Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-10-12
rs TRADE A MISTAKEN
IF PRO1sCTiONISTS ARE RIGHT,
COMMERCE is A MISTAKE.
The Case of the Canadians Cited-They
Flourish by Not Trading with Us. and
We Flourish by Not Trading with
Them-An Absurd Tariffite Argument.

We Flourish by Not Trading with
Them-An Absurd Tarifsite Argument.
Canadian protectionists are now TAX
ing their turn at statistics. In recent
years they have been trying high pro-
tective tariff, and they feel bound to
vindicate its utility. At the same time
they know the political value of reci-
procity talk, and have been engaged in
negotiations with the United States for
reciprocity treaty, but nothing has
come of it. The two nations lying side
by side refuse to trade with each other
except under the severest restrictions.
Everybody is familiar with the claims
of our own protectionists as to what this
policy has done for US. They tell US
that it has increased our wealth enor-
mously, and has augmented the wages
of our workingmen. At the same time
this policy, they say, has not cost any
body anything. Although intended to
put up prices and thereby enable the
manufacturer to get better profits and
at the same time pay better wages, it
has resulted in putting down the prices
of manufactured goods, which are really
protected, and putting up the price of
farm products, which are only nominally
SO. lie TtS Ollt 10 IStHpIliSSo "
body, without the cost of cent to any.
Protection has had magic influence; it
has enabled the manufacturer to take
less for his goods, pay more for wages
and cost of living, and still have more
left. AT all events, this is the fairy tale
which they are telling to the voters of
United States.
If the shutting of the Canadians out
of our markets has done so much for us,
one would expect that they had met
with great disaster. Such is not the
case, however, if we may trust the pro-
tectionist statistics on the other side of
the line. They have been figuring on
labor and wages, and they find that TN
der protection wages in Canada have
advanced some Is or IS per cent. In
stead of suffering from being shat oct
of our markets they have offset 1t, and
much more. by simply shutting us ont
of theirs. They flourish by not trading
with US, and we flourish by not I, aiding
with them. There can be bat one IA
tional inference from these facts. if they
are facts, and that Is that commerce is a
mistake, Il mere device for losing money.
Prosperity Is found not in trading. but
in not trading. The more we refuse to
higher wages we are able and willing
to pay Why then trade at all:
1t Is true there are some facts which
protcctionists on both sides of the line
invariably ignore. Ii IS true that they
invariably assume that whatever occurs
under protection Is caused by protec-
ton In telling of increase of wages
under high tariffs they suppress the fact
that they have increased under low
tariffs, and that in free trade England
there has been steady increase. In
telling of the decline in the price of
commodities they leave out OF view the
well known cause, the use Of improved
machinery. They do not tell rs why
high tariffs IN France and Germany and |
Spain do not make wages higher than in !
England, whore what Is called free trade |
prevails. If protection Is the cause of !
prosperity, we ought 10 find prosperity !
wherever there is protection, and no !
prosperity wherever protection is want |
ing.
II it is SO disastrous to us to trade |
with Canada. or for Canada to trade |
with us, IL is angular that the states 0f |
the Union have not been ruined by trad |
ing with one another. This is one of the !
paradoxes that protectionists have never |
been able TO explain. Absolute free |
trade among the states and territories IS |
guaranteed by the constitution, yet all |
flourish together, though not equally. |
Nor is the rate of wages uniform. With |
the same free trade at home, and the /
same protection from abroad, wages IT |
different parts of the country refuse to |
keep a uniform level, but are regulated |
by supply and demand.
When the subject is considered in all |
its bearings we shall find that Mr. |
Stevenson has expressed the whole truth |
in one sentence, Tariffs have nothing |
to do with wages, except to diminish |
their purchasing power" Louisville |
Courier-JournaL
When John F. AItgeId was here on his |