The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-01-11


MIssYONAEfEs OF FROTECTTOE.
The main reliance o. free trade In the
United States has always been the
South. This was the outcome Of con-
dduons now happily fast disappearing
Before the war. urfer the slavehosd-
ing regime. the South raised and sold
raw products in the raw state. and
manufactured little that IL consumed.
II depended up1n unskilIed slave labor
and the sale of staples produced there
by II had few manufactures. II ex-
ported Its cotton In IRE bale and i'm
pvrted it's yarns, caiiooes ard other
products OF the spindle and loom. II
had no manufacturing interests 10 pro-
tect. II raised an export product and
cheapest market. having none at
home. II was natural that people so
situated should favor free trade. The
foreign markets. they insisted that the
price OF what they raised being fixed in
price of what they consumed should be
likewise fixed abroad; upon their right
to purchase where they sold and bring
home their purchases without tarlE in
terveution
The conditions upon which this SEN
tsmea1t In favor of free trade was pred
icated, and out Of which 1t grew. are
rapidly disappearing. With tho
transformation must and will come a
radical change OF interest and there
fore opifThon upon the tariff question.
In fact, with thousands of the
present generation free trade is more
the result OF he,edEty than the out
growth Of czalvtcttcr. The war changed
the statas In the South. The eulanci-
patton prociaafsat ton began the work.
Necessity. good sense and experience.
working together. have wrought 81
most remarkable transformation, not
only In economic doctrines. but IN the
conditions which gave them birth.
The South is rapidly stepping to
the front as A manufacturing section.
1t Is rapidly becoming a rival of New
England in cotton manufacture. 1t Is
no longer content 20 export raw ma
tersaa for half the spindles OF the world.
It has at last realized what an enor-
stccd for years-waitsBg an invitation
and an outstretched hand of welcome.
The cotton crop, which sold in the raw
state. brings to the South $500, 0o0. 900
annually. would witt, hnne manufac-
ture bring 1t $1,000, oo0.oo0. 1t would
revautionize the South, furnish en-
pioyment for hundreds of thousands
ana create wealth. on scale hardly to
be conceived.
New England, always alert. already
jts nssFs and products. and its far-see-
Ing bushes men are taking steps to
share In the new industrial develop
mcnt. A general southwark movement
OF cotton mill investment has already
commenced. In 1850 she South had $50
cotton mills. with s2i 800. 900 of invested
capital: in 1890 there were 254 mills,
costing SCI 100000. Last spring care
full compilation showed 405 mills, 2.7o0.-
600 spindles. $4,000 looms and a capital
OF $4,000. 900. During the past few
smmths two of the largest cvtton mill
companies in New Eng4and--the Mas
sachusotts. OF Lowell. and tht. Dwight.
of Chicopee Fails-an order To protect
their foreign trade have decided to
build branch mills in the South. at an
expense of more than half a million
dollars each.
This IS the beginning OF more than
an Industrial revolution. 1t sounds the
death knen Of the old free trade dog
mas. as before remarked, largely held
by Inheritance. and of the Bourbon re-
gtne. 1t marks an epoch fpGlfIcal as
well as sfsiustrial. a mental as we'll as
physical conversion. For the nnnufae-
turing South viii! as surely favor pro-
fcctien for ITS industries as do New
England. New York and pennsylvania
Every sI,lndhc. every loom. every fur
rsscc, every mandatory OF every kind
viii he welded into arguments I'm favor
~ home industry and its security from
unequal alien computation Their mis-
sScrsary work Is already bearing fruit.
II WIZ be more clearly visible before
this century Is ended.