Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-10-17
WHAT IS COMMERCE.?

put this confusing, misleading, and
untrue meaning of the word into the
mouths and minds Of millions of
children.
Newspapers, sometimes ignorantly,
often purposely, use 1t In this false
sense, while speech makers with hard
ly an exception, speak of commerce
as the trade carried on between ma
tons"
Men are only boys grown tall, the
song has it, and they carry into man
hood the mistakes as well rs the
truths learned at school, So, too, the
continual use of a word in a certain
sense fastens or solidilies that sense to
1t. And it requires less effort to retain
the old than 1t does to acquire the new
an error has quite rs much chance to
live as the truth has.
! do not hesitate to say, that this
untrue use Of the word commerce "
stands squarely in they way OF a cor
rect understanding by the people of
their rights and duties. | am also
aware that this untrue and misleading
use OF the word well suits the purpose
of demagogues, indeed Is fostered by
them, for it. permits them to mouth
their hearers with such deceptive
phrases rs, "our trade with other ma
tions, international balance of trade,
our exports to other nations, our i'm
ports from other nations" etc, etc, as
Senator Allision did the other day in
"opening the campaign in Iowa"
1t cannot be too often said that COM
MERGE Is NOT trade carried on between
NATIONS" That nations, us nations,
do no trading. The United States
does not trade with Great Britain, nor
with France, nor with any nation
whatsoever. Nor is there such thing
nor has there ever been, as an "inter-
national balance Of trade"
Trade is the exchange of products.
What exchange of products takes
place between the people of the United
States and the people of Canada, Mex
leo, or with the people across the ocean
In Europe, is the exchange of private
property belonging to the individuals
Of those countries The products are
carried in vessels which are private
property. The United States as u ma
ton has no vessels in which to carry
freight and passengers
All of this Cab about The merchant
marine Of the United States" is rot,
nothing more. The exchanges of
goods are made on private account.
The bills Of exchange are drawn on
private individuals, or firms, The bal
ancc, (that is the difference in value of
goods exchanged goes into and out
of the pockets of private individuals.
The nation, the government, as such,
settles no balance of trade The pri-
waite people engaged in exchanging
goods haven't asked the United States
or any other nation to step into their
private business and "srttle an inter
national balance of trade" for them.
The most that has been done along
this line by the nation, the govern
ment, when its control was in the
hands of fanatics, was by law to make
1t n crime for the private individuals
of this country to exchange their goods
on equal terms for the goods offered
by the private individuals of other
countries II was not only made n
criminal offence, but the goods must
be conIiscated unless u hue in the
shape of n tariff tax of fifty cents on
the dollar Of the value of the goods
were paid.
We fine man for exchanging
whskey for money il he has no license
This on the grounl of morals. We fine
him and coniiscatc his property to boot
If he exchanges grain for dry goods, OF
pork for flour with his neighbour across
the line. This ON the ground that the
people haven't sense enough to attend
to their own business
Much wise talk grcrts us these days
of how imports are greater than eX.
ports and the Treasury of the lnitrc
States is losing its gold in making
good the balance.
OF course no one can get gold from