Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1887 — TRIANGULAR TRADE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRIANGULAR TRADE.

farmer as well as business man knows how convenient it some- ' times is to make a three-cornered trade —that is, to make a “turn,” as it is often called. Jones has a cow which Brown wants, but he don’t feel like paying cash, a*d he has nothing to trade for it that Jones wants. In a few days he discovers that Thompson has a colt that Jones wants, and is willing to take in exchange for the cow, which it happens that Thompson does not want. He also discovers that Thompson does want the very pigs that he has to spare. So they strike up a three cornered trade. — Brown gets his cow, Jones his colt, and Thompson his pigs. It is an even trade all around, and they are satisfied. Sometimes the three corners of the trade are not all fixed at the same time. Thompson has a readj bought the pigs and given his note ior them. Brown trad s the note to Jonev so; the cow. When Jones presents the note, Thompson offers the colt in paymen-, and Jones takes it. A great many such traces are made in small villages. Here we can see them and grasp the whole situation. But how many of us realize that ninety-nine hundredths of the world’s trade is three cornered, or four cornered, or more cornered, with deferred payments on some of the corners? A large part of our foreign trade is hat way, and that is the reason the statistics of it are confusing to many people. It is in this three or four cornered trade that the protective tariff gets in its work and does damage that cannot be seen at a glatace by superficial people. A vety interesting case in point is our trade with Brazil. We may be able to make it clear. It is nearly all done in British ships. A ship loads up with coffee at Rio J aneiro. It sails north to New York and unloads its coffee, I utit doesn't load up with American manufactures and go back to Brazil. It loads up with American farm produce and goes eastward to Li erpool. There it unloads its grain or provisions, and loads up with British manufactures. Back it goes then to Brazil with them, and unloading them, loads up again with coffee.

It makes this round trip in the same direction everytime, just as the ball goes round in a three cornered game. If you went to send anything to Rio Janeiro you often have to send it by the way of England, because that is the w.,y the ships go. A few of them go straight to Brazil, but they make it a point to charge as much as you would have to pay the long way round. They are American ships. And with all that advantage of a chance to charg as much for direct carriage as other ships charge which have to go across the ocean and b ck, they still want subsidies. Now tne Brazilians have no prejudice against us. In fact th y are rather prejudiced in our favor. — As an American manufacturer just returned from there remarked to us the other day, they “like everything U. 8.” We have all the advantage of their, prejudices. We might have an immense direct trade with them. We buy of them goods worth $50,000,000 a year, and sell $8,000,000 worth a year. We might just as well make it an even trade. We pay the balance in British manufactures because our own are tariff up too high. V\ e pay for these British manufactures in farm products which wd are compelled to send over there in competition with India and the lowest priced labor in the world. I his is the mystery of v ur triangular traoe with Brazil. Ship subsi ies will not reduce the triangle to a straight line. A triangle it will be while our tariff handicaps American manufactures and , puts them at a disadvantage as compared with those of other nations. And who gets the profits ? The trade is done all around with English capital, in English ships, all under English insurance. The commercial profits are tL English. The freight earnings are English. We and the Brazilians arc simply so many customers. The merchant is the Englishman. It is our tariff that makes him so. The Englishman is also the manufacturer and in this case he is such, al*o, by viitue of our tariff. And yet it is pretended that this tariff is our best way of fighting England,and building up America, 'j he ab urdity of the pretense has uit>n been exposed. The effect is

exactly opposite. We are fighting ourselves and building up England; and if American protectionists do not know it, English free traders do. They are not helping their cause in this country. They are laughing at our folly.— The Million.