FREE TRADE (ante), a phrase which, as generally used in the United States, signifies an exchange of commodities between the people of different countries, without any restriction on the part of the government, except so far as it may be thouggit expedi ent and necessary to impose a tariff upon foreign goods solely for the purpose of raising revenue. A tariff imposed for the protection or benefit of home manufactures is held by free-traders to be contrary to sound principles of political economy, and therefore, in the long run, injurious to the nation which imposes it. The argument for free trade as thus defined may be briefly and fairly summarized as follows: The imposition of duties upon foreign productions in.order to enhance their price and thus to create or foster a market for home productions of the same kind, is in the nature of a tax upon consumers for the benefit of producers, and therefore unjust, it being the right of con sumers to buy in the cheapest market. A country which puts no hindrances on imports always deals to the greatest advantage, and that advantage decreases in proportion as restraints are imposed. To prohibit men by law from buying where they can buy cheapest. is to affirm in effect the principle of human slavery, and to erect a barrier against the progress of civilization. Such prohibitions, moreover, by creating an arti ficial stimulus to home production, often lead to a ruinous competition, resulting in over production and loss of capital. Governments should leave men free, without inter ference, to employ their capital and labor according to their own individual judgment and enterprise, and the exchange of productions between nations should follow the •natural laws of political economy. Protection, so-called, is au interference with the laws of nature. Any temporary advantages gained by this means arc more counter balanced by inevitable evils. The protection of a special. production is only temporary, while it does not result in any benefit whatever to the general industry of a nation. Individual enterprise and self-interest are better guides m the investment of capital than legislative enactments. A nation can attain to the highest prosperity and secure the greatest abundance for its inhabitants, not by restrictions upon trade, but by making it absolutely free. Every nation should devote itself to such branches of industry as are
best adapted to its soil, climate, and 'circumstances, and exchange its productions for those of other nations according co the economic laws which exist in the nature of things. The argument that if trade is left thus unrestricted, the opportunities for the employment of home labor will be diminished, is akin to if not identical with that which has so often led men to oppose the introduction of labor-saving machinery. When any trade or manufacture can be profitably introduced into a country, private enterprise is adequate to the purpose, and is the only agent that can be safely relied upon. Protective duties, to be effective, must operate partially, unequally, and there fore unjustly. Protective legislation is always fluctuating and uncertain, while freedom of trade, once established, contributes to the stability of both capital and labor. It is an important argument for free trade that it tends to promote peace and diminish the incitements to war. It promotes friendliness between nations through the sense of interdependence and a community of interests. A vast proportion of the wars that have cursed the human race have grown out of the irritations caused by restrictions upon commercial intercourse. It was formerly supposed that in the commerce of nations what benefited one must of necessity injure another; but this absurdity has been effec tually exposed. It is now clearly seen that trade between nations as between individ uals is mutually advantageous, and that in keeping open and unobstructed the high ways of commerce the brotherhood of the human race is promoted. Foreign trade in its nature differs from the trade at home, and the one no more than the oilier can be promoted by legislative interference. Those who wish to see the doctrine of free trade thoroughly expounded by its ablest champions are referred to the works of Mill, Mae leod„kmasa Walker, Perry, and others; also to Bastiat's Sophisms of the Protectionists, and Grosvenor's Does Protection Protect P (For the argument against free trade and for protection, see TARIFF.)