Year: 1878

Aside from the three special measures ou1


commercial convention Is called to discuss
the Improvement of the Mississippi, tht


Southern Pacific Railroad and the Brazilian


steamship line-there are two other questions
| in regard to which 1t should speak In It's me
| mortal to Congress. We allude to the tariff


and navigation laws both of which must


necessarily exercise o great influence upon


each of these enterprises.


Heretofore our people have been possessed
with the idea that the wealth and prosperity
of great nation rest with domestic traffic


solely. The whole commercial spirit and legis-
lation Of the country have been directed tc
the exclusion from our markets OF all foreign
competition.


AS producers of raw material we needed
no protection, because in that respect We


were without rivalry. But as consumers Of


manufactured goods, our crude and un.
developed Industries could not compete ut the


outset with those Of other countries, and laws


must be enacted for the purpose of reserVing
our markets for homo manufactures in order


to stimulate these. This simple statement
sets forth, as clearly as con be, the
injustice of this policy to the consumers, who
also happened to be the producers Of the raw


material which has constituted the bulk Of


our exports. AS an illustration OF the dis
elimination that has been made as between
our domestic and foreign traffic we give tic


following statements of the value Of each


and Of the tax imposed upon them respect
lively by the government The value Of our


foreign trade, exports and imports, for the year
1876 was 81, ,121 ,G34, PIT. During the same year
the estimated valuo Of our internal commerce
that is the value OF articles transported by
rail-was $18.o0o,O DOC, 900. This relation has
been maintained during the past ten years,
yet the receipts by customs in the shape of
duty on foreign industries, have realized to
the government during the five years from
1871 to 1876, $1,070,073,75S II. while the gov
ernment realized from internal reve-
nue. during that period but $7tG, ,587 ,G5G,
showing an excess, within five years,
of customs over revenue amounting to $685.
48G,1O II. This shows that, whIe the value
Of our domestic trade exceeds our foreign
more than sixteen times, the latter has paid
1862 O00 900 moro than the former within five
years. How aro we to reach foreign markets
while such laws remain in force2


Admitting the justice and wisdom of such
discrimination in the past, there can no
longer be anything but wrong and folly In
its continuance. There Is but one way to
obliterate the laws which have established
1t, and that is the imperative demand Of
the commercial enterprise and sagacity of the
people. Congress will never take the lead In
any such progressive policy. In these days
legislators are driven; they never lead, and
it is q safe prediction that, in commercial and
Industrial matters, Congress will never sug
gest remedy nor afford one till driven to it
by these interests themselves.


We arc now confronted with an altogether
different problem. We find that the capacity
of our manufactures exceed the consum ption
Of our people. We must find other markets
for our surplus, Or else those who make this
surplus must remain idle or find other means
of livelihood. This can be done only by re-
moving the excessive tax upon our foreign
trade, establishing with those countries in
which we propose to find markets for our sur
plus an interchange Of products.


This can be done only by g. revision of our
tariff and navigation laws. This was the pro-
cess by which Sir Robert Peel introduced the
great change in the commercial policy of
England when the country was confronted
with precisely the same problem. All of the
measures adopted by that great statesman
and political economist had the appearance
moro OF liberal concessions to foreign nations
than of any advantage to home producers;
and this was, no doubt the reason why free
trade was SO long resisted and many were
unable to see, until the problem was
visbly demonstrated, that in lberating COM
merce, even in developing foreign resources,
the most powerful impulse may be given to
all the springs Of domestic prosperity Yet
we have but to look at the result in order to
find q vindication of the wisdom of these
measures. A comparison Of our trade with
that Of England Is all the illustration that is
needed to satisfy us Of this, as well as of the
folly of our own narrow and proscriptive
policy


The first duty Of our convention, then, will
be to call the attention Of Congress to the OBJ
stacles that lie in the way of our commerce
with other countries, especially with our own
continental neighbors, and to insist on their
removal There can be no commerce without
exchange, and yet our tariff closes the door
HSdllSb tIlo llHpOlLtttl VI tIlb pEOuuCtS Oh
other countries, and they are forced to send
them elsewhere to find a market. Some
Of the South American States are large pro-
ducers of wool, which they send to Europe
because it is excluded by our tariff. We
merely mention this commodity as an Illus
tration of the fact that our policy for years
has been to drive this trade from us. What
these countries do sell to US is sold for cash,
and paid for in bills on London, which are|
then exchanged for cotton fabrics and other
articles, which we could sup
ply more cheaply and of better quality,


Certainly the very first thing our conven-
ton should do is to urge upon Congress the
abolition of all laws which prohibit the i'm
portation and sale of the staple products of
those countries in which we wish to find mar
kets for our goods, upon the same conditions
that we propose to sell to them.


Another obstacle in the way Of the extern
sion of our trade with other countries is the
exclusion of American shipping from the car
rying trade. This is entirely due to our navi
"a tion laya which forbid the Use of the |