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able. I should state, however, that respecting the Argentine Republic, the terms of the problem are reversed. We buy of the United States twice as much as they receive from us. But our trade being limited, the balance is favorable to Latin-America, a balance which the United States has to pay in coin, and which it is natural, just, and proper they should seek to satisfy with merchandise.

The United States manufacture the same goods we buy of Europe. From furniture to clothing, from the implements that till our fields to the wire which fences them, and even to the rails which at no distant day will connect the three Americas, everything is found and produced in this prodigious center of human industry, everything exists and can be fully worked up on our soil. Why, then, should raw materials change their course towards Europe? What reason exists for our commercial currents being sluggish when the rest of America produces what the United States need to elaborate and to command with their resources the commerce of the world? These are the questions and the problems which are absorbing the attention of thinkers and economists. Three systems suggest themselves and are rejected at one and the same time. The truth is, the real difficulty is not ascertained; perhaps, because the remedy would be too violent, or because it is judged easier to correct the institutions of others than our Three plans were discussed in the committee: The "Zollverein;" Inter-continental free trade; and Reciprocity treaties.

own.

The first of these customs systems was proclaimed here by the ex-Senator from the State of Illinois, the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, who left written, in 1860, a plan of Confederation which extended from the Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus, branching out to the Antilles. The idea, in the course of time, has expanded, and I am forced to the conclusion that to-day it embraces all the nations of America, since a Delegate from the southern confines of the Continent has been charged with its study.

The "Zollverein" is looked upon to-day as an inacceptable institution. It has its scientific explanation in the grouping of homogeneous States like those which confed

erated their custom-houses in 1819, and later on their political institutions to form the German Empire. At first the territory covered by that league was limited in extent; the experiment was first made by three States and subsequent additions came naturally and gradually, in view of the success achieved and the economic advantages which experience demonstrated; but can that experiment, local and cautious in its origin, serve us as an example to convert the Continent into a single customs territory, and to consolidate eighteen nationalities for the collection and distribution of their revenues? Can the compacts falling within the scope of that "Zollverein," of 1841, comprising a territory of 200,000 miles and embracing 23,000,000 human beings, be made to apply, with any assurance of success, to a continent whose area is represented by 12,000,000 of miles populated by 115,000,000 of inhabitants?

I find that this idea presents all the elements of an hazardous adventure, the results of which are not within the scope of human foresight. Viewing matters from an economic standpoint, the nations in the league would enter into it uncertain of their revenues and apprehensive of their preservation. The distribution of customs duties would be based, as in the "Zollverein" initiated by Prussia, upon the population of the States; but this would be to disregard the consumption of each country, which should be the equitable basis of the distribution. The importations of our countries differ essentially, depending on their customs, manner of living, and their progress, more or less advanced. I do not wish to make disagreeable comparisons, nor is it necessary for me to go into details; but taking unofficial statistics, I can state, that the foreign importation of our countries reaches in some cases $45.99 per capita while in others it falls to $1.63. It can be seen that with this basis of consumption and these inequalities of revenue we can not agree upon a uniform basis to distribute it in like proportions to all and each of the inhabitants of our Continent. In the very "Zollverein" which is remembered as a happy consummation for the German Confederation, the benefits were problematical for some of the States; Prussia, for instance,

which contributed three-quarters of the revenue, received therefrom but five-elevenths, whereas Bavaria, whose revenue did not amount in 1834 to 1 franc per inhabitant, received under the "Zollverein" 2 francs, 53 centimes, or an excess of 160 per cent.

Advantages for one state are not secured under the "Zollverein" except at the expense of the revenue of the other states, and this result can not be acceptable to a Conference which at the present time is discussing economic interests shorn of either extravagance or exactions. It would be difficult, indeed, to convince a citizen of the North or one of the South, that the tax he pays his Government and the duties charged on his necessities were not intended for such Government, nor for the nation which protects him with its sovereignty, but for another state which is unknown to him and whose inhabitants, consuming as one, are to supplement their revenues by taking revenue from those consuming forty times as much; the revenues would be diverted, taxes would not pay for the public services of the state, and the sovereignties would be plunged into a veritable socialism. I should state that if I have presented this argument in an emphatic and unqualified form, it is because the nation I have the honor to represent would not be the most injured upon seeking that Procrustean couch; were it otherwise I would have dispensed with it. It has been thought also that the United States would bear the greatest tax, but this is another error I must correct. The consumption of imported goods in this country amounts to $11.64 per inhabitant, and this is explained by the fact of it is a producing as well as manufacturing nation, which provides for the greater part of its own necessities.

The general prosperity of the Zollverein" states was the result of the reduction of the tariffs, which aided commerce and made it possible for them to develop their industries. Customs duties partly defrayed the domestic necessities of the states, but they in no way involved a restrictive system. The maximum duty was fixed at 10 per cent. Raw materials were admitted free and everything assisting in the development of industry enjoyed considerable reductions.

Would we base our union upon a tariff of this kind? That would demand fundamental reforms in nations maintaining protection. How could we reconcile the two schools and the two tendencies which are antagonistic in their conclusions? Would those of our custom-houses that impose moderate duties on imports and tax them only so far as the needs of the nation demand wish to subject themselves to the system of protection which would embrace all our continent? Or will protection give way to freedom of trade and to liberal tariffs? Our people, who make their living by the exportation of their natural resources, who have not solved the problem of transforming themselves into manufacturers because the question demands areful study, would be less disposed to espouse protection, and to adopt tariffs which might exceed the necessities of the revenue without protecting any one and injuring all. Would the United States modify their tariff?

It might be believed they would, since they have proposed to us the discussion of this subject; but if they had been disposed to agree to the abolition of custom-houses in the states of the "Zollverein," and to tariff reforms with the states not included in the league, this latter resolution would of itself have brought about the desired end. When protection shall be removed from the producer of raw material, so that the manufacturer may work at the same cost as that prevailing in the rest of the world; when the customs laws shall cheapen the products which are auxiliary to manufacture, the latter will be fully armed for competition, will have dominated the continent, and Europe will have surrendered the post without struggles between different duties, without disagreeable attacks, without confederations or uncertain compacts. We should not seek trade by attacking articles of cheap production, but rather cheapening those of expensive production in order that they may increase consumption, placing them within reach of the greater number and consulting the larger interests.

My distinguished friend, General Henderson, reminded us in one of his animated speeches that the United States manufactured two rails for every one manufactured by

England; that their railways represent 50 per cent. of those of the world; that their telegraph wire encircles the earth thirty times; and with all the triumphs achieved in every field of human progress, he presented to us the National Treasury burdened with the weight of a magnificent surplus.

As a son of this continent I share in the pride which animated the words of the eloquent Delegate, but in the economy of nations the very excess of prosperity involves problems which it is necessary to solve before complications arise. It may be a paradox; it may be, perchance, considered extravagant, when I state, the United States need to defend themselves against their very wealth.

I do not think higer praise can be given to the producing power of a nation, nor do I think that any other is entitled to it in a greater degree than the United States. With an area of 3,500,000 square miles, traversed by 160,000 miles of railway; with 780,000 miles of telegraph wire; endowed with riches which nature has showered with lavish hand; with industries which have doubled their profits under the law of protection; with the enterprise and creative faculty which agitates the minds of their sons, responding to every difficulty with an invention and accumulating inventions which are of themselves another form of wealth; with these innumerable and powerful elements the United States are on the highway to a vertigo of production, which, let us hope, may spread to exportation or the consuming population, which latter acts in accordance with demographic laws whose operation is far less stimulating. But industries will outstrip necessities, and new foreign markets will be indispensable to maintain the economic balance, perhaps, before the electric wires encircle the planet once more.

Immigration has, up to the present time, kept pace with these rapid developments, but it has also contributed to give them greater impetus, and to-day it may be observed that the current of immigration does not increase. At all events, it is easier to export the article than to bring the consumer, and this is the problem we desire to solve with an interest truly American.

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