The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-18
WHO ARE THE DOCTRINAIRES 2

commercial evil. Only in as far as
these imports are Indispensable and
cannot be prevented should they be
nation which exports more than it i'm
ports and has a cash balance coming
to it is, according to these gentlemen,
on the high road to prosperity; and
one where the imports exceed the eX-
ports is plainly on the road to ruin.
This difference between exports and
imports, which is called the balance of
trade, is watched by the orthodox pro-
tectionist with a careful and anxious
eye. When it is in our favor he is glad;
and when it is against us anxiety and
disappointment take hold of him. 1t is
his proud boast that the protective sys-
tenn, diminishing imports through tax
alton, is designed to keep the balance
of trade always in favor of the coun-
try that adopts 1t, and this is one of it's
chiefest merits in his eyes This is
doctrine held by protectionists univer-
sally, and without it their whole
scheme would go to the wall.
These same gentlemen, holding this
theory, are equally positive in the ex-
preston of their opinion that the tariff
act in force is most evil and disastrous
in its effect upon American industry
and American prosperity. Most Of them
are satisfied to call it simply Demo-
do
out exception, declare that it has par
alyzed American industry, thrown open
the door to the pauper-made commod-
tiles of foreign nations and reduced us
/ generally TO the verge of bankruptcy.
The slight reduction in duties which
Mr.. German and the other recreants
from Democracy permitted was
enough, in the opinion of these gen
tlemen, to send American industry to
the dogs, and to simply flood this coun-
try with articles that should and would
have been shut out by such a tariff. for
example, as Mr.. Dingley has put to-
gether. This is the universal doctrine
of Republicanism, and it is instructive
to set it side by side with the other
doctrine which is enunciated in the
balance of trade; and then, comparing
the two with the statistics of our for
elgn commerce for the year 1897, which
is completed, to see how they fit into
and support each other, and to learn
whether, in this country, it is the pro-
tectionist or the free trader who is the
doctrinaire.
We should premise, in starting. that
the selection of the year 1897 is unfair
to the advocates of low tariff, and gives
an undue advantage to the protection
list side. During the last three months
of the fiscal year, which closed on the
3Gth day of June, there has been an
abnormal and excessive rush of imports
to this country. The certainty that
higher duties would be imposed upon
everything bought abroad stimulated
purchases to the utmost. In many lines
of industry, notably in wool manufac-
turing and sugar refining, a supply of
raw material has been laid in which is
said to be sufficient to last for wear
or more. Importers have ordered
enough Of other commodities to stool,
them for months ahead. In other words.
we have done, during the last three
months of the fiscal year, an importing
business equal in the aggregate, prob
ably, to at least six and probably nine
months Of average imports. This great
! thrush of foreign articles ought not. in
fairness, to be credited to the fiscal
year 1897 But for the special session
OF congress and the tendency of the
new tariff bill, our purchases abroad
and our imports would not have risen
above the ordinary level, and to make
a fair comparison the imports for the
whole year ought to be diminished by
very large amount We are ready
however, to waive this important
point, and to compare our import and
export business and the balance of
trade in 1897 with any other year in our
history, according to the test furnish
ed by the protectionists themselves.
The treasury department states that
our exports of commodities for the wear
1897 reached the highest point in the
history of the United States. Not even
In 1892, when we were sending abroad
great quantities Of grain to meet crop
deficits in Europe, did we sell so much
of our products to the foreigner The
total exports of domestic merchandise
reached the enormous total of 81 ,O32,-
99S, SS9, an increase over 1896 of about
$17O,000,000. SO that, under Demo
cratic free trade" we at least sold more
to our foreign customers and enlarged
the market for domestic products to an
extent never before realized. Now LET
us turn to the other side of the balance
sheet and see if this grand showing is
| offset by the flood of imports from
abroad which we are to& is the ineyi-
table consequence of the same Demo-
cratic free trade" The total imports
excessive business of the last three
months. of which we have just spoken,
this total is $15,35O, 900 less than that of
the last year. The excess of all our
exports of merchandise, domestic and