10 The Conservative *
FREE TRADE AND AMERICAN MAN
UFACTURERS.
[ By Henry Ware Allen , of El Pnso , Tex. ]
The experience of American manu
facturers has been that , while protective
legislation has at first given positive ad
vantages to the industries protected , the
ultimate effect of this stimulus , except
where combinations for the purpose of
preventing domestic competition have
been affected , has been to attract in
creased competition , to force production
beyond its normal limit , and so to do
! ! more harm than good to the branches of
trade affected. "Where competition has
had free play , any special privilege to
the American manufacturer has been
dissipated by the natural factors of
supply and demand. When a manu
facturer pays dnfcy on raw material , ho
adds this duty * to the soiling price of his
product , of course ; but he gets no more
1 1 special advantage from having to pay ,
this unnaturally high first cost than he
would get by having to pay excessively
high rates for rent , fuel , or wages. So
that this prejudice against manufactur
ers , which exists especially in the West ,
is not well founded.
That the manufacturers interested in
this league expect to benefit directly or
indirectly by the advent of free trade
will not bo denied. The advantages
which they aim to secure by absolute
free trade , however , are not intended to
be secured at the expense of any other
interest , by the granting of special
privileges , or by any favors whatsoever
of the government. What they would
do is simply to remove the unjust and
discriminating taxes which hamper
trade. The motto of the league might
well be "Live and let live. " The same
idea is expressed by the motto it has
adopted , "Equal Rights to All , Special
Privileges to None. "
A curious phase of economic incon
sistency on the part of upholders of
custom-houses is illustrated by their
zeal in advocating the annexation of
foreign domains. They annex the
Sandwich Islands , Porto Rico , the Phil
ippines , and would annex Cuba , Mexico ,
and Canada. Yet these same patriots
would spard neither naval extravagance
nor the lives of armed guards in keep
ing out , so far as possible , these coun
tries' products at the. present time.
They instinctively zealize , in spite of
their economic creed , that , as free trade
over the mighty domain of the United
States is clearly a benefit to all con
cerned , free trade over a larger area
would be proportionately more desir
able ; but with foreigners never 1
Their only alternative is to secure this
free trade by the clumsy method of
making fellow-citizens of the cigar-
makers of Cuba , the miners of Mexico ,
or the mongrel population of Hawaii.
The narrowing of trade to our ' 'home
market" is not a business proposition ,
and is advocated only by those jingo
patriots who are on principle opposed to
everything foreign simply because it is
foreign , and those trusts which by
means of "protection" are monopolizing
the home market. Those pseudo pa
triotic fraternities , homo market clubs ,
have reason enough to be satisfied with
our present tariff law. Numerous man
ufacturing industries in New England ,
having prohibited the Newfoundland
coal supply , have no alternative but to
shut down their works , as many have
done , or to get their supply in the
"home market" at
Pennsylvania un
naturally high cost. The importation
of Mexican ores being heavily taxed ,
American capital has been forced over
into Mexico to build smelters there.
True , this has taken millions
upon millions of dollars away
from American manufacturers ; but
it has served admirably in giving
"home market" distinction to a few of
our mining camps. The tariff war precip
itated by our recent tariff reform enact
ment has also caused European powers
to boycott certain of our staple pro
ducts , but American live stock may
thereby feel more secure in the prospect
of having their carcasses strung up in a
home market ; and , if the sugar trust is
felt to be a trifle oppressive , our national
pride may be flattered by knowing that
it , like the steel rail trust , the lead
trust , the whiskey trust , the cordage
trust , and the bicycle trust , is a pro
duct of our home market.
American manufacturers have in
times past , with great expense and risk ,
succeeded in establishing certain chan
nels of trade with foreign countries
only to have an American congress , to
please some political party , olap on a
new tariff which has entirely upset
trade conditions and ruined large in
vestments. These acts of commercial
hostility on the part of our govern
ment have then been followed by retalia
tory tariffs on the part of aggrieved na
tions , thus ruining or greatly injuring
other channels of trade. Then , after
commerce had again adapted _ tself to
new conditions , another set of politi
cians at Washington has provided new
schedules , and so made an entirely new
adaptation again necessary , and so on.
Year after year the tariff has been a
football for political parties , a play
thing and stock in trade of politicians ,
while commercial interests have been
jeopardized , sacrificed , ruined , our
manufacturers having accepted this in
terference with commerce as an inevita
ble condition.
But the American Free Trade League
is an expression of an awakened con
sciousness of natural rights : it is a new
Declaration of Independence. A large
manufacturer said not long ago in an
address delivered before the Kansas
City Commercial Club : "The pre
tensions and the usurpation of politics
have grown apace in the United States
until every business in the country is
subjected to their capricious control.
There lurks a danger in this condition
of affairs which cannot be overestimated.
If matters have come to such a pass
that important interests which have
grown up under long-established law
are ruthlessly torn down ; if the se
curity of capital invested in mills , inn
railroads , in the building up of towns ,
is endangered ; nay , if the commerce
between nations can be destroyed for
the sole purpose of political reward or
advantage , it is indeed time that the
business men of the country should as
sert their rights. "
HOUSE CLEANING.
Now wo dig the insides out of our
houses , throw the contents out on
the grass , let the fire go out and invite -
vite the spring sun and wind to do
their purifying work on the scene of
our hibernation. The birds have a
better way. How nice it would bo if
we could all have clean now houses
every spring ! Something like the
Japanese paper and bamboo houses ;
take a sunny day , pile your furni
ture out in the yard , set fire to your
house and telephone down town ( if
you had saved the telephone ) for an
other. The birds have a distinct ad
vantage in one respect , however.
They don't have to worry about
plans. The Creator has agreed with
each little bird upon a design for his
abode , which is perfectly satisfactory
to both parties. He has made no
such arrangement with women. If
housekeepers had to decide on a new
set of plans every spring it would
be more trouble than cleaning house.
HIS MONUMENT.
Somebody we don't care for his
name died the other day some
where , and the papers all over the
world ( at least all over the part we
can see from here ) began to print his
picture. It seems that when he was
very young he wrote a forlorn set of
doggerel rhymes about Sweet Alice
and Ben Bolt ; and that years after
ward another man wrote a book in
which he quoted these rhymes ; and
that the public took a fancy to this
book , on account largely of the hero
ine's feet , though the book , feet ,
heroine and all are forgotten long
ago.
ago.Now
Now all this taken together con
stitutes Fame , and the papers say
that those rhymes made this man
famous and are his monument. As
for himself , he is reported to have
expressed his estimation of them on
his death-bed in the
- following re
markable language : "Damn Ben
Bolt. "
All of which goes to show that
some men have greatness thrust upon
them.