Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-05-29
COMPARATIVE VALUE OF
HOME AND FOREIGN
TRADE.

given to foreign markets by free
trade writer's that they apparently
overlooked the obvious fact that the
great bulk of our productions is con-
sumed in thek home market. The for
eign market is of considerable value;
but Gas has been well said by David III.
Mason) ssthat valuableness is not
primary, but secondary-valuable is
an adjunct or appendix to internal
commerce and trade"
Col. o. P. Austin, chief of the Blu
reau of Statistics of the Treasury De-
partment, is formulating a plan for
the collection of facts and figures that
will serve TO show the extent and
value of our internal commerce as a
whole, and the value of the home
market in any single commodity. But
it is already we'll demonstrated fact
that a nations industrial greatness
depends in only a small degree upon
the extension of it's foreign markets,
that the domestic market is the chief
reliance of our producers. Moreover,
it has been demonstrated that any
conditions which work for the impair
ment of the home market diminish the
volume of foreign trade.
We have been told time and time
again by free traders that we destroy
our chance for foreign market by
maintaining production at a higher
cost than other nations; but if in con-
sequence the workman of this cOun-
try draw much larger proportional
share of the net profits Of Industrial
production, they add so much more to
the value of the home market as to
render the gaining of foreign markets
less necessary Or desirable. 1t has Of
ten been proved that foreign trade is
not the real test of prosperity, but
rather it is the amount and constancy
of the trade transactions within the
country; or, as Adam Smith said sit is
the exchanges that take place at
home, between town and country, that
do most to enrich nation"
The American farmers especially
should look more to their own country
for purchasers and consumers of their
staples. The home market under nor
NAL conditions is most certain and re-
liable, while the foreign market is not
sure Or certain, but dependent upon
the foreign harvest and often render
ed unstable by international compli-
cations and foreign wars. At no time
will h11v IF OI7Y.
products than they actually need, or
which we cannot sell to them as cheap
1y as our competitors abroad. It is,
therefore, for the interests of our far
mers to give their firm support to a
stable protective tariff which, by re-
stricting the Importation of compel
ing articles of all kinds, stimulates and
preserves industrial activity and pro-
notes an ever-increasing home de-
mand for their products.
In regard to the contention made in
some quarters that the home market
can no longer be our main depend
ence, but that we must consUa ntly
seek fresh markets beyond the seas if
we are to provide steady employing Mt
for our laborers, this may serve as a
makeshift excuse for an aggressive
foreign policy, but it is discredited by
the present industrial conditions in
the country At this time there is lit
tie complaint of congestion of manu-
featured Or agricultural products, and
in most sections of the country there
is no lack of employment for labor of
all kinds of remunerative wages. But
if it be true that there is surplus of
labor for which we can find no present
use, a proper remedy for this condi-
ton in the outset would be the abso-
lutte prohibition of immigration; for
we should not wish to make a bad
matter worse by further congesting
the labor market.
1t seems not unreasonable to sug-
gest that those who misrepresent the
present Industrial situation, as well as
those who undervalue the home mar
ket and claim that it's possibilities, are
exhausted, should give a few facts
and figures to sustain their contention;
but we find that, for the most part,
they have no great fondness for statis-
tics and prefer to deal in empty gen.
eralities. -Protectionist.
Deafness Cannot be Cured
by local applications. they reach the dis
A.