TRADE AND LABOR. 249 



be curtained ; the fires of warmth and comfort would 

 be kindled, and cheerful homes would take the place 

 of what are now nothing less than dens of misery. In 

 all these operations trade would be the active agent, 

 reaping its rich rewards in place of the demoralization 

 and disaster which now waits upon it in every direc- 

 tion. Thus would be repeated the economic opera- 

 tions of the war of the rebellion, divested of its horri- 

 ble carnage of disease and death, and without the 

 intervention of government as an employer, and the 

 entailing of a mountain of debt. 



But all efforts to achieve these great blessings 

 would be altogether thrown away so long as our doors 

 remain open, inviting competition from the outside 

 world. The breaking down of the crushing competi- 

 tion among ourselves would be of no avail, if we per- 

 mit it to come in from abroad. This is so self evident 

 that it requires no more than the statement. Our 

 first necessity is to so protect our own industries as to 

 stimulate the production at home, on our own soil, of 

 everything required to supply our own wants, in every 

 case where the conditions of soil and climate are suit- 

 able. For instance, our yearly importations of sugar 

 and molasses amount to a round one hundred million 

 dollars, while we have soil and climate excellently 

 adapted to its production in unlimited quantities. 

 But the slaves of Cuba and the East Indies, and the 

 coolies of the Sandwich Islands, can produce it at less 

 cost to their masters than can our people and live. 

 Thus the competition in trade, unrestricted, forces the 

 introduction of the slave and coolie grown article, re- 

 gardless of consequences to our own people. 



