Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-08-27
MP TRADE POLICY.

of policies are often a surprise alike
to their advocates and opponents.
Some of the friends OF the benehcient
policy of protection to American in
dustries are astonished at two Of the
results of that doctrine. They do not
appear to understand, although it Is
an extremely simple matter, the pro-
cess by which protection has steadily
cut away the revenue producing ca
pacity of duties on imports, and they
Indignantly deny that this tends in
evitably toward free trade. On the
other hand, the free traders see fit to
ignore the influence of protection in
building up our great and diversified
industries, and affect to find vindi-
cation of their cause in conditions
which, but for the influence of pro-
lection, could never have existed.
There is reason in the demand OF
free traders in the abolition OF duties
on articles in the manufacture OF
which we may safely defy competition.
But, if the iree-trader had dictated our
economic policy in the past, we should
always have been dependent on Eu-
rope for those articles, and should
now be importing them instead OF
supplying our home market and eX-
porting them to all parts OF the world
Under free trade or "a tariff for reve-
nue. only" which is the equivalent
for free trade, our unreasonable nat
ural resources could have had but
slight development except in agricul-
ture. Under protection-including
both protective duties and our patent
system-we have gradually SUBSTITUTE
ed domestic for foreign production,
and are getting a firm hold on foreign
markets. For this reason tariff reve-
nues have declined until we are COM
PEELED to rely chiefly on internal taxes
for the support of the government
Protection, operating tremendously
with the patent laws, has given us a
higher quality of skilled labor than
exists in any other country. The
producing power of our labor is such
that, although we pay higher wages
than are paid anywhere else, we get
more work for a dollar than IS pro-
dnced tor that amount in any part OF
Europe. This is why we are prepared
in some of our protected industries,
to dispense with duties. They pro-
duce little or no income, and the soon
er they are wiped out the better. The
free-traders will hail this as victory
of their doctrine, but the intelligent
advocates otlI protection will under
stand that it is a magnificent vindica-
ton of their policy.
It would be found utterly imprac-
ticable now for any school of political
economists to construct tariff that
would produce anything like the old
time revenues from that source. Even
Mr.. Dingley says 1.-THE war taxes,
some OF them, will be retained perma-
nently." The free traders, were they
in power, would be still more inclined
l.. = favtH fa~aG
But, while protection inevitably tends
toward free trade, its usefulness is by
no means exhausted While some OF
our great products should and will be
transferred from the tax schedules to
the free list, other products still need
protection, and are likely to need 1t
for years. And while we shall con-
tinue to develop various lines until
they are prepared for that transfer, we
may occasionally find il eXpedient to
use protection for the creation of a
new industry as we did in the matter
OF tin plate seven or eight years ago
as we had previously done in other
and greater industries.
Protection will, in the future more
than it has been in the past, be nur-
sery for the building up Of industries
with a view to transplanting them to
the free list. We want to sell our
products abroad, and in order to sell
we must buy. Commerce means an
exchange Of commodities, and we
cannot long continue to exchange our
commodities for cash at the present
rate. This may be regretable, but il
is true. A balance Of 5000, 600, 900 a
year in our favor is a piece of good
fortune that could not be continued
without running our customers or, in
other words, killing our gold-egg lay.
ing goose Washington Post.