306 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



to himself for the purpose of benefiting posterity, and none 

 ever will. No elements of fertility are lost except those which 

 flow into the sea, and even of those some portion is returned.* 

 Each generation finds itself able to meet the conditions of its 

 time, and we must assume that this condition will always 

 continue. The best markets are always home markets, and 

 the promotion of diversified industries does make openings at 

 home for the differing tastes and talents of our youth, and by 

 keeping them here increases the market for home-made com- 

 modities. Economic science assumes a condition of commercial 

 peace, while, as a matter of fact, the world is the theater of 

 unceasing commercial war. In this war the best defense of a 

 nation so richly and variously endowed as our own, is claimed 

 to be such a protective tarifl'as shall result in full occupation 

 for all our people in producing commodities and exchanging 

 them among ourselves.f 



The arguments for and against the protective principle as 

 a fiscal measure for world-wide application, as condensed on a 

 previous page, are of course the most important, as they go to 

 the root of the whole matter. They are not likely, however, 

 to become prominent in popular discussion, which has usually 

 been and will probably continue to be mainly directed to the 



* The coal burned seems to be largely lost to future economic use. 



t It is proper to note that the advantages of a protective tariff havr probably 

 been more obvious during our national career to this time than they can be 

 hereafter. During our period of most rapid growth, a continuous stream of 

 immigrants, in connection with a high birth-rate, afforded a prompt market for 

 all the manufactures which could be produced with our limited capital. The 

 abundance of food and of opportunities for labor restrained the growth of unein 

 pi )y' d and dependent classes. With the abundant capital now accumuhitcil . 

 we can easily produce a surplus of manufactures, with a constant increase in lli" 

 capital and labor which can be profitably employed only in producing foi- 

 foreign markets. These conditions must result in such reductions of cost, in 

 part, unfortunately, involving a lowering of our standard of life, as will roiulor 

 our manufacturers more independent of foreign competition in home markets. 

 This will not, however, reduce the demand for protection, whicli our manufac- 

 turers will continue to seek in order to be able, by obtaining good prices at 

 home, to show an average profit, while disposing of surplus stocks at lower rates, 

 if necessary, in foreign markets. 



