Speech of Hon. Samuel S. Cox, of New York
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| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
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Excerpt from Speech of Hon. Samuel S. Cox, of New York: In the House of Representatives, Feb 7, 1881, Also a Speech on Our Continental Policy, Delivered on Feb 26, 1881 The free-trade theory with respect to the individual is, that if he be left free to apply his best ability to the best conditions open to him he will (as a rule) achieve the greatest results. The exceptions come from individual folly or weakness. Nor do I know that the hottest protectionist ever pretended to rule out stupidity or laziness by tariff taxation, although he may yet tax the iron in the blood and the phosphorus of the brain. Every individual knows his own business best; that is the free-trade theory. He is his own best judge as to what he should turn hi hands and how he can make the most of his materials and his energy. The advocates of protection have never ventured to deny this fundamental proposition in terms; but they certainly do deny it by their acts. Their theory is that Congress is the best judge of what a man should do to win his bread. Congress should decide for him whether he should till the soil, or make wheat into flour, or throw the shuttle, or drive cattle, or delve in the mines of the earth. The average American citizen, says the protectionist, has not enough common sense to choose his own ™ if left to himself he will degrade (this is the term the protectionist uses) himself with agriculture, or he will seek starvation in the fruitless effort to make wooden toys in competition with the paupers of Germany. Is this true I? I am compelled to put the question soberly, for most soberly are these propositions of the protective theory acted upon as true. Are they not incorporated as active principles in the law of the land? Is not our statute full and running over with instances? This is the first step in the free-trade theory: The individual is his own best judge of his own abilities for the making of things of value. The second step is equally simple, namely, the individual is his own best judge as to where and how he shall trade. If left alone he will sell his productions where he can get the most for them, and buy what he wants where he can buy cheapest. Does it not seem obvious that in this way the individual will get the most there is to be had out of his industrial efforts? But the protective theory interposes here also a denial - even a downright, specific denial. One of the commonest arguments of protection is this: The American farmer, if he were left to his own unguided judgment, would buy his shovels and his prints, his clothing and his crockery, from England or from France. Understand that I do not make this statement. Under a free-trade system I believe that American manufactures would prosper beyond all our dreams. It is only the advocate of the hot-house system of industrial development who is afraid of the free rain, the free sun, and the free air of the worlds broad field. It is the protectionist who lays down the proposition that the unguided farmer would go to England or France or Germany for the furnishing of his farm and his household. He would buy abroad, says the Pennsylvanian philosopher, and the result would be ruin. Why? Because he would create an "unfavorable balance of trade," and because he would lose the "home market" for his sales which he now maintains by his purchases. As to the "unfavorable balance of trade," it is sufficient to say that trade is trade - the giving of value for value. When a trade is completed there is no balance at all, favorable or unfavorable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
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