Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-12-21

rightly subjected NV the British frCe-lrade
tariff to extraordinary duties amounting
often 10
More Than Ten Times Their rirst cost.
Nor is there any British constitutional
scrupe agaius. protection when it can he
made serviceaLk. and accordingly higher
protective duty i imposed upon manufac-
turcd tobacco than upon tobacco in the leaf
They might be cNntcntcd or not but we
have not uutgroWn s)mc early rcpuguancc
to British tariffs. nor 10 such rs may be ad
vertscd and adroitly prescribed for Amcr-
cans by foreigners: and we brand Us blow
| below the belt financial contributions Of
British exporters and American consignccs
of British merchandise for partisan Use here
in u free campaign urged to extclminate
every NcStige of tariff protection. Even the
London Punch ae an umpire. would hold
this to be foul
Great Britain has great many colonies
| greater in extent than herself, where cheap
and fertile hand abounds, and where British
| trade with political and old home atliniticS
| ordinarily would be SO dominant as to mon
opuizc the utmost output of British cmigra-
| tom but from 1SJ3--attcr the advent of
free trade or "a tariff for revenue only
to October 1893. the number of British
and Irish immigrants to the United States.
not including those from Canada. Amounted
to }. $40. $50
This extraordinary exodus. largely of
| adult workngmen,
From Great Britain to the United states.
of more people than now dwell in the Cana
| dion dominion, or in Australia or in ireland.
cannot he ascribed To anything else than
| either the homo expressions of free trade.
or to the attractions cmanating from a pro-
| teCtiNc tariff and the JOY of determining
| which has been most potential in the move
mont may be felt to the thick and thin phil
oSuphcls of tariff for revenue only II
| may help them to remember that no tracks
of returning homosick emigrants from
| America have ever been discovered.
The great deterioration of British agri-
| culture, from the inherent friction of free
| trade, is not an idle tale hut its decadcncc
is admitted and corroboratcd 10y incontcsta-
bic facts.
The soil of England and Wales has been
! generously treated and il is supposed to
! have lost nothing Of its old time fertility.
| Guano, phosphates, and other modern fer
| tilizers 81" abundant. and have been abuud-
| antly applied. What then is il that has
! bightcd the vocation of more than onc-half
| of those formerly employed in agriculture
in England and Wales and compelled them to
| flee from their homes to other countries. or
! to seek other occupations; If those left be
! hind may answer all whether owners OF
! the soil or laborers with one accord would
straiGhtway declare that their suflcrngs had
! been imposed by tariff for revenue only"
Among English farmers free trade has not
Il rag of reputation TO cling To.
The Number of British paupcrs
| has been perhaps uuderstated at 80. CSC
| but rs thus stated. it is enormously greater
than that of the United States where a pro
tective tariff has long prevailed Beyond
question British paupcrism has been greatly
promoted by the pinching conditions of free
| trade, which leave to their workingmen no
annual surplus to deposit III savings banks,
and bars them forever from the ownership
of any homes. but with the dreaded certain
! ~ that their children will be left iii dcstitu-
ton.
Prior to our tariff revision of 1890. the
! great cry of tariff reformers appeared to lie
against a treasury surplus, and for rcduc-
ton of the revenue annually collected. The
surplus, however. promptly disappeared
during the administration OF President Har-
risou i'll payment of the interest-bearing
public debt to the extent of 500 225, 800,
thereby reducing the annual interest charge
of the government to S26. ~ .GOl Sixty
millions of revenue We're also cut or by on
| larSlng the tariff free list and 10y reduction
OF rates on dutiable articles.
Neither the complaint of surplus nor of
too much revenue survive, but unfortunate
lN the new administration must have more
revenue. Certainly, however, Free trade
tm1h curtailment would not seem to he IA
safe and proper tonic TO increase revenue. or
to stimulate business enterprise, and could
not IAN TO seriously augment the present
financial discournSements, Nor viii a
democratic administration he likely to eN
clte our admiration by any dlmlnutlon of
the public debt
The familiar dictum, that We cannot have
exports unless they are balanced by an equal
amount of imports, was prominent in 1890,
and though constantly refuted by the trade
of all nations has found its quictus in the
operation of our too-much slandcred tariff
of 1870, under which our exports for lS9!
exceed those of 1880 by over Sl12. coo, 600,
and our imports from Great Britain the first
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