The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1888. THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1687, 17 January 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1888. THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.

Fkeeteadees are now jubilant over the message in favor of Ereetrade which President Cleveland has addressed to the United States Congress. In it they find a great argument in favor of their theory. It is, however, better to consider the conditions under which the proposal is made, and see whether they are like those of New Zealand before coming to any hasty conclusion on the subject. Before doing this it is necessary to cast a glance at the past history of the United States. At one time several States of the Union were unable ; to pay their debts, and had to repudiate them. It was at this time that Sydney Smith lacerated them—that he addressed his famous petition to Congress praying that the money he had invested in Pennsylvanian State bonds might he repaid to him—and that the money-lending world refused to subscribe to an American loan of £1,000,000. This was the condition of America previous to adopting Protection. In 1866 the debt of America was 2,788,236,173 dollars; in 1886 it was 1,303,034,056. Thus in 20 years America has reduced her indebtedness by over 50 per cent.—or, put in plain English, she bias reduced her debt in 20 years by nearly £300,000,000 (three hundred millions). That is not a bad record for 20 years of Protection! Another.thing is: the debt of America was incurred originally at 5 and 6 per cent, interest,hut now the rate of interest has been brought down to 3 and 4 per cent., while nearly half of it (574,013,535 dollars) hears no interest at all. It is thus shown that 20 years of Protection have almost wiped out a debt of 560 millions of British money! The result is that America has very little taxation to pay, with the exception of what she pays through the Customs. In 1885 she had a surplus of 17,859,735 dollars; in 1886, 49,405,545 dollars; in 1887,55,567,849 dollars. Thus the surplus revenue of the United States is becoming yearly enormous, and as the cost of government is decreasing, owing to the decrease of the National Debt, it is evident that the time has arrived for relieving the people of unnecessary taxation. This is the burden of President Cleveland’s message.,. The Government does not want the amount of taxation it is collecting, «,nd as it does not, the Customs duties ought io be lowered. There can be no doubt but that President 1 Cleveland ia quite right. There is a protective duty to the extent of 70 and 80 and more per cent on some goods in America, and it is quite evident that it is not desirable to continue it. But the great questions for us to solve are: Have we reduced, our debt to less than one half ? Have we enormous sums to spare annually after meeting expenditure ? Have we placed our industries on a footing that would enable them to compete with imported goods ? The conditions of things in this colony are the exact opposite of the conditions of the same things in America, and consequently there can be no analogy between them, and what would suit one would not suit the other.

But Free trade has not yet been carried in' America. The same faction who are trying to carry it now have always favored it, and at certain periods of history they have succeeded in lowering the Customs duties with disastrous results. All we have to say is that we sincerely hope they will give effect to the Presidential .message now, as it would not fail to have a beneficial effect upon us in. this colony. If America adopted Freetrade the result would be that England, would soon push heir goods into the American market, the industries of England would get a fresh start, prosperous times would be established, and there would be a great demand for our goods in the English market. It would do us a lot of good—never mind what it would do for America—and we therefore hope it will be carried.