Free Trade III.

The audience which last night listened to Mr. Godkin's third lecture on Free Trade was not so large as at the two preceding lectures, but nevertheless comfortably filled Sever 11. The lecturer devoted his time to discussing the accusation of protectionists that the free trade agitation was incited by British influence, and their claims that the prosperity of our country for the past quarter of a century and the high wages which laborers have received, were due to the present high tariff.

It is difficult to approach the subject of British interference in our tariff legislation with seriousness. There is not a scintilla of evidence that any influence had been exerted from that quarter. It is a ridiculous idea that the Cobden Club has ever used its influence to establish free trade in the United States. The truth is that the tariff reform agitation is hindered because its advocates have not a personal interest in the matter. In fact, nothing would so hurt the British manufacturer as the lowering of the duty on certain articles which enter into the manufacture of many commodities.

The tariff of 1860 is the most complete experiment which the protectionists have made, and it has given a stimulus to native industry such as no other tariff has ever done. It cannot be denied that the country has prospered under it, but it is another thing to assert that there would not have been the same prosperity without it. Protectionists tell us that countries like Ireland, Turkey and Portugal, have failed to prosper on account of free trade, but they neglect to speak of the real causes which have operated to bring about this unfortunate state of affairs. The tariff has not proved a protection against commercial crises; for during eleven out of twenty-five years that the tariff has been in force, there has existed the very state of things which protectionists say would follow the lowering of duties.

Wages have not been raised in any appreciable amount since 1860, while the cost of living has greatly increased. The reports of the Iron and Steel Association corroborate this. And yet we are told that the laborer in America is infinitely better off than in Europe. To be sure money wages are higher, but it is not the amount of money, but the purchasing power of that money that is of interest to the laborer. The reason that the condition of the European laborer is worse than that of the American, is because his standard of living is so much lower. When he receives large wages he spends his money in luxuries, champagne for himself, and silk dresses for his wife, and then when hard times come he is destitute. This is the reason why protectionists find squalor and poverty among the laboring classes in England, and not because of free trade.

Mr. Godkin at his last lecture on Tuesday next, will speak of the social influence of a high tariff.