THE FREE POET 385 



of Germany, Belgium, Holland and Denmark. The bulk of the carry- 

 ing trade is done by Great Britain and the German ports on the North 

 Sea. Great Britain is substantially a free trade country. It is this 

 fact that makes her the clearing-house of the world. Goods are brought 

 to her ports from America, the continent of Europe, from Asia, the 

 Indies, Africa, South America, and the islands of the seas, where they 

 are re-assembled for distribution again to the places of ultimate pur- 

 chase. For fifty years England has been mistress of the seas for the 

 very simple reason that ships could come to her ports without the pay- 

 ment of customs taxes; they could there discharge their cargoes and 

 find other cargoes awaiting them without delay. There were no ob- 

 stacles, obstructions or tariff barriers of any kind to interfere with 

 traffic. It is this that has built up Great BritaiQ during the last fifty 

 years. Her ports were counters, market-places, clearing houses for the 

 making of a million transactions and the distribution of the most di- 

 versified products of every clime. 



It is a recognized fact that water transportation will go hundreds of 

 miles to escape tariff barriers. The protective tariff killed the Spanish 

 trade; it destroyed the rich and prosperous cities of the Netherlands. 

 The abolition of the Corn Laws by England opened up her ports when 

 the ports of all the rest of the world were closed, and brought to her 

 shores the carrying trade which had previously been distributed among 

 many nations. 



The free cities of Germany, Hamburg, Bremen and Luebeck, had 

 enjoyed free trade for generations. Their wealth and power sprang 

 from their over-seas commerce. And when they entered the German 

 Empire, provision was made for the partial retention of these condi- 

 tions by the building of free ports within the harbor. Copenhagen 

 and Hong Kong have done substantially the same thing, while Antwerp 

 — another great shipping point — enjoys substantially free trade. 



And America can not hope to compete with these free-trade coun- 

 tries, she can not hope to be a clearing-house, or to have ready at hand 

 cargoes for outgoing ships until natural conditions enable this country 

 to compete with Great Britain and the continental ports which have 

 substantially free trade. And these conditions can be secured without 

 modification of our tariff laws by the extension of the warehousing 

 system which now prevails, and the establishment of a series of free 

 ports similar to those in Germany. I would suggest that congress pro- 

 vide three such ports upon the Atlantic sea-board ; one on the Gulf of 

 Mexico; one on the Panama Canal; and one or two upon the Pacific 

 coast. These ports might be opened in cooperation with various cities 

 which would agree to build and equip the harbors so that the clearance 

 of goods would be facilitated; or the government itself might provide 

 such ports, to be maintained by low harbor charges. Cooperation with 

 the cities would stimulate them to acquire their own docks and harbors. 



