Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-10

traders generally have some education and
Invariably think they have a great deal
They are provided with a set of little say
ings and aphorisms which can be carried
without Intellectual strain in a very small
compass, and which to their thinking are
complete solutions of all social and econom-
ic questions. These they draw forth on all
occasions and present them to the world
with entire confidence in the fnality of
their little sentences and a profound con-
tempt for all persons who venture to differ
with them and who do not think that the
difficulties of humanity can be so easily dis
posed of.
On What Free Trade Rests.
Free trade rests entirely on the let-aIone
doctrine, he continued-that is upon the
doctrine that the least Interference of the
state the best and, comparatively speak
ing, is not a very large questian 1t is
merely the expression in one limited di-
rection of a much broader principle. II
the let-alone theory is correct as a general
economic principle and if the experience
and practice of mankind show that il is
correct, then free trade is, of course cor
rect as one of its parts. But IT, on the
other hand. the let-alone doctrine can be
proved in many directions to be Incorrect
If ii has been abandoned again and again
In practice by the most civilized nations,
then the presumption is against free
trade or any other single expression of
the central principle.
He then went on to show that France
and most other countries had gone back
to protection after spasmodic attempts at
free trade. England alone had retained
free trade uninterruptedly since adopting
It, but the British colonies which usually
initiated the mother country in everything.
had adopted the principle of protection.
The underlying proposition of the free
trader Is that il is idle to attempt TO mod
ify by legislation the working of immuta-
bic economic laws. He forgets or has
lpa 7 ha rnalt ;c
immutable into which enters the heart
and mind and emotions of humanity. The
personal equation plays large part in
all things which human beings AFFECT by
their own actions. Raise wages by law
Make yourself richer by taxation" SAYS
the free trader, bringing out again his lit
tie collection of epigrams 1T is like lift
ing yourself by your boot straps" And
then he thinks he had answered the whole
case. And while he thinks he has settled
the universe in this simple fashion the
plain sense of the American workineman
has shut out Chinese labor and contract
labor and will in no long time shut out the
imported products of that same labor.
Continuing the argument, he said that
the next point to determine was whether
free trade, contrary as IT was to the gen.
eral principles on which human society
has been built up, could justify its exist
ence. We could settle this by examining
the results of free trade, and. as only one
civilized country had adopted it. that was
easily done.
England had adopted free trade not be-
cause a principle. she believed IL just
but because she believed 1t would pay.
England was small country. densely pop
ulated and having small agricultural in
terests; the United States was large.
sparsely populated according to European
standards) and with immense agricultural
interests.
The American Manufactures.
IT, he argued. the American manufacturer
does not make money it is quite certain
that he will not employ labor. and there
fore the workingmen will not make money
either. Our manufacturers believe that un-
der free trade they must either go out of
business or reduce labor costs. They nat
urally do not care to do the former, for
that is ruin, and they are very unwilling
to try the latter, because reducing labor
costs means lowering wages, which means
in turn vast industrial disturbances; and
that is ruin, too. or something very near it.
How widely different is our situation today
from that of England fifty years ago, SO
far as the manufacturers are concerned.
Most striking of all these differences, more
over, is the fact that while the English par
lament listened to English manufacturers
majority of the American Congress not
only turns a deaf ear to American man.
ufacture ers, but treats them as If they were
enemies of their country.
Having found that the conditions in Eng
land at the time of the adoption Of free
trade were wholly unlike our conditions
here today it now remains to inquire
whether the English policy has produced
results which make ii beyond question the
proper policy for every other country.
He showed that in spite of all the sup
posed blessings Of free trade England was
cursed with constant labor difficulties, and
since the adoption Of that prin which,
it was prophesied, would bring peace on
earth and good will among men, she had
had on her hands an average of about one
war year.
Turning from industry to agriculture, he
inquired: Has English agriculture been
benefited by free trade. Golden and
others of his school predicted? 1t is mat
ter of public notOriety that the record of
agriculture in England of late years is
little but a record Of disaster
There was nothing left, then, of the
boasted superiority of free trade over pro-
lection but the promise to increase trade
and to retute this claim he gave the per
centage of increase, by decades of Eng
land and the United States, which showed
that in the decade 1SI0-1SS0 the trade of the
| United States under protection had increas-
ed nearly four times as much as that OF