Morning journal and courier., 1892-10-05

iation that lives upon this Island, and II is
only by the great industries which exist
here. and which find markets In FOREIGN
countries, that we are able to maintain the
vast population of this island. But a
danger is growing up. Forty or fifty Yeas
ago everybody believed that free trade had
conquered the world, and they prophesied
that every nation would follow the exam
pie of England and give itself up to abso-
lutte free trade. The results were not ex-
actly what they prophesied; but the more
adverse were they the more persistently
the votaries of free trade prophesied that
1t would come right at last, and the worse
the tariffs of foreign countries became,
the more confidently their prophesies of
an early victory were given. But we see
now, after many years experience, that,
explain 1t how we may, foreign nations are
raising, one after another, a braZen wall
| of protection around their shores, which
| excludes us from their markets, and SO far
as they are concerned, are doing their best
to kill our trade. And this state of things
does not get better; on the contrary it
| constantly seems TO get worse.
If utter word with respect to free
| trade 1 shall of course be accused of being
| free trade, and of all the other crimes
| which ingenious imagination can attach to
commercial heterodoxy. Uaughter.) But
| nevertheless l ask you to set yourselves
free from all that merely vituperative doc
trine, and consider whether the true doc
trine of free trade carries you as far as
| come OF these gentlemen would wish YOU
to go. Every true religion has its coun-
terpsrt in legends and tradi,iors which
hat al. ~.
ment has its canorical books, but also its
Talmud and Mishns, the inventions of the
rabbinical commentators. Isughter)
This invention of free trade has had many
rabbinicsl commentators Uaughter)
There are the Mishna and the Tslmud con-
stantly growing up, and one of the diff
culties that we have to contend with is the
strange and unreasonable rigor of the doc
trines which these rsbbis have imposed
upon US. If we look abroad into the
world Gin the Office which 1 hold 1 am
obliged to see a great deal of it), / find
that we live in an sge of a war of tariffs.
Every nation is trying how it can, by agree
ment with its neighbor, get the greatest
possible protection for it's own industry,
and at the same time the greatest possible
access to the markets of it's neishbor.
That negotiation is constantly going on: 1t
has besn going on for the last year and
half with great activity But the impor-
taut point to me that / observe ia that,
while A is very anxious to get the favor of
B, and B is very anxious to get the favor
of G, nobody cares two strAws about get
ting the commercial favor of Great Brit
ain. What is the reason of thati 1t is
that in this battle Great Britain has delib-
erstely stripped herself of the armor and
the weapons by which the battle is fought.
(Cheers)
You know you cannot do business In
this world of evil and suffering on those
terms. If you go to market you must
bring money with you; If you fight you |
must fight with the weapons with which |
those with whom you have TO contend are |
fighting. 1t Is no use for you to go into |
the wsrware and cay 81 am Quaker; do |
not fight at all; have no srms; have no |
weapons" and to expect that people will |
pay the same regard to you and be as anx-
ions to obtain your coed will and 10 con-
suit your interests. They will be of the /
opinion of those who have retained their
srmor and still WELD their weapons
(Cheers) The weapon with which they
all fight is admission to their own markets.
That is TO say, A says to b, "If you will /
make your duties such that / can sell in /
your market, l will make my duties such /
that you can sell in my market" But we
have begun by saying that we will levy no /
duties upon anybody, and that We regard /
1t as contrary and di-loyal 10 the glorious |
and sacred doctrine of free trade TO levy
any duties upon anybody for the sake of |
anything that We can get by 1t. (Lsugh- |
i-r and cheeIsl eau only say that nay
be noble, but it is not business daughter, |
cheers and cries of "BrAvO'O. ard that on /
those terms you will get nothing. / am Il
sorry to be obliged to tell yOu that practi-
cslly You do get nothing.
The opinion of this country, by it's su
thorizsd exponent, has been sgsins; what
is called retsliatory policy. "a voice.
"No.'D 1t has. We, as the government
of this country Of the time, have laid ii /
down to ourselves as strict r0le, from
which there is no departure, that we are
bound not to alter the traditional policy of
the country unless We are quite convinced
that a large majority of the country Is
with us; because, in these foreign affairs,
consistency of policy lie beyond all things
necessary. But, though that is the case,
still, If / may aspire to fill the Office of
councillor of the pnblic mind, and 10 ask
you to form your own opinion, without ref
ereDce to traditions OF acknowledgements |
to care two straws whether you are ortho- /
dox or not, but to form your opinions ac-
cording to the dictates of common sense
| would impress upon you that, If you in
tend in this conflict of commercial treaties
10 hold your own, you must be prepared,
if need be, to ipfict upon the nations
which injure you the penalty which is in
your hands of refusing them access to
your markets. Cheers and voice:
"Common sense at last.'0 There is a re-
proach in that interruption, but 1 am
bound to cay / have never ssid anything
else. But am bound at the same time to
tell you what the difficulty is.
The power of which at this moment we |
have the most reason to complain is the |
United States, and it SO happens that what |
the United States furnishes us with main |
ly, not entirely, are articles which are es- |
sential To the good of the people, and raw |
materials which are essential to our manu- |
factures, and we cannot exclude one or the |
other without serious injury to ourselves. |
Now, in this matter. ! am net the least |
prepared, for the sake of punishing other |
nations, to infiict any dangerous or serious |
wound upon ourselves. / maintain that
we confine ourselves-at least for the pres
ent-to those matters in which we should
not suffer very much whether the impor- |
tation continued or diminished. What |
complain of is that the rabbis, of whom |
have Just spoken, have confused this vital |
point. They say everything must be given |
to the consumer. If the consumer is the |
man who maintains the industries of the |
country, or if the consumer is the people |
at large, quite agree with them You |
cannot raise the price of food, You cannot |
raise the price of raw material; but there
is an enormous macs OF other importations,
shipped from other countries besides the
United States, which are mere matters OF
luxurious consumption; and If it be a
question of wine, or silk, or spirits, or
gloves, or lace, or anything of that kind %
voice, "Hops'O-I think there is good
deal to be said for hops Qaughterl-I
should not shrink from diminishing the
consumption and interfering with the COM
fort of the excellent people who consume
these articles of luxury, for the purpose of
maintaining our right in this commercial
war, and insisting on our access to the
markets of our neighbors. (Cheers.) This
is very heterodox doctrine; 1 shall be ex
communicated for having maintained it,
and am not sure you will escape from
the same ansthems; therefore / warn you
of the danger you incur. But as one
whose duty 1t Is, however unworthy, to
say what he thinks to the people of this