for the purpose of destroying foreign manufactures in their cradle." Since such purposes are avowed, and since large capitals are used as "instruments of warfare" to break down foreign competing industries, there ought to be some defence against them. Such a defence, it is claimed, is found in a system of restrictive duties.

2. It is urged that such a system gives a steady and uniform market at an expense far less than the benefit accruing. Domestic commerce is liable to disturbances and revulsions through the free admission of commodities from the prolific industries of older countries. If the manufacturer be relieved from this unequal competition, he can keep his capital constantly employed, and, by reason of furnishing steady work, can secure better labor at less cost. Otherwise he may be compelled to stop work half of the time, and let his machinery lie idle, dismissing his laborers, to their great loss and distress. This is one reason why, as will hereafter be seen, it is claimed that manufactured products are often sold at lower prices under a protective tariff than when no duty is levied on the imported article. It is thought to be evident from these considerations, that certain desirable industries will spring up at once, and without appreciable extra expense, if they have a fair chance, which may nevertheless be prevented by unequal competition. They simply need to be shielded from the malign influence of parties interested to break them down, as well as from that of the natural inequality which exists between an infant industry and one that is fully developed.

3. It is urged in favor of protection, that it greatly aids the tendency to that societary completeness which is the final cause of association. The less obstructed the latter is, the more nearly perfect will the former become, and the stronger and more competent will men be. This freedom of asso

ciation, as we have seen, depends upon the individual differences both of character and calling which prevail in a community. A variety of industries would be likely to grow up in any society left free to the development of its own But a new society, whose nascent industries are in competition with those of an older and richer community, is not left free to develop its resources: the so-called freedom becomes a positive repression.

resources.

4. The restrictive system is regarded as an advantage to the general interests of the community, as well as to those particularly protected. If this were not the case, it would be altogether undeserving of support. We may take as a representative of these agriculture, since this is the fundamental industry, and, if the statement is true concerning this, it undoubtedly is of all others. In considering the protective system in relation to agriculture, several things are to be taken into account.

(1) First, there is the question of transportation. That every reasonable means should be taken to diminish the expense of this, no one doubts. It cannot be effected by doing or continuing to do the least immediately costly thing, but, frequently, only by going to much additional expense. This expense, however, is once for all; and so, on the whole, it is less expensive. To build a wagon-road where there was none before, involves an outlay sometimes of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It may add only a small amount the first year to the profit of each producer living near it; but in a brief period thereafter, the advantage will amount to much more than the whole cost of construction. The same principle applies in the building of railways and the making of canals.

If it is good economy to go to great expense to increase the power of association by means of roads and other transit

arrangements, it certainly cannot be poor economy to go to some expense for the purpose, so far as the conditions allow, of doing away with transportation altogether. Restrictive duties, even when the conditions are the least favorable, are often the least expensive method by which the producer and the consumer can be brought into close proximity.

(2) Again, unless manufacturing centres exist in the midst of agricultural areas, products of the soil must be conveyed to a great distance. But this implies virtually an exportation of the soil, and this is a diminution of the capital of the farmer. There are many illustrations of this. Fifty years ago Western New York was one of the richest wheatproducing regions in the world: twenty-five years later it had so deteriorated that the crops were scarcely half their former amount. The wheat fields of Ohio formerly yielded as high as thirty bushels to the acre: they afterwards fell off to fifteen and thirteen. The same process is going on in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and other purely agricultural regions. The soil is being rapidly exhausted, except where it is kept up by artificial fertilization. It has been said, that this might be done universally as well as in a few cases. But the fact that almost universally it is not done, would seem to indicate some natural reason for the failure.

On the other hand, agricultural estates within moderate distances from manufacturing centres tend to a constant increase of efficiency. "In England, in the days of the Plantagenets, when the population but little exceeded two millions, an acre of land yielded but six bushels of wheat; and, small as were the number to be fed, famines were frequent and severe. To-day we see eighteen millions occupying the same surface, and obtaining greatly increased supplies of very superior food." The yield of wheat now in England is thirty, forty, and even fifty bushels to the acre.

In France the product of grain has nearly doubled within a single century, while the population has increased only about fifty per cent. Here, as also in England, are new varieties of produce, which by themselves are equivalent to two-thirds of all the food formerly produced. There are still more striking illustrations found in Holland and Belgium, and in many other countries there are remarkable instances of a similar kind. This condition of things is possible only with a diversified industry out of which will come populous centres. This, in a new country, is conditioned on considerable expenditure, and such public measures as will prevent destructive foreign competition.

(3) A third advantage to agriculture is alleged to be found in the utilization of materials which would otherwise be wasted. In exclusively agricultural sections, an incalculable amount of produce, which might be furnished at scarcely any additional expense, is lost by reason of the difficulty or impossibility of transportation. It is only in the vicinity of manufacturing centres, that certain articles have any value at all. It was said some twenty-five years ago, that the crop of straw in France was utilized to the amount of a hundred and fifty million dollars a year. This is more than the value of our whole cotton-crop at that time, - a crop which employed the principal part of the capital and labor of ten States, and was the largest export by far of all our great staples. Yet, in large agricultural areas of our country, this material is every year burned in the fields where it grows.

5. A fifth argument advanced in favor of protection is, that it tends to prevent the degradation of labor in the country protected. It is generally urged, that one chief reason why in our own country manufactures are at a disadvantage in relation to those of European nations, is because the com

pensation there is smaller than here. Even in England, where it is better than in most parts of the Continent, all the ruder kinds of labor are at a price which affords only such and so much sustenance as will keep the subject in a fair working condition. The great mass of this class is exceedingly poor, there are among them scarcely any savings, there is little inducement to them to endeavor to improve their condition, and there is very little hope to them of amelioration. Now, it is thought to be inevitable, that free reciprocal commerce with a country whose system produces such consequences can but result in reducing our own laboring population to nearly the same level. Two lakes lying near each other, but between which there is a channel of unrestricted communication, will stand at the same level.