Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-07-27
a RARRARous SYSTEM.
American Enterprise Hampered by r
publican LEGISLATION.

American Enterprise Hampered by Re-
publican Legislation.
Those who hive SO long shouted that
British gold was trying to break down
our tariff in order that the British
manufacturers might take away the
American market from our home pro-
dueers will find it hard to understand
the warnings that are beginning to ap-
pear in English journals, and from
thoughtful Englishmen, now that We
are about to reform our barbarous sys-
tenn and open few gates in our Chinese
walls
To many of these ''Br1tishers'' it has
already occurred that free raw ma
terials and fewer tariff restrictions
with us mean not surrender of Amer
lean markets to them, but q competi-
ton from American manufacturers in
the neutral markets which our protec-
tive system abandoned for the past
thirty years. Many OF our own manu-
facturers are beginning to catch the in
spiration of new industrial triumphs,
having learned that the nation which
most effectively uses the inventions and
forces of modern production and pays
the best wages to its skilled labor will
come out ahead in such a contest
Singularly enough, this same alarm
was sounded more than fifty years ago
by no less a statesman than Richard
Golden, then an unknown Manchester
manufacturer, in an anonymous pamph-
] let entitled England, Ireland and
America" We were then a people of
Ii, 600, 900, while the United Kingdom
had 25, 600, 600. but our exports of do
nestle produce hadreached 500, 600. 900
as compared with their $50. 600, 600.
Mr.. Golden, comparing the commerce
and shipping of the two countries, said
that from these it clearly appears
that America, in proportion to its pop
ulation, IS at this moment carrying on
as extensive a commerce as England or
any other state in the world" and
prophesied that in thirty years the two
peoples would be equal in population
and his own country threatened by the
naval and commercial ascendancy of
the United States And for this latter
fact the explanation is on the surface.
When Mr.. Golden wrote both nations
were struggling forward in the bonds
of the restrictive policy-protective
tariffs and navigation laws Both be-
gan almost simultaneously to unloose
these bonds, under the teaching of Bit
ter experience. England went steadily
forward, even to the final goal of COM
mercial freedom. We suffered reac-
ton, first from the interruption of civil
war, and then, and far more grievously,
from the letters which the Morrills and
McKinleys put upon US.
Our merchant navy has so languished
that little more than one-eighth of
what we send out or bring back is car
ried in our own ships. Our foreign
commerce averages but SGT per head
of population, while that of the United
Kingdom has swollen to 800 per head
In other words, half a century ago,
population compared, our foreign trade
and our shipping had caught up with
those of the greatest trading and sea-
going people in the world. The race
was neck and neck, with every chance
of outstripping in our favor. To-day
what commerce we have is a passive
commerce. Our rival carries most of it
for US, drawing in return a rich tribute
in freight charges. Her foreign trade
in proportion is four times greater than
ours. Under McKinleyism we should
thus lag forever in the rear. But the
American people have determined to
recover the lost ground.
With a reform of our tariff and a
breaking of Mckinley letters. they will
take up anew their 1ong-abandoned
destiny. American enterprise, unbur-
dened and untrammeled except as pub
lie necessities require. will close the
gap and put into reality the apprehen-
sions expressed by Mr. Golden fifty
years ago.-N. Y. World