PROTECTION vs. FREE TRADE.
Raving noticed why England is able to undersell us in our own markets, and that she can cripple the manufacturer of any nation not aided by labor-saving machinery, without regard to the cheapness of labor, we may now show how our policy has been framed to advance her interests more than our own, and to enrich foreign manufacturers while we have crippled or ruined those at home ; that our superior resources and monopoly of productions in certain staples have enriched England without adding mate rially to our own wealth.
A brief history of our tariffs and their consequences will give the facts, and prove the necessity of protection for the development of our resources.
The Revolution ended British rule and legislation over the Colonies and their trade. That was the cause ; this was the effect. The markets for our pig iron cut off, and the importation of British iron and manufactures suspended, our capital and skill were turned to supply our own necessities ; and many small iron-works and factories were then called into existence to be crushed with the return of peace.
England clearly foresaw a dangerous rival in the American States. Their skill and superior iron enabled them to produce a better article from this material than could be produced in England. But the great improvements made in the process of manu facturing iron, and the use of coal and coke in its production, enabled the English manu facturer to produce a cheap if not a good article ; and in order to control as much foreign trade as possible, the Act of 1785 (25 Geo. III. c. 67) was passed, to prevent, under severe penalties, the emigration of mechanics or skilful workers in iron or steel, or the ex portation of any tool, engine, or machine, beyond the seas.
With the return of peace following the Revolution came an almost total drain of specie for foreign goods, and a languishing state of our own manufactures,—poverty, ruin, and low prices for labor and the productions of labor ; proving that FREE TRADE brought even more ills than WAR.