Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-08-17

The rising issue IN English politics
Is the question Of preferential tariffs
for the colonies--the question Of pro-
tecting The products 81 the empire
against the competition Of The pro
ducts Of the world.
II ii an issnc that will shake Great
Britain from center to circumference,
for 1t proposes the abandonment of
the economic policy which has stood
practically unchallenged for half q
century and under which the doors OF
the British market have remained
wide open 10 all nations.
And what Is the object Of the pro.
posed revolutionary change? In a
word. the preservation and enchant.
menf Of the prosperity Of the British
empire. To be more specific. the aim
Is to develop a wide and growing mar.
ket in the colonies for tho output OF
English Industries and 70 hold the for.
ty million consumers OF Great Britain
as d home market for colonial agri.
cultural products,
The fact Is that England Is hard hit
by the enormous commercial expansion
OF the United States We are selling
il manufactured goods 10 Its own
people in the very shadow OF It's fac.
tories. We are furnishing the bread
and meat To feed It's subjects. We
are selling all sorts OF ingenious ma
chinery, Including agricultural nipple.
ments. to It's colonial inhabitants-yes.
and building their bridges. supplying
their locomotives and installing their
electrical plants, We are rapidly
making the British empire a sort Of
commercial provincial dumping
ground for the surplus product OF our
farms. our mines and our factories.
SO ominous has this situation be.
come that Joseph Chamberlain,
shrewdest Of English statesmen, Is vii.
ling to stake his power and his fame
upon the startling proposition to aban
don free trade and adopt protection 40
the only possible means OF saving HIS
country from a condition OF economic
dependence. which.ln his opinion. has
already become dangerous and may
soon become abject
What Il Means to America.
IN the meantime Americans have
something 20 think Of, They may
well indulge iii a moment IL pride ii
the thought that the struggling pen
pie who, little more than a century
ago. snatched up the sword 10 cut
themselves loose from Great Britain.
have so soon sanquished the mother
country 90 the economic field. But
prise goeth before d fall" II a
market which nov absorbs forty per
cent Of our export trade shall be
closed against us. where and how arn
we 70 make gooG 80 vast a deficit?
That is a question which may only
be answered when We understand the
true explanation Of our success and Of
our strength.
The economic greatness Of the Unit.
ed States Ia the fruit OF a policy Of
peaceful conquest over the resources
OF a virgin continent, without thls
great item Of raw material. the I'm
ished product which the world &C
knowiedges In the Industrial America
81 today would have been impossible
We shall hnd continued national VI
premaey where We found II In the nrst
~plaee-in The Development % our
boundless and magnificent esonrces.
Those who say that the conquest Of
this continent rs now complete"
speak idly. or know not whereof they
speak The conquest IL thIs continent
u but begun
The Great West Almost Untouched.
n Ehglana has ~ Canada e. south
Africa and re Australia u which 4
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eu tAat Liable "a Nekasa oa
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