The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-18

alive prices What are those articles!
We frankly say that we do not know.
but we affirm with absolute confidence
that there ie no quarter OF the globe
that cannot be made TO respond prontabiy
10 intelligent labor. IL rests with the
people OF each locality TO find out by ex-
pertinent what sort OF Intelligent lndus-
try will make their region respond most
proftably, and they must then ueVOte
themselves seriously and earnestly 10
the production of that thing. They VIII
prosper by pursuing this course 'hey
can never prosper by pursuing any ot"e'.
But we must admit that the people OF
Halifax are sadly handicapped even -
they should set themselves earnestly W
work 70 find out what Is their true "oIh'
and they are handicapped by TWO causes
either OF which is sufficient by itseh 10
keep them always prone upon the earth.
The first Is want of capital the second
wlnt Of market
However fertile lands may be. their
owners must have capital to work them
to their best advantage. Now the peo-
nj, Of Halifax are not destitute Of cap
ital I'm reality. and we have only used
that word for convenience. They nave
capital in their lands and labor, and in
the capacity OF those lands to produce
revenue if the conditions are suitable.
What they want is circulating medium
They are unable TO work heir lands 10
advantage because hey have no circulat-
ing medium. and the National bank act
deprves them OF the one they could
create for themselves in any quantity
needed by them if that law were only
repealed and they were allowed 10 use
their capital as a basis for their cir
culating medium. They have all the re-
quirements for an abundance of sound
circulating medium II only a tyrannical
government would take its hands off OF
their throats and allow them 10 use their
capital in the way that their interests
pointed out TO them TO be the best.
But even If they had an abundance OF
capital Gn the sense Of circulating
medium, they would still be badly handi-
capped by the protective tariff laws 1t
may be that what Halifax finds herself
best adapted to producing is what the
people of Siam particularly want. But as
long as we have a protective tariff the
people Of Halifax will never learn that
the Siamese want the Halifax produc-
ton, and the Siamese will never learn
that Halifax can produce the article.
1t is only by a perfectly free exchange
Of commodities in all parts OF the world
that a producer finds the consumer who
wants the thing that he is especially
capable of producing. and that the con
sumer finds out that particular man at
a particular place can produce the thing
that he wants. Absolute untram-
meled and free trade then lies at the
bottom Of every community finding out
what it is best qualified to produce sue
cessfuly. and, when that perfect free
dom of exchange is interfered with in the
smallest particular the ability Of that
community to work out its true destiny
is intcrfered with TO that extent.
Let us Illustrate: The ship owner IS
the great promoter of exchanges between
separated parts Of the world. He is in
his element when he can get cargo both
ways. Give the ship owner perfectly free
ingress to and egress from all the ports
of the world and he will bring all the
separated people Of the world into com
munication with each other whose capa-
cities suit. one TO producing what the
other wants. But the ship owner is thor
oUghly emasculated by a protective tarif.
He is unable TO carry HalifaX's articles
TO Siam, because our protective tantt
forbids him to bring back TO America
what Siam produces so that he must
return empty. This neceSsitates his
charging the Halifax man so much that
il Kills the business. But If he could re
turn from Siam loaded, his rates to the
Halifax nan would be only one-hal1
land really much less than that, as he
would be busy all the time, and the
fact that he could earn freight both ways
would stimulate him TO finding out
whether or not Halifax could not produce
something which the Siamese were anX-
ious to exchange their commodities for,
and whether there were not people IN
America who wanted the things that
Siam wanted to exchange for the Halifax
articles. In this way the ship owner
would be a perpetual sentinel for the
Halifax farmer, hunting out for him first
what he could prohtably produce. ana
second the places where he could dispose
of his products.
To put an extreme case: The inhabit-
ants Of COrea wear peculiar horse
hair hat. Now, it may be that the names
and tails Of the horses of Halifax make
the hats that the Coreans prefer to all
others. Corea produces a superb cocoa
nut 1t may be that if it were thorough
" known in the United States the people
here would prefer it TO all other cocoa
nuts Now, if we had no protective
tariff to keep out cocoanuts, ship owner
would find out that he could make freight
both ways by introducing the people of
Halifax to the people of Corea ana Han
fax would have found the true industry
for making her prosperous.
II is the business. then, Of Halifax ana
all other communities TO cease talking
about a deprecated silver dollar, which
would simply destroy them, and demand
of Congress that it repeal the ten per
cent. tax on the issues of State banks
and cut up the protective tariff laws
root and branch.
WHAT must BE DONE.