The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-08-04
TARIFF RESTRICTIONS.


VAUvVP MN t'SN0s
Anssican EsssrVsiss msmpersd BY ~
psblican Liquidation.
Those who have No long shouted that
British gold was trying "a break down
our tariff In order that the British
manufacturers might take away the
American market from our home pro
duccrs will find II hard u understand
the warnings that are beginning to APP
pear In English Journals. and from
thoughtful Englishmen, now that we
are about To reform our barbarous sys-
tenn and open a few gates in our Chinese
walls.
To many Of these ~Britishers" II has
already occurred that free raw ma
serials and fewer tariff restrictions
with US mean not . surrender OF Amer
scan markets 70 Shem. but a competi-
zion from American manufacturers In
the neutral markets which our protec-
tive system abandoned for the past
thirty yearA Many of our own manu-
facturers are beginning TO catch the In
SEPARATION 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
SinRularfy enough, this same alarm
was sounded more than fifty years ago
by no less . statesman than Richard
Golden, then an unknown Manchester
manufacturer. In an anonymous pamph-
let entitled England, Ireland and
America" We were then people OF
l4,0OO, 600. while the United Kingdom
had ", 100000. but our exports Of do
nestle produce hadreached 100000. 900
Is compared with their $50, 900, 600.
Mr.. Golden, comparing the commerce
and shipping of the two countries, said
that from these 1t clearly appears
that America, in proportion to its pop
ulation rs at this moment carrying on
as extensive a commerce as England or
any other state in the world" and
propbesicd that In thirty years the two
peoples would be equal in population
md 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-protcctive
tariffs and navigation laws. Both be
gan almost simultaneously to unlooss
these bonds, under the teaching Of bit.
ter experience. England went steadily
forward, even . the final goal of com
mercial freedom. We suffered reac
ton, first from the interruption off civil
war, and then. and far more grievously
from the letters which the Morrills ant
McEinleys put upon us
Our merchant navy has SO languishes
that little more than one-eighth o
what we send out or bring back is car
ried in our own ships. Our foreign
commerce averages but e27 per heae
of population, while that Of the United
Kingdom has swollen to 600 per head
In other words. half q century ago
population compared, our foreign trade
and our shipping had caught up will
those Of the greatest trading and sea
going people in the world. The rae
was neck and neck. with every chanc
Of outstripping in our favor. To-da,
what commerce VIC have is . passiv
commerce. Our rival carries most of ]
for us, drawing in return n rich tribut
in freight charges. Her foreign trad
in proportion Is four times greater thai
ours Under McKinleyism we shoul'
thus lag forever in the rear. But tn
American people have determined :
recover the lost ground.
With reform of our tariff and
breaking Of Mckinley letters. they viii
stake up anew their long-abandone
destiny. American enterprise, unbur
dened and untrammclcd except AS put
lie necessities require, will close tn
gap and put into reality the apprehcr
sions expressed BY Mr.. Golden Eft
" Wo~ld