The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1900-04-14
Our Industrial Revolution.

(
1 About four centuries ago it was
a crime in England to wear a hat
! made i'll France. So stringent
were the protective tariff laws of
Eng g. thaf moi 1n!v was a duty
levied ON imported goods, out q
fine was also inflicted upon the
purchasers OF them, and some of
the statutes imposed a penalty OF
both fine and imprisonment. BY
such drastic processes as these
England established its home
market and it's home industries
and. having built these up to the
point Of self-maintenance and hav-
ing developed ayast industrial
population, and ingenious mechani-
cal devices for the manufacture
of goods, it shifted its position, as
soon as it found that it could com
pete with the producers OF other
nations. and became an advocate
of free trade.
1t will be many years before the
United States will declare for fire e
trade. But there is no escaping
the fact that under the be letl lent
influences of the protective tariff
the United States as nation Is
working to the point where ii can
compete with the world for trade
in manufactured products. Figures
are dry things, but they tell a
story, very often that cannot be
better told in words. For instance,
under the protective tariff, in Jan
uary last, we imported OF iron and
woolen products less than s3,5Oo,-
600 worth. Only eleven years ago
our january imports of these as-
gregated more than S1O,0OO,O00.
In every line OF manufactured
goods our exports are increasing
and our imports decreasing, but
in the importation of articles in a
crude condition, which enter into
the processes of domestic industry,
we are increasing our importations.
This increase during the eight
months ending with February, 1900,
amounted to S60,000,000, as com
pared with the importations IN the
corresponding months OF the pre-
ceding fiscal year. These crude or
raw materials are utilized by our
expert manufacturers, and the
finished products exported by US
during the same eight months,
ending with Last February, showed
an increase of SCI, 100000 over
the corresponding months OF the
preceding year. 1t Is significant
that in the twenty eight days OF
February our manufacturers i'm
ported crude material at the rate
of nearly million dollars day,
and exported manufactured goods
at the rate of a million and quar-
ter day.
The South. which has made the
price of iron and steel for the
| world. is now about to make the
price of cotton goods OF certain
grades, and il is easy to foresee
the time. which cannot be far dis
tant. when the South will be the
/ chief exponent of the doctrine OF
protection. Already many Of its
Ipublic men have shifted their posi-.
tion I'M this matter and unheslta-
tingly declarein favorof theprotec
ton Of the sugar. cotton, and lrol
and steel industries, which have
developed in the South to m Ign Il
cent proportions. The late Henry
| Grady, the foremost statesman OF
THE South, before his death said t.
| the writer that Grover Cleveland
| was the last opponent OF protec
| tion that the South would solidly
| support. He foresaw years ago
i with rare sagacity of a great mlnd
the events Of today, and they arr
events to which no observant MAJ
can long close his eyes Leslie
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