6 The Conservative *
FREE TRADE AND FOREIGN MAR
KETS.
- All the earlier advocates of "protec
tion , " notably Henry Olay , its greatest
apostle , urged it as the temporary means
of building up American manufactures ,
which , they claimed , when once well de
veloped , would maintain themselves
without further government support , or
permanent burden upon the people.
Said Clay : "No one in the commence
ment of the protective policy ever sup
posed that it was to be perpetual. " De
clared Garflold : "I am for a protection
that leads to free trade. " Surely wo have
now reached that stage to which they
looked forward , when our industries are
fully grown and established , and
abundantly able to stand alone. This is
demonstrated by the vast and increasing
number and quantities of manufactured
goods we are sending abroad fifty mil
lion dollars in value last year. In sober
fact the country has at last fairly out
grown "protection , " granting all its
pretended needs in the beginning. Cer
tainly the great lines of manufacturers
now seeking foreign markets have noth
ing to fear from free trade. They cross
the ocean and undersell the foreigner in
his own market. How then can he com
pete with them in their home ? There
is no doubt that the great majority of
American manufactures could today
successfully sustain unrestricted foreign
competition and if there remain any
who are still unable to do so , the "pro
tection" which even the lowest and most
strictly revenue tariff that we can have
for many years would give , should be
sufficient. Every intelligent man knows
that our manufactures are now so de
veloped and whether by means of erin
in spite of "protection" matters not
that they glut the home market and are
overflowing into foreign markets on all
sides. They no longer need "protection"
against the foreigner ; no longer can it
do them any good as against them. But
the cry is now raised that even if not
needed , "protection" can do no harm
and should be preserved as a wall of de
fense for the future. The plea is a
specious one , and calls for a little
scrutiny. It does not follow necessarily
that a measure that does no good , can
work no harm ; indeed the reverse is
true in most cases , and this on examina
tion will be found a striking instance of
that fact.
No harm that the country is overrun
by."protectiou" born trusts like noxious
weeds which keep the prices of steel ,
lumber , coal , glass , lead , salt , and scores
of other articles above the level of fair
cost and profit ? No harm that every
consumer in the land is forced to pay
tribute to these monopolists , who , having
foreign competition shut out for their
"protection , " promptly combine to stop
domestic competition , and exact every
cent possible from the people ? No harm ,
then why are so many public men and
journals , republican as well as demo
cratic and independent , lamenting this
state of things , and declaring that the
true way to correct it is to abolish the
"protection" which gave it birth ?
Sell Cheaper Abroad.
The victor in the great struggle for
the world's markets will be the nation
that produces goods at the least cost and
sells them at the lowest price. Every
cent of extra cost levied by these trusts
upon the articles used in manufacturing
is a burden upon our industries and a
handicap in the race for foreign trade.
The aim and effort and effect of pro
tectionists and trust monopolists alike is
to hold up prices to an abnormal level , a
level higher than the natural one. When
nearly every material of manufactures
is thus raised in price , even though in
some cases the extra cost is slight , the
goods produced must be greatly en
hanced in cost , and so much less able to
compete in price in foreign markets.
But how much greater is the handicap
when the tariff trusts actually sell their
products abroad cheaper than they will
at home. The public little knows how
extensively this lias been done , and is
being done , but the discrimination in
this way of the great steel trusts is so
flagrant that it is attracting general at
tention. They have been selling steel
plates by thousands of tons to British
shipyards at prices far below what they
exact from American shipbuilders. And
some of the veiy men responsible for
such unpatriotic discrimination against
their own countrymen are foremost in
trying to force the ship subsidy bill
through Congress on the ground that
American shipyards cannot compete
with British. Let any one who doubts
these facts read the report of the United
States Commissioner of Navigation for
October , 1900 , and the Monthly Sum
mary of Commerce and Finance for
last December of the Bureau of Statis
tics , pages 1,893 , 1,896 , 1,401.
The Boston Herald of Feb. 10th gives
another instance. It says that two great
steel companies , the Illinois Steel Co. of
Chicago and the Lorain Steel Co. of
Cleveland , have just sold 17,400 tons
of steel rails to be delivered in Mel
bourne , Australia , for $28.65 per ton.
The price in the United States is , and
lias been for some time , $26 at the mill.
Deducting the cost of transportation to
Melbourne , not less than $10 a ton , and
the price at which these companies sold
their steel rails in Australia is only $18
or $19 a ton , which is $7 or $8 less than
the price they exact from American rail
roads. Does the "protection" on steel
rails of $7.84 a ton work no harm , which
enables these great steel companies to
grant such advantages to foreign cus
tomers , while denying them to Ameri
can ? This tariff-trust policy of high
prices artificially maintained at homo ,
and selling goods abroad at low prices
will niako America pay tribute to the
world at largo , and convert her foreign
trade from , a benefit into a grievous
burden.
A like burden is thrown upon all our
industries by the "protection" on the
raw materials of manufactures , such as
wool , flax , hemp , hides , ores , coal , lum
ber and many other articles which en
hances their cost to the manufacturer
even when not aggravated by trusts.
No other civilized nation , not even high
ly protected Franco or Germany , thus
taxes the food of their factories , the ma
terials upon which their artisans exer
cise their skill , and adds an extra and
unnecessary cost upon their products to
handicap them in the race for the
world's trade. Under modern conditions
and competition the manufacturer in
order to succeed must draw his supplies
from the whole world , wherever he can
find them best and cheapest. This is
particularly the case with woollen man
ufactures , in which a variety of differ
ent wools only to be found in different
countries are absolutely necessary , and
the same is true of the iron and steel
works and measurably of many other
manufactures. Over and over again
have the woollen manufacturers pointed
out how heavy a load such "protection"
on wool imposes upon their industry ,
and how indispensable is the use of for
eign wool to mix with native , but all in
vain. The political shepherds have pro
tected wool until both the wool grower
and wool manufacturer are languishing
unto death.
Prosperity of Unprotected Boot and Shoe
Industries.
The American boot and shoe manufac
turers , owing to the superior skill and
efficiency of the highly-paid American
workman , are now beating the world in
their goods , both in quality and cheap
ness , and are beginning to send them
widely abroad. As an encouragement
to their enterprise , skill and industry ,
the Dingley act took hides from the free
list , where they were for many years ,
and laid a duty of 16 per cent upon them ,
which gave just so much "protection"
to the great Chicago meat packers , who
alone reap any benefit from it , and added
just so much to the cost of boots and
shoes , and made the struggle to intro
duce them into foreign markets so much
the harder. How can our manufacturers
compote for foreign trade under such
burdens with any hope of success ? Must
they always have to contend with their
own government as well as with the
foreign competitor ?
Perhaps the greatest evil and burden
of this so-called "protection" to the
people at large , especially to the great
agricultural producers , lies in its restric
tion and prohibition of imports. Pro
ducts for products is the rule of com
merce. Imports shut out , only keep ex
ports shut in. National trade cannot
