imprisonment, their execution by halter | ple, but by no means so to place the would be looked upon as a crime. By the working of the same law, or peculiarity of our nature, custom-house oaths, made for the undervaluation of imported goods, cease to be regarded, by those who make them, as sinful oaths. It is very generally known among merchants, and by the officers of the law, that the oaths are false, and they are looked upon as a mere idle ceremony. A custom of undervaluation is very soon thoroughly established and ceases to be thought criminal. Goods worth two dollars are uniformly sworn in at one dollar. The same is done by all. One man is not more guilty than his neighbor; necessity establishes uniformity, and uniformity removes the stain of criminality. The financier who established the system of ad valorem duties certainly had a high opinion of the virtue and integrity of foreign importers, and for this they may well applaud him; much more would he have earned their applause had he carried out his principle of confidence, and abolished the entire system of surveillance and customs vigilance. Why any oaths at all? Why these armed vessels and expensive bond warehouses? The faith of a merchant tried by an oath and found good, is good in all other things. If the importer rates his goods at their true value, notwithstanding the loss he thereby suffers, he needs no compulsion nor "bond" to get from him the payment of a duty. In a word, to carry out and perfect the system of ad valorems, as it now exists, the revenue service and the warehouse system should be immediately abolished. The importers need only be asked how much they owe the goverument, and they will tell it truly, and will pay it when desired. "Lead us not into temptation," is the prayer of a divine humility and wisdom. To expose others to temptation is perhaps, if not wickedness, at least a gross folly. Governments established upon the confidence principle never last beyond the cooling of a first enthusiasm; those on the other hand which are based upon the "laws of human nature," last while their foundations remain. It is good and amiable to place confidence in the peo same confidence in that mixture of rogues and swindlers which form the small and mischievous minority of every community, and whose want of confidence gives them a temporary advantage. The protective function of government, like its repressive one, was given it to enable honesty and virtue to thrive; and government violates a sacred trust when it puts promiscuous confidence in knaves and honest men alike, that is to say, in the entire population. It is a democratic rule to place no confidence in the good-will or integrity of men in office subject to temptation. Hence the strenuous opposition of democrats to every species of monopoly. Government ought to adopt the same rule, and place as little confidence in those whom it controls as they have placed in it. Under these considerations lies the paradox of Democratism, i. e. "All confidence is to be placed in the people." "No confidence is to be placed in the government." If the majority of the people were not by nature and education inclined to virtue, republican institutions could not exist, for it is an accepted maxim, that Republics are founded on virtue. In a well-established Republic, consequently, it is necessary to confide, to a very great extent, in the moral sense of the community. In every large community, however, under the present system of social education, there is a pretty strong minority, small in numbers, but active and practical, of knaves and deceivers. Against these, as a defence, the honest majority have provided a protective system, or government. When one speaks of the people, the roguish minority are tacitly excluded; and hence the paradoxical expression, “all confidence must be placed in the people." Substitute the word "population," and the paradox appears ridiculous. No man in his senses ever put moral confidence in a mass of mere (6 population." If a virtuous people elect virtuous rulers, all confidence should be placed in these rulers, and yet it is a democratic rule to entertain no such confidence. PARADOX II. "Free Trade the best." Freedom of intercourse with foreign nations, for the exchange of products will be the natural condition of a nation carried by internal industry and suitable protection to the height of fortune. It will be not only a natural condition but one necessary to the highest commercial prosperity. If any condition of trade can be said to be natural and normal in the same sense that a state of peace is the natural and normal condition of a people, it is that of free exchange, and from the considerations already suggested, we may believe that the ability to maintain a free commerce is a sure criterion of national prosperity, as far as prosperity is given by superior industry and economy. The industrial prosperity of a people is at its height when they are able to open an unrestricted commerce with every nation. We affirm, then, our belief that the attainment of this desirable condition is, or should be, the aim of national economy; as far as that economy is affected by legistion; and we hold that all legislation should be directed to the attainment of an open trade with all nations. In the same manner it may be shown that the prosperit, of the farmer is at its height when he is able to supply the manufacturer in a free market without fear of competition or restriction. But it is necessary to distinguish very accurately between the criterion of our prosperity and its cause. We believe that foreign trade is the criterion, not the cause. The cause of our prosperity is clearly the industry and economy of the people aided by a protective legislation. A To bring an industrious people to that height of prosperity that shall permit them to open a free and and unrestricted trade with other nations it is necessary to give an early and efficient protection to their first industrial endeavors. They require to be protected against the capital and the mature and experienced economy of those whom they wish to rival, and who have already enjoyed the same advantages of protection. The The larger the capital employed in a manufacture and the longer and more varied the experience, the greater will be the certainty of success; through the ability, first, of cheap production, and then of pre-occupying the markets of the world. manufacturer who begins with a very small capital must reap a large profit to live. A capital of a million yielding one per cent. is indeed no better than one of half a million yielding two per cent., but it covers a larger ground and brings its products more cheaply into the market. The rate of interest, or in other words of profit upon capital, expected in England, is not more than one half of what is expected in Ameri ca. The English capitalist will consequently produce twice as much as the American capitalist and be content with half as large a profit. In a country where numerous small capitals are employed, as in America, assisted by the labor of their owners, larger profits are expected by those owners, and must be had: If one has but a thousand dollars to engage with in business, the proceeds of that thousand, and of the credit which it engenders, must be made a means of support; and that is the state of things in this country. The ingenuity and industry of the people is expend resuit, and the effect is a higher rate of interest for money as money is made more productive, and is consequently more valuable to its owners. Rates of interest are indeed made high by other circumstances less favorable than these; the uncertainty of investments is perhaps one cause, but it is at least a sufficient one for our present enquiry that money is worth more in proportion as it is made to produce more. Analogously, peace is the criterion, noted in making small means produce a large the cause of the political strength and grandeur of the people-a people to whom peace is necessary, whose habits are like those of the Chinese, normally and absolutely peaceful, are subject to be overrun and subjugated by every invader. powerful nation at peace with its neighbors, stands in a position of respectability and credit; it is able to defend itself and cannot be invaded with impunity; its peaceful state is therefore only the criterion of its prowess and martial courage. To illustrate the disadvantages of American capitalists compared with those of imprisonment, their execution by halter | ple, but by no means so to place the would be looked upon as a crime. By the working of the same law, or peculiarity of our nature, custom-house oaths, made for the undervaluation of imported goods, cease to be regarded, by those who make them, as sinful oaths. It is very generally known among merchants, and by the officers of the law, that the oaths are false, and they are looked upon as a mere idle ceremony. A custom of undervaluation is very soon thoroughly established and ceases to be thought criminal. Goods worth two dollars are uniformly sworn in at one dollar. The same is done by all. One man is not more guilty than his neighbor; necessity establishes uniformity, and uniformity removes the stain of criminality. The financier who established the system of ad valorem duties certainly had a high opinion of the virtue and integrity of foreign importers, and for this they may well applaud him; much more would he have earned their applause had he carried out his principle of confidence, and abolished the entire system of surveillance and customs vigilance. Why any oaths at all? Why these armed vessels and expensive bond warehouses? The faith of a merchant tried by an oath and found good, is good in all other things. If the importer rates his goods at their true value, notwithstanding the loss he thereby suffers, he needs no compulsion nor "bond" to get from him the payment of a duty. In a word, to carry out and perfect the system of ad valorems, as it now exists, the revenue service and the warehouse system should be immediately abolished. The importers need only be asked how much they owe the goverument, and they will tell it truly, and will pay it when desired. "Lead us not into temptation," is the prayer of a divine humility and wisdom. To expose others to temptation is perhaps, if not wickedness, at least a gross folly. Governments established upon the confidence principle never last beyond the cooling of a first enthusiasm; those on the other hand which are based upon the "laws of human nature," last while their foundations remain. It is good and amiable to place confidence in the peo same confidence in that mixture of rogues and swindlers which form the small and mischievous minority of every community, and whose want of confidence gives them a temporary advantage. The protective function of government, like its repressive one, was given it to enable honesty and virtue to thrive; and government violates a sacred trust when it puts promiscuous confidence in knaves and honest men alike, that is to say, in the entire population. It is a democratic rule to place no confidence in the good-will or integrity of men in office subject to temptation. Hence the strenuous opposition of democrats to every species cf monopoly. Government ought to adopt the same rule, and place as little confidence in those whom it controls as they have placed in it. Under these considerations lies the paradox of Democratism, i. e. "All confidence is to be placed in the people.” "No confidence is to be placed in the government." If the majority of the people were not by nature and education inclined to virtue, republican institutions could not exist, for it is an accepted maxim, that Republics are founded on virtue. In a well-established Republic, consequently, it is necessary to confide, to a very great extent, in the moral sense of the community. In every large community, however, under the present system of social education, there is a pretty strong minority, small in numbers, but active and practical, of knaves and deceivers. Against these, as a defence, the honest majority have provided a protective system, or government. When one speaks of the people, the roguish minority are tacitly excluded;and hence the paradoxical expression," all confidence must be placed in the people." Substitute the word "population," and the paradox appears ridiculous. No man in his senses ever put moral confidence in a mass of mere population." If a virtuous people elect virtuous rulers, all confidence should be placed in these rulers, and yet it is a democratic rule to entertain no such confidence. PARADOX II. "Free Trade the best." Freedom of intercourse with foreign nations, for the exchange of products will be the natural condition of a nation carried by internal industry and suitable protection to the height of fortune. It will be not only a natural condition but one necessary to the highest commercial prosperity. If any condition of trade can be said to be natural and normal in the same sense that a state of peace is the natural and normal condition of a people, it is that of free exchange, and from the considerations already suggested, we may believe that the ability to maintain a free commerce is a sure criterion of national prosperity, as far as prosperity is given by superior industry and economy. The industrial prosperity of a people is at its height when they are able to open an unrestricted commerce with every nation. We affirm, then, our belief that the attainment of this desirable condition is, or should be, the aim of national economy; as far as that economy is affected by legistion; and we hold that all legislation should be directed to the attainment of an open trade with all nations. In the same manner it may be shown that the prosperit, of the farmer is at its height when he is able to supply the manufacturer in a free market without fear of competition or restriction. But it is necessary to distinguish very accurately between the criterion of our prosperity and its cause. We believe that foreign trade is the criterion, not the cause. The cause of our prosperity is clearly the industry and economy of the people aided by a protective legislation. To bring an industrious people to that height of prosperity that shall permit them to open a free and and unrestricted trade with other nations it is necessary to give an early and efficient protection to their first industrial endeavors. They require to be protected against the capital and the mature and experienced economy of those whom they wish to rival, and who have already enjoyed the same advantages of protection. The The larger the capital employed in a manufacture and the longer and more varied the experience, the greater will be the certainty of success; through the ability, first, of cheap production, and then of pre-occupying the markets of the world. manufacturer who begins with a very small capital must reap a large profit to live. A capital of a million yielding one per cent. is indeed no better than one of half a million yielding two per cent., but it covers a larger ground and brings its products more cheaply into the market. The rate of interest, or in other words of profit upon capital, expected in England, is not more than one half of what is expected in Ameri са. The English capitalist will consequently produce twice as much as the American capitalist and be content with half as large a profit. In a country where numerous small capitals are employed, as in America, assisted by the labor of their owners, larger profits are expected by those owners, and must be had: If one has but a thousand dollars to engage with in business, the proceeds of that thousand, and of the credit which it engenders, must be made a means of support; and that is the state of things in this country. The ingenuity and industry of the people is expendAnalogously, peace is the criterion, noted in making small means produce a large the cause of the political strength and grandeur of the people-a people to whom peace is necessary, whose habits are like those of the Chinese, normally and absolutely peaceful, are subject to be overrun and subjugated by every invader. A powerful nation at peace with its neighbors, stands in a position of respectability and credit; it is able to defend itself and cannot be invaded with impunity; its peaceful state is therefore only the criterion of its prowess and martial courage. resuit, and the effect is a higher rate of interest for money as money is made more productive, and is consequently more valuable to its owners. Rates of interest are indeed made high by other circumstances less favorable than these; the uncertainty of investments is perhaps one cause, but it is at least a sufficient one for our present enquiry that money is worth more in proportion as it is made to produce more. To illustrate the disadvantages of American capitalists compared with those of England, let us take a single instance. is an indisputable fact that the blacksmiths of America are supplied with English iron; that the iron used for railroads is chiefly English; that the manufacturers of iron in America, in the Atlantic states, find it difficult if not impossible to enter into competition with English iron-traders. Excepting the forges in the interior of Ohio, and elsewhere, where the cheapness of coal and ore somewhat lessens the cost of production;-at points to which the conveyance of the heavy foreign material adds perhaps a third to its price;-profits continue to be made on the manufacture of the coarser varieties. It is even conjectured that the manufacturers of the West will soon be sufficiently protected in their own neighborhoods, against English competition, by the mere effect of distance, and costs of transportation from the sea-coast to the interior; this is their good fortune, and adds force to every argument for the protection of those manufacturers who are not as much favored by nature and accident. Those Western manufacturers of iron will never be able to enter into competition with England in the markets of the seacoast; English iron, of equal qualities, carried into the interior, is there on a level with iron manufactured on the spot, after the addition of perhaps a third or a fourth to its price, as costs of transportation. Western iron brought to the Atlantic States has twice that difference to contend with. Let us suppose that a bar of steel, brought from Michigan to New York, has one dollar added to its cost for expenses of commission and transportation; a bar of English steel carried from New York to Michigan would have had the same addition, and would be then, even in Michigan, on a par with steel made upon the spot, and to whose price nothing had been added by transportation. The consequence is, a bar of Michigan steel ought to cost in New York in the proportion of two dollars more than the same of English steel. From these considerations we gather that if protection is needed at all, it is needed as much by the manufacturers of the West as by those of the Atlantic States, and that the market of the Atlantic States will never be supplied by Western manufacturers while the cost of production in the Western country are the same as, or greater than in England. We have said that English manufacturers are content with lower profits than those of America; and the reason is, they employ larger capital. The iron works of Wales, England and Scotland are conducted upon an immense scale, by proprietors who live upon their estates, magnificently indeed, but by no meaas realizing from their property profits which would content an American capitalist. We have it from the authority of an iron-master of our own State, whose mills are now standing idle through the effect of English competition, that, on the iron estates which he visited in England, not long ago, he found the proprietors content with an investment of millions, yielding them only a subsistence and no in crease Coal and iron mines, worked upon a stupendous scale, that for five years together had supplied the English market and inundated the American, without a particle of profit to their owners, who were content if they paid their expenses. These proprietors have been living for years in expectation of the time when American democracy should do away with the protective system. They are well informed of the state of things in this country; they know the imitative character of our politics, and that there has been, for many years, prevailing amongst us a free trade anglo-mania. These capitalists have been long waiting for the time which is now come, or is fast coming, when the profits of the foreign trade should compensate them for their forbearance and patience during the years of no gain. English iron manufacturers are, then, at the highest point of their commercial prosperity, when they can make the trade in iron free between themselves and America; that is to say, when they can undersell and annihilate the American iron-master. American iron manufacturers are at their highest point of commercial prosperity when they can open a free trade with Great Britain and her provinces; that is to say, when they can undersell and annihilate the proprietors of mines and forges in Wales, England and Scotland. Let the American politician pause upon the consideration, and ask himself, whether the iron-masters of England, Wales and Scotland will suffer |