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Show KUKUTUtOKKS (.(INK DA FT. The Herald is often ridiculous but we do not remember to have seen it make a more ridiculous exhibition of itself than it does iu a recent article in which it seeks to make it appear that this country does not get paid for any excess ex-cess of its exports over the amouut of its imports. It gives a. lot of ligures from which it would appear that there were some million due this country ..-.! :..J i...u.. . uuiiu; m sliiicu jt'iioti, mat tuu euuuiijr never received. -It concludes that the showing is correct and coolly brushes aside all commercial laws iu order to construct an argument upon it against protection. H says: "It may be askod what becomes of this "balance'' that we do not receive though it is iu our favorr Of course it is nut lost, It is invented iu other countries. coun-tries. It is paying wages and building enterprises abroad. "The republican policy is to make our import as small as possible by taxing them, on the theory that we shall receive the "balance" iu gold. If we received this balance, there would not be the same objection to this policy, but wo do not receive the. balance in gold. Wo receive securities or tho bolide of some English manufactory or Russian railroad in which the actual wealth lias been invested and in which it is paying wages to foreigners. "The truth is that our imports are the pay for our exports, and when tho tax on imports is so high that it does not pay to bring them into this country thai much wealth, (imports) is simply 'kept out of this country and is consumed con-sumed in building up sume other cuuutry." There are some items that the Herald does not take into consideratiou, such as the sums spent by Americau tourists abroad. The letters of credit crrried by them figure against tho balances; but there is not a dollar that has not beeu paid in some form. If Americans are ublo to invade other industrial fields, vveil anil good. There are not many Kussiau railroad bonds purchased pur-chased with Auierican money, nor bonds of liritish manufactories; but if thorrt U'trt it wool. I not ylTtipf tb question or be3r out the proposition of the Herald that the money was invested abroad because it could not got to the United States. 8uch expenditure have been made by speculators who had nothing whatever to do with tho export ot goods. They have gone to their baukers and purchased exchange which iu tho grand settlement has beeu figured fig-ured iu thu eloarauces. If we had followed fol-lowed the democratic plan of importing up to or beyond our exports, auy such foreign invcstuicuts would have directly lakeu gold out of the country. The investments in-vestments would have beeu made just tha same, (provided tho country had not been so impoverished that money for the purpose could uot have been had.) If, during tho period covered by the Herald's liguies. we had been compelled to mako all of the payments in gold that are represented by tho apparent deficiency, tho burden would have been heavy and would hav brought disaster. The paper jumps at tho conclusion that the whole sum was invested abroad, and that the investment was necessary be- j cause we chose to manufacture goods on our own account. Now, if auyono has met with a more absurd proposition in any quarter, iv e would like to hear of it." |