Show BALANCE OF TRADE What Protectionists Believe and What Is hQ Truth A False Thpoy Punctured and Exposed Goods Pay for Goods Ilcpubllcan Fallacies Pointed Out The following sample of sheer and down ncht idiocy is of course from the Ogden fraidnnt S A Republican friend at Layton asks I If the United States exports lt00OGU worth of goods more than it imports docs tho country lose 51000000 in material wealth Do home industries ere at a home i market for the farmers surplus ITo I-To the first question we answer no and to the second yes The excess of exports ex-ports from the United States either of manufactured or agricultural products represents so much of labor performed in their production and manufacture The I 6i000000 in money returned in payment is just so much Added to the wealth of the country S The above Is what every protectionist believes So does nearly every man that has nev r investigated the subject I One fact is worth a thousand theories The 81000000 in money is not returned re-turned It never has been There is little lit-tle reason to suppose it ever will be Open tho Statistical Abstract of the I I cited States for 1M0 on pages 4G and 47 1 iaero is shown the result of the Republican I Republi-can policy of sending away more goods than we bring back on the theory that we i must be paid the difference in money The statistical abstract shows that from 1876 to I rbt inclusive fifteen years we tent away lor > 0000000 more wealth goods than we I brought back and that we also sent away in gold and silver during these same fifteen j ears 4149S2 mare than we IroiioM back has we did not receive this balance in money We never did No nation ever coes or ever could There is not enough com in all the banks Of Europe to pay for two years oxnort of goods from this country Goods pay for goods between cations Thoro is no international money it W e send out each year about 5SOO000000 1 V orth of goods and bring back each year about fISOO1OOOOO in goods If one is not the pay for tho other what is it the pay for Exports include every commodity that RODS out of a country Imports include everything that comes in When we send away more wealth than wo get oack when we give more than we getprotectionists say we are gaining the difference I Common I Com-mon sense shows we are losing it No individual in-dividual loses it but this country loses it I ana the country in which tnis balance is Jcf or invested gains it One of the best political economists of i this country explains the facts as follows 1 When our imports exceed our exports the balance is invested by foreigners in this coitry When our exports exceed our imports Americans are investing their surplus in other countries than their own Until recently very many men were under the impression that it was a good tuitg to have wealth invested in a corn llJUnily Und it has been the habit of our western status even in Kansas the banner Republican protection state to offer in ducompnts to eastern capital to go there for investment Each state vas seeking a balance of trade against herself and seeding it in overy way possible The protection editors tell us that this Is a very bad thing A state or town is better off without foreign capital it TV 11 bo better off by sending all it has to ew York They do not want any foreign capital or foreign wealth invested in this country Their idea of wisaom is Ito I-to have American wealth invested in English ships in Scotch mills in French looms in German factories in Russian Rus-sian railways out of reach of taxation by this government by billiondollar Congresses Con-gresses Within the past thirty years Protection Pro-tection has driven oat of this country and into foreign investment throe billions of dollars and that has een the oalanco of trade in our favor Aim it has been in our favor because the government of the United States was relieved of the necessity of taxing it and taking care of it We have forced another government to protect this amount of property and keep the owners in peaceable possession of it Ail this is very line It is very logical too The poor Republican voter thinks that nothing brighter or smarter has ever entered tho mind of man Perhaps it never did S With how little wisdom tho English are i governed The balance of trade against S England exceeds cacti year almost our total to-tal average exports or imports In seventeen seven-teen years the balance of trade in our favor fa-vor and against England between the two countries has boon 6OOOOOOOOU All ibis American wealth has been added to I Englands taxable property All this wealth tho United States Congress has been relieved from the burden of taking care of It must be of course n very Loavy dram upon tho English resources et those fools of Englishmen so far from btmcr opposed to this balance of trade incur in-cur favor and against them1 are anxious to son it increased Instead of howling like demons at our making a dumping ground of England for our agricultural products and a part of our machine products they actually howl for more They provide the dumping grounds free of expense to us They go to enormous expenditures to make tho dumping ground convenient for our or rather their ships They are willing for us to dump upon them 6very dollars worth that we have got The full product of every factory would bo welcome If wo should Btnn our houses of the furniture it would be welcome If we would oven dump upon them the 15000 tons of silver now in the treasury they would pay the cost of transportation trans-portation When we think of what wo have done and of what wo might have done we ought to be disgusted with our own moderation IJIOTECTIOS WISDOM A few facts Illustrate what a fine thing protection is Since the year 1S76 we have exported 1650000000 more wealth than wo have imported because of the Republican policy 1 of taxing tho import of goods on the theory that wo could receive the balance in gold and silver That much of our wealth has I been driven abroad into foreign investments invest-ments by the Republican policy of taxing imports so that our exports should exceed I our imports so that we should give more than We received The Republican theory is that the more wealth wo send abroad and the less we receive in return tim richer we shall become Republicans fear that other nations will make the country a I dumping ground for their surplus I wealth that they will Hood us with I their cheap goods and that we shall not be able to stem the tide of this flood of good I things It must not be supposed when we say imports are the pay for exportstbat the man who sends goods from this country receives I re-ceives his pay in the goods of other countries coun-tries That is the final result of the tru suction for the country as a whole but it is accomplished by a maze of transfers and retransfers made by brokers Each man sells for cash which in international commerce is merely another name for credit It is a slip of paper a check or letter of credit which he can apply to the purchase of goods to bring back or have it cashed at any great bank or he can invest in-vest it in foreign business or bonds This credit is good for its face value in any country in the world and is transferred I hourly by mail or telegraphed from one i country to another with perfect safety Thus A in New York sends a cargo of wheat worth 1000 to London through a London bank he receives a check good for that amount on the New York banks and he draws his money from one ol i them Then B in London sends a cargo of i cloth worth 1000 to this country and receives re-ceives a check for that amount on a London Lon-don bank and draws his money Each I bank is thus indebted to the other to the extent of f 1000 and the accounts between them are canceled The wheat thus nays for the cloth though it is not directly bartered bar-tered for it When we export more than wo import we can bring back the difference in gold and silver but it will not pay us to do that I for the purchasing power of gold and silver I sil-ver is less here than abroad It will pay us to invest it in foreign goods and bring them in or if tho government taxes the goods too heavily it will pay us better to invest the money abroad And this is what we do as shown by the reports of the bureau bu-reau of statistics But the surpassing charm of protection is that it makes other countries a dumping dump-ing ground for large amounts of American i Ameri-can capital that would otherwise be invested in-vested here I Pact TRADE FOLLY During the last ten years Groat Britain I has each year imported over 300000000 more than she has exported Her imports I for 1890 were 2138190000 and her exports I were Sl55bo30000 The difference of 579660000 represents how much Britain gained on her commerce that year The British have an idea that it is a good thing to have other people make their country a dumping ground for surplus wealth They imagine it is good British policy for foreigners to invest in English enterprises So they put no tax on wealth shipped into Britain If they send out one dollars worth and get as pay for it two dollars worth of goods they actually think they are gaining the difference Of course they havent Peen educated up to the protection idea that the more wealth I they send away from their country and the less they brine back the richer they are They actually think exporting more than I they import would make them poor You cant make John Bull believe that if he gets more than ho gives ho is losing anything I any-thing It takes a bright American to believe be-lieve that I Of course every Republican will hasten to explain that Britain pays this balance against her in gold und silver for no Republican I Re-publican can possibly be made to see that I when a man gives little aud gets much the I difference is his profit on tho bargain A man who has two cows and needs but one I trades one for a horse which he gets off a man who wants a cow but has more horses than he needs No Republican can be made I to see that each trader may make a large profit He thinks the trader who gets wbatIs of more value to him than what I ho gave must pay the difference in money Ho doesnt know that both gain by the trade There is one way however of silencing a protectionist who talks of Englands pay lug this balance in gold and silver The I total circulating money of England is about S7000000JO < little more than enough to pay last years balance against her In I two years she would not have a coin loft In fifteen years all the coin over minted would be required to pay the balance I I against her The money of the whole world I could not pay it In fifteen years from lt > 74 to HISS Britain imported 7593074035 I more in goods of all kinds than she exported ex-ported The mind shrinKs from tho contemplation con-templation of such fiures The total gold and silver coin of the United States barely reaches the seventh part of it The total wealth of Spain and her colonies is less than this addition to Britains wealth through commerce alone in fifteen sears of free trade Such is British folly If the English I were wise like the Spaniards are they I would export more than they import Egypt does tuat and so do other bankrupt nations ipain began that policy wben she was the richest nation in Europe and as a consequence is now one of the poorest Britain has long since passed the protection protec-tion countries of Europe in the race for I wealth and in wealth and influence is today a match for any two of them Yet several I of them have a much greater population I and a better country than sho nas and I only thirty years ago France wasthe leadIng lead-Ing country of Europe TUEY CANNOT UEAEOX Our adversaries writes Bastiat have adopted a system of tactics which embarrass i embar-rass us not a little Do we prove our doctrine doc-trine They admit tho truth of It m the most respectful manner Do we attack I their principles I They abandon them with the best possible grace They only ask that lour doctrine which they acknowledge to be true should be confined to books and that I their principles which they allow to be false should be established in practice The whole Republican press of the nation has been engaged in congratulating the people peo-ple that during the seven months ending Jan 31 under the McKinley bill this country I coun-try exported S193OUO000 more than it imported im-ported These papers declared this excess of wealth exported above the amount imported I im-ported was the balance of trade in our i I 5 favor They teach their dupes that we received re-ceived that balance in gold and silver I But the excess of imports of gold and silver I during tho period was only 000000 showing that the balance of 167000000 had not been returned in any shape of real wealth whatever For that amount individual Americans of course held slips of paper showing that they had invested that amount in various foreign enterprises And when we turn to the report for February Feb-ruary we find the excess of exported merchandise mer-chandise was over 21000OUO and that there had actually been sent out 5100000 more of gold and silver than had been received re-ceived At the end ol the year we shall find a still greater balance in our favor as protectionists saa balance that has been driven out of this country by protection pro-tection a balance that while still owned by Americans is giving employment to and being used by foreigners a balance that never has been is not and never can be paid for in gold and silver a balance that is kept out of this country by the tax on imports But just show these facts to any protectionist pro-tectionist as I have often done He will stare in amazement at tho facts and toil you that these facts are contrary to reason And so they are to a protectionists reason TO YOUNG MEN S When Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood the older physicians rejected his discovery because it was as they claimed contrary to reason He relates that no man over forty years of age accepted ac-cepted his discovery This is also true of many protectionists Long practice in looking crosseyed at this question has unfitted un-fitted them for reasoning upon It or for considering the facts that explain it My father taught me protection when I was sixteen and ho was sixtythree and like him I devoutly believed in it When I was twenty years of age I read Says Political Po-litical Economy Ten I found out what an ass I had been My father accepted the free trade demonstration as soon as it was presented to him and I have no doubt many lifelong protectionists would do the same if you could get them to listen to facts and reason but that is difficult The appeal lies mainly to the young men and I desire to tell them that this is a mere question of fact There isno room for opinion anymore than there is in the problems prob-lems of arithmetic or algebra But the motions of the earth and its true relation to the heavenly bodies are not more effectually effect-ually disguised to the careless observer than are the real facts of economic I life and there aro many strongly entrenched fallacies which must be refuted there are selfish interests to be grappled with and there are wrong ways of looking at things and fallacious modes of reasoning about them to be unlearned un-learned It took the greatest statesman Great Britain has produced fifteen years to convince the electors of Britain that a protective pro-tective tariff is a means of reducing the aggregate wealth though it may yield vast I private fortunes to favored individuals Is not such a question and with such precedents prece-dents worthy of your careful investigation I A SAMPLE CASE One of tho brightest young men in northern Utah was known to have very decided Republican leanings Presently I because of some remark he had made a I committee of leading Republicans anxiously I anx-iously inquired of him if it wore true that he had joined the Democratic party He I replied that ho had not as yet but thought of doing so He cut short their clamor for his reasons by saying Gentlemen I have 1 just one question to ask you and if you I can give me an answer to it I will defer jining the Democratic I i party until I have considered your answer It is this I learn from statistics I I that his country sends out about SUO000 000 worth of products each year and I learn from you and from Republican literature I litera-ture that it is the policy of your party to I keep imports from coming into this country sojthat the pay for our exports I shall consist of money Do 1 understand I the Republican policy aright Certainly replied they that is the j Republican policy I But I also find from statistics that there I is hardly enough money in the banks of nil Europe to pay for one years export of 11 those goods At this point his hearers shifted about uneasily i That being the case he continued we must either take their goods in return I I for ours or stop tradipn with them and I t since wo must take their goods in payment I S for oars why not get as many of them us I j possible I The committee was unable to give any I t answer whatever A leading Repuolican I writer and speaker who happened to bo present simply turned on his hoot and I walked away No Republican can answer the question i THE TEST OF TQEOIllES I The geometer quite frequently can disprove j dis-prove a proposition only by showing what the result will be if it is carried to its i limit 1his method the icductlo ad absur I dam applies equally to economic problems I when as in the present case the problem I is one of simple arithmetic It docs not apply I ap-ply in medicine for though a certain i I amount of food is good for the body it I may not follow that twice tnat amount of I I food will be doubly beneficial For this reason somo evaders urn willing to risk the II plain dictates of sense and reason and the i I Indisputable proofs of arithmetic up to a i i certain point in this matter of the balance i of trade They say while giving one dollars i dol-lars worth of goods for two dollars worth i is good policy still it may not hold equally I good to give one million dollars worth for I two million dollars worth But the balance of trade theory breaks Ii down at every point when pushed to its limit It reduces to the absurdity I that a nation will grow rich by jl I sending awcy all she possesses and by I bringing in nothing Even if it were possible pos-sible to bring in nothing but gold and silver as protectionists fondly dream I still we cannot bo fed on these metals nor I can wo use them for clothing shelter or J any other useful purpose except to exchange ex-change them for the goods produced by I other people Beyond n certain limited amount they would be worth no more than I tin and copper it we were not permitted to buy foreign goods with them s But takQ the other theory Do with it as you please exaggerate it as you will push it to the farthest extreme Imagine that foreign nations should make a dumping ground of our country for all tho wealth they possess Imagine that they should inundate us with the good things of earth and absolutely refuse to take in re t turn anything whatever from us Theti the man wnosct imagination cancontort this state of affairs into inoanme that we would be poorer in consequence detlesmy power of explanation and laughs to scorn the facts thatcover the case MKIXLEVS MADNESS In striking confirmation of what I assort above that all orthodox protectionists believe be-lieve that if we send away more wealth than is returned to us we shall gain the difference I snull hero quote from ihe latest speech of Governor McKinley at Beatrice Neb August 1891 ff Notwithstanding the cry that under the protective pro-tective tariff we cannot sell abroad it we do not buy abroad yet during tho last fiscal year we said abroad nearly S403uCO000 more than we bought abroad Ibis was an excess In our favor which foreigners paid to us which we have at homo circulating amongour people That is since we gave foreigners 203 000000 more than they gave us we gained and they lost that amount on the trade 1 So says Mr McKinley He has a theory that this balance was paid for in money and Is now circulating among our people peo-ple The reports of the treasury department depart-ment show however that we did not receive re-ceive this balance in gold and silver Where is this excess in our favor We havent got it The drain of gold continues con-tinues to the alarm of the administration The protection press is mystified and horrified hor-rified But McKinley appears never to have heard of the fact that the excess in our favor which we have sent away in I the shape of goods is paralleled by alike a-like excess in our favor which we I are daily sending away in the shape of gold Excess of goods usually carries with it an excess of gold and silver j Thus in 1890 we sent to Europe merchandise merchan-dise to the value of 15S373CSU7 and we received re-ceived from Europe during that year only I 2449587206 According to Mr McKinley therefore we must have received from I Europe a balance in gold and silver of 233749631 this being according to him I the excess la our favor The treasury I report for Ib90 shows that we imported I from Europe only fG735723 in gold and silver and sent to Europe 30225681 in gold and silver But Mr McKinley I will say such facts are contrary to rule which Is perfectly true for the rule is false Yet the protectionist need only tell I his dupes that the fnqts are contrary to I some idiotic idea or theory he has and his assertion simply staggers them and they I discard the facts in order to embrace his theory The report McKinloys speech goes onto on-to say that he quoted figures to show that in the fifteen years from 1670 to 1891 with protection the balance of trade in our favor was 1049435246 Then he left his readers to infer that this excess in our favor was paid in gold and silver I whereas the fact is that wo exported I about one million in gold and three millions in silver more than we imported during I these fifteen years Again he said that under freo trade from 1347 to 18GQ tho balance of trade against us was more than 434000000 I He thought of course that we had imported im-ported enough cold to cover this excess in our favor while the fact is as stated I by the director of the mint our total importation im-portation of gold during the time was about 5000000 in excess of our exports I So also was our importation of silver Yet I every protection dupe believes with a fervent fer-vent superstition that this balance against us drained us of our gold and silver The protectionists are running stark i mad these days McKinley himself is i either knave or fool to try to deceive his hearers in this matter The facts are accessible ac-cessible to tho public and are exactly the opposite of what he thinks says they are His balance against us is really a balance bal-ance in our favor and I challenge any protectionist pro-tectionist to question the facts given above PBISICLES |