New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-11
PROTECTION IN EUROPE.
rpANcE AND sPAIN-A STUDY IN Reel
PROCITY.
Paris. January 10.

=, France the policy OF protection as against
>roo trade Is not distinctive Of any political party
MIS- IN the present Cabinet which may be
o,ossed as Moderate Republican in opposition to
poaical two professed Free Traders are FOUND
among the ten ministers. 1t is true they nave
n,aces that do not allow their ideas to lnnuehce
IN any way the protectionist policy which mas
nreva!led In France for several years IL Is inc
express wish Of the country, as shown ny the
result of the late general elections. 10 s'ahu oy
O. policy which has accredited itself AFTER long
trial of the free trade experiment. Inc majority
NJ the Deputies in the new Parliament Is 80
strongly in favor Of protection that any REFORM
NJ the tariff in the OF free trade Is not even
q matter Of practical consideration only yes'er-
day the vote for the members or the committee
on Customs Duties thirty-three In all resulted
in the election Of three Free Traders. or two who
wish to keep the tariff NJ Il u.s. and or twenty
eight who are known to be for strengthening
the protection already given by the State t"
agriculture and wine growing.
The material prosperity OF France under IN"
regime OF protection has gone on constantly in
creasnr. Yet at home there has been tre-
rendous drain on the country from the necessity
q, keeping the armed force at the head or Euro
moan nations: and the growing competition Of
German manufacture has cruelty tried the
foreign market. The financial crisis OF the world
.s also touched the French revenues. which the
tariffs indeed do not profess TO secure; and there
ore neculiar Industrial and social complications
n,b,ch IN America at least. would at once be at
.,huted 70 protection But the policy has had
q fair trial. because 1t has been persevered In
ora not thrown aside lightly with the advent OF
Zach new government. And Its plain outcome
has been the present prosperity. in spite OF all
Obstacles.
IN the face Of this. the advocates OF free trade
have been reduced to the strangest arguments.
20 which II Is needless to say the French peo-
ME unanimously refuse their attention But
I, should be Of great interest TO the American
rcople most Of all in the present con1uncture, TO
attend 10 what protection is doing and Free
Traders are saying in France. 1t Will be found.
As remarked in a letter to The Tribune on
this subject over year ago. that the experience
OF the one country is repeated In the other' IN
accordance with their very dinerent circum-
stances Only it is reserved to the politicians
NJ the American Republic to tamper by sudden
changes with an entire economic policy. without
respect TO any one of three solemn facts
First. any economic system will be modified in
its results by every financial disturbance going.
while the financial disturbance Itself Will often
depend on causes with which The economic
policy has little or nothing to do. The varia-
tons OF the price of wheat in France during
the many years Of the protective regime will
serve as an example. In France. II Is under
stood. the tariff is intended in the main to pro-
mote the home consumption Of the country 3
agriculture and the expectation Of her industrial
nSsnufactures The reverse might hold good
in the United States In fact without some
measure Of protection It Is difficult TO see how
french agriculture could be maintained. fertile
snd highly cultivated the country Is. II IL
a retail cultivation. so to speak, on small hold
,ngs and by labor Of hand. Now this can never
hold its own against the harvests sown and
reaped on the prairies OF Western America or
he plains Of Hungary and Southern Russia and
even India. by wholesale processes that are
almost mechanical and are completed by modern
facilities of transportation. Perhaps in;erna-
tonaIists and Free Traders might calmly con-
template the ruin Of French agriculture 1t
g certainly difficult to how they could re-
organize present production TO meet an unre-
stricted competition from abroad Even II II
were possible they could not reorganize. by any
brand-new tariff reform. that peasant popua-
ton which has always constituted the bone and
sinew Of the country.
Wheat, therefore. has been naturally an OBJ
ject Of protection; and even in the last few
days extraordinary legislation has been talked
Of to prevent spectators from anticipating an
increase Of tariffswhich is now proposed. Mean
while, the legislators can look back TO the ex-
perience Of some twenty years in the rise and
fall Of the price Of wheat. These prices. sea-
son by season. have just been minutely COM
pared with the similar statistics Of free-trade
England. The variations have been found ex-
acty parallel In each country; and. moreover.
each period Of financial disturbance marks an
influence on the market which cannot be at
tributed to any economic regime
This result is not without importance, II is
only In very recent years that economic theory
has been taking into account this disturbing
element Of finance. Protective tariffs ought
not therefore. to be asked TO save n country
from financial disturbances. which do MOI de-
pend on the nations importation and expcrta-
tion any more than meat axe should be
asked to play the part Of razor. Protective
tariffs to use the lucid expression OF their chief
elaborator In France. NJ. Moline. "are established
in the interest Of the national producer" And
protection has made 1t possible for the French
peasant to continue producing his wheat profit
ably In whatever state OF the money market
second fact TO be faced ia that customs
duties. 10 be effective Of real good must be I'M
posed with one principal end in view. and not
with two or worse still. with no definite end at
all OF course. the ideal state OF things would
be the gaining OF all possible ends by one act
OF legislation; but human affairs do not admit
OF this Prince Bismarck. In the strong system
OF protection which he established in 1873. act
ually succeeded for many years in providing
at once for the Imperial revenue and the pro-
lection Of German agriculture and industry.
But, as a rule. the European view Is that reve-
nue. Is only q result by the way OF genuine pro-
lection which should be primarily in the inter
est Of the producer
French students Of American politics have had
more than one occasion in the last few weeks
to express their establishment at the contradic-