Show A IU2C1I VIEW rivIXlEVISM j jI I The July number of the Forum will I contain an article on Major McKinley I and what he stands for by the eminent I French writer M Paul LeroyBeaulieu By permission the New York Post prints extensive extracts from it in i advance of its publication and it is I from that Source we quote part of the 1 article I M LeroyBeaulieu says that for a number of years Major McKInleys I name has represented in Europe the most exaggerated form of protectionism protection-ism and that more recently It has been equally linked with bimetallism These two excessive protectionism and the notion of giving equal recognition recogni-tion to silver as to gold are in the domain of economics the two perils that threaten contemporary civilization Then he enlarges upon these dangers as he sees them Regarding Re-garding excessive protectionism he says As to the first point I shall be brief If under the lead of Mr McKinley iha United States Increases decidedly the import duties on European merchan tlifae it will unquestionably give a I strung stimulus to European protec I tlonibm in almost all countries of Eu I cye fce protectionist party is still i very strong HiGh as the actual QU I tics ale they do not satisfy Us appetite appe-tite In France it is agitating for a I duty > on wheat of ten francs nearly 2 per metric quintal instead of seven i francs or 130 and for like advances on other products In Germany the I agrarians are still ardently opposing i the recent treaties of commerce In Belgium the Catholic party now in I power has greater need of the rural I vote than has the Liberal party whose chances for any near return to ofllce i arc feeble Even in England there Is 1 being built up a protectionist party I though it conceals Its game just nov its mask is the project for a customs I union for the British empire Involving I favors for English products in the col saoJ fog 1 nr st cnies and for colonial products In England I I En-gland I The only restraint on the tendency of the protectionist party in Europe to I new excesses is the opposition of manufacturers I man-ufacturers for fexport The fear of I i seeing foreign markets closed against I i j I them binds thejfe in a common effort II j I to bridle the energies of the land own I I ers and land cultivators I 1 cl But if the United States led J the way in the marked mark-ed increase of duties the European manufacturers would lose their chief I argument in opposition to the extreme protestiorlsts The example of the i United States would be Invoked with i certainty and su cess for an increase In I the protective tariffs of Europe particularly par-ticularly on agricultural products the present rates of taxation would be augmented I aug-mented by SO per cent or 40 per cent i i I No one can deny that this would check I I th ° progress of the United States Im I ml raton and railroad traffic have an Intimate connection with agriculture and agricultural exports Even manufactures I man-ufactures cannot extend rapidly except as population increases and such increase In-crease Is Incompatible with a decided falling off In the trade of Europe and America From the first point of view the revival re-vival of the protectionist regime throughout the nvorld the election of Mr McKinley must be considered ascertain as-certain to cause a recoil In the development devel-opment of the cIvilized world The peril IP no less l fift is Indeed mon definite defi-nite perhaps and more immediate from the monetary point of view This view will generally be accepted by all who are opposed to excessive protectionism Protectionism Is a policy pol-icy that tends io isolation and selfishness selfish-ness and there are no stronger agents for retarding the growth of civilization civiliza-tion 11cmWe yVe should hardly regard the election a of Majpr McKinley as a demand by the American people for a Teturn to j the McKinley tariff it is not the issue this year hough it is natural that a j foreigner who from the nature of the case does not know exactly the status I of our politics at the opening of the impending campaign should infer that the election of Major McKinley who transmuted he doctrine of excessive protectionism Into the doctrine of Mc Kinle ism would mean a demand for IcKinle ism M LeroyBeaulieu devotes far more attention to Major McKinley as a sil i I ver man than as a protectionist and expatiates at length on the great dan I ger of bimetallism which he construes as being practically the same as free silver As the major stards upon a 1 I j j gold platform and Is the champion of j j j the gold standard the comment of his French critic are inappropriate now i The danger he foresees is the same that all gold standard > men think they see i |