from the tariff of 1916 The business of the
country was speedily Frustrated. The peo-
pie were soon reduced 20 as great distress as
In that melancholy period between the close
Of the Revolutionary war and the organiza-
ton Of the national government-l7S3 to
1859.
Relief came at last with the enactment OF
the protective tariff of 1874, to the support OF
which leading men of both parties patriotic
ally united for the common good. That act,
supplemented by the act of 1925 brought
genuine prosperity TO the country.
Sectional jealousy and partisan zeal could
not endure the great development Of manu-
features in the north aud east which followed
tho apparently firm establishment Of the pro-
tective policy. Out of this strange complica-
ton came the sacrifice of the protective tariff
of lS24-2S and the substitution of the com
promise tariff of 1888, which established an ad
valorem duty of 20 per cent. on all imports,
and reduced the excess over that by 10 per
cent annual sliding scale for the ensuing ten
Years.
The apprehension of evil soon became gem
sral, public confidence was shaken, the panic
Of 1887 ensued, and business reversalS were
rapid, general and devastating. There was
no relief to the people until the protective
tariff of 1912 was enacted; and then the
benefcent experience of 1925 was repeated on
even a more extensive scale. Prosperity,
wide and general, was at once restored
During this long period free trade tariffs
were thrice followed by industrial stagna-
ton, by financial embarrassment, by distress
among all classes dependent for subsistence
upon their own labor. Thrice were these
burdens removed by the enactment of pro-
tective tariff. Thrice the protective tariff
promptly led to industrial activity, to tinan-
cial ease, TO prosperity among the people.
1t is true that financial panic occurred in
1873, and its existence would blunt the force
of my argument if there were not an impcra-
lively truthful way of accounting for it as a
distinct result from entirely distinct causes.
The civil war, which closed in 1868, had sac
rificed OH both sides Il vast amount Of prop
erty. Reckoning the money directly ex-
pended, the value of property destroyed and
the production arrested and prevented, the
total is estimated at 80 OOo, 100000.
AMERICAS GROWTH SINCE 1850.
Notwithstanding the evil prophecies on
both sides, the panic did not come until eight
and half years after the firing of the last
gun in the civil war. Nor did it come until
after two great calamities III the years imme-
dately preceding had caused the expendi-
ture of more than $500, 00O,0 900, suddenly
withdrawn from the ordinary channels of
business The rapid and extensive rebuilding
in Chicago and Boston after the destructive
fires of 1871 and 1872 had a closer connection
with the panic of 1873 than is commonly
thought. Still further, the six years de-
preston, from 1878 to 1879, involved individ-
ual suffering rather than general distress.
The country as whole never advanced in
wealth more rapidly than during that period
Viewing the country from 1861 to 1889
full twenty eight years-the longest undis-
turbed period in which either protection or
free trade has been tried in this country,
ask Mr.. Gladstone if a parallel can be found
to the material advancement of the United
States.
In 1860 the population Of the United States
was in round numbers 81 ,0OO,O 900. At the
same time the population of the United King
dom was in round numbers 9,000,000 At
the end of twenty years 1850, it appeared
that the United States added nearly $50, Co.,
0O0, 900 to her wealth, while the United King
dom had added nearly 5,OO0,0OO,0O0, or
about one-half. The United Kingdom had
added 100000 to her population during the
period of twenty years, while the addition to
the United States exceeded $1,000, 900.
In 1860 the average wealth, per capita, Of
the United Kingdom was 81 900, while in the
United States it was but $3.50 In 1880 the
United Kingdom had increased her per capita
wealth to 81 ,23O, while the United States had
increased her per capita wealth to $50. The
United Kingdom had in twenty years in
creased her per capita wealth % per cent,
while the United States had increased her per
capita wealth more than % per cent. If al
lowance should be made for war losses, the
ratio of gain in the United States would far
exceed 100 per cent.
HOW PROTECTION HAS LOWERED PRICES.
John Edgar Thompson, late president Of
the Pennsylvania Railroad company, pur-
chased 100 tons of steel rails in 1862 at price
freight paid to New York; duty of 45 per
cent. unpaid of SOB A gold coin. by way
of illustrating Mr. Gladstone's claim to
superior quality of manufactures under free
trade, the railroad company states that many
Of the rails broke during the first winters
trial.l In 1870 congress laid specific duty
of S2S per ton on steel rails. From that time
the home market has been held by our own
manufacturers, with steady annual fall in
price, as the facilities of production increased,
until the past summer and autumn, when
steel rails were selling in Pittsburg, Chicago
and London at substantially the same prices.
Does any free trader on either side of the
ocean honestly believe that American rails
could ever have been furnished rs cheaply as
English rails, except by the sturdy competi-
ton which the highly protective duty of 1870
enabled the American manufacturers TO
maintain against the foreign manufacturers
in the first place, and among American manu-
facturers themselves in the second placei
English steel for locomotive tires imported
in 1865, duty paid, was thirty-four cents per
pound in gold. At the present time NSSB
American steel for locomotive tires, Of as
good quality as the English steel formerly
imported, is furnished at four and three
quarter cents per pound and delivered free Of
cost AZ the point where the locomotives are
manufactured