The Portland daily press., 1897-08-14
A Glance at the Situation,
To the Editor Of the Press:

field would be open to all to sell articles
of domestic manufacture against import
ed articles Of the same character. No
this when the imported article was equal,
or superior, to that which could be manu-
featured here and which could be
| brought to this country and sold at from
5 to so per cent. less than the domestic
article; and, just here, the unquestion-
able advantage of protective tariff is
evident. If duty is placed on an article
equal to the difference in cost, delivered
| in our markets, the home manufacturer
stands on an equal footing with his for
eign competitor with the difference in his
favor of delivering goods moro promptly
| But protection, naturally and legitimate
| ly, goes farther than this. Naturally, be-
| cause the law of self protection is a pure
| ly natural enc, and, legitimately, because
| it is in accordance with all social and
commercial law, and with the universal
law of progress, that when the natural
facilities of any country are great enough
| to supply the home demand, they shall be
d6N6lOp5u w ult6u Ulttb QCAudilN, odA 1AA
accruing advantages and profits, in the
way of giving employment to labor and
capital, shall be utilized. So protection
aims not only to put the home manufac-
turer and producer on an equal footing
with his foreign competitor, but to force
such competitor out of the market by
making the protective duty high enough
| ~, III ,,,+ Sc oy,Ixr
law for a nation when, without it, an
other nation is able to supply its markets
at lower rate. And just here is sug-
gested one of the weakest arguments for
| free trade and tariff for revenue only.
Either one of these, if put in effect,
would simply be playing into the hands
of England and other foreign powers.
Free trade is only practicable where labor
is SO cheap and facilities and develop
ment SO great that any serious competi-
tion from other countries is quite out of
the question. 1t is clear that the United
States has not arrived at this point, and
the cost of labor, and many kinds of raw
material, is still against us. No coun-
try in the world kis under sabsolute free
trade, and no country in the world can
afford to be under absolute free trade.
With oil her boosted, free trade theories,
which are intended to apply to other
countries for her own benefit, England
draw an annual revenue from her import
duties of 500, O00,00 "a tariff for
revenue, only means low tariff, or
the next thing to free trade, or it means
protection when the demand for revenue
Is so large that the tariff must, unavoid-
ably, serve for protection as we'll as reve-
| nue., or it is merely a red rag to firt be
fore the eyes of the protection bull in the
| heat of political campaigns In { fact it
doesn t mean much of anything. 1t is
~, %I,-
present tariff conditions, as reciprocity.
Reciprocity may work well on the near
approach Of the millennium, but not
| much before. Until then the question
can be settled on the common sense rule
| at each nation of the earth will buy of
other nations only what 1t Is compelled to
buy, and will always buy in the lowest
markets.
| In some indefinite way an attempt is
being made to make political capital out
of the presumed connection between the
new tariff and monopoly; and the fault,
if any, is charged to the protective princi-
pie when it has nothing whatever to
do with it, except in a purely incidental
way. AS a matter of speculation, on the
monopoly takes no advantage above what
any business man would take If he had
the means and opportunity.
The matter of trade combination and
combinations of capital, as affecting the
| entire social and commercial interest OF
| the country, is of far greater Importance
| than any special relation monopoly may
hold to tariff legislation. In my opinion
no greater question can be advanced as
national issue, between parties, than
that relating to the enforcement of laws
against syndicates and trusts. There ap-
pears to be no financial question where
the danger to personal liberty, the rights
of the citizen and individual, is SO i'm
minent and pressing. 1t is question
which is sorely in need of the agitation,
the thought and consideration which a
political campaign would supply. While
| trade combination is more likely the
effect, than the cause, of the present bust
ness depression it is worth while to know
whether in a complete revolution of the
old business methods lies the remedy
sought for; whether, in the various lines
of production Ewhere immense capital is
required, it will be better that capital
shall be massed and centralized in the
| trust and syndicate and thus protection,
itself, controlled and panics avoided, or
whether business be left. as usual to re-
cover itself in some unexplained and I'M
explainable way. a8
| The question of money monopoly, the
control of the money supply. and of the
circulation, through which, it is claimed
that panic, and the sudden contraction
and expansion of the currency may be
avoided, at the will of financiers, follows
that of trade combination, if it is not
part of it. To what extent systematic
and thoroughly organized combine OF
bankers and capitalists, generally, could,
| if SO disposed, ward off the regular recur-
renee of hard times and, while in the
control of trade and capital. insure a
moderate and abiding degree of prosperity
| to the middle, and laboring classes, is as
uncertain as any untried experiment. Its
| success must be determined by the char
acter of the social elements it has to deal
with. or which it will surely come in con-
| flict with. Some new experiment must
be tried. or some great national move
| nent inaugurated, which will call for
| increased expenditure and an extraordi-
nary demand, or the lower grades of
society, below the very rich, will soon be
in condition worse than they are in
any country in Europe. 1t is becoming
more apparent, under every administra-
ton, that government, through popular
representation, together with the whole
machinery of politics, is unable to pre-
vent, or materially relieve, long contin-
ued business depressions, for the simple
reason that tariff revision, or any kind
Of CoDproccioooI 1oniciotiop oop-oA