"
And M. Reybaud then points out the disastrous consequences of
reciprocity:
France consumes five hundred thousand bales of cotton, and the
Americans land them on our wharves; she uses enormous quantities
of coal, and the English do the carrying thereof; the Swedes and
Norwegians deliver to us themselves their iron and wood; the
Dutch, their cheeses; the Russians, their hemp and wheat; the
Genoese, their rice; the Spaniards, their oils; the Sicilians,
their sulphur; the Greeks and Armenians, all the commodities of
the Mediterranean and Black seas."
Evidently such a state of things is intolerable, for it ends in
rendering our merchant marine useless. Let us hasten back, then,
into our ship yards, from which the cheapness of foreign
navigation tends to exclude us. Let us close our doors to
foreign vessels, or at least let us burden them with a heavy tax.
Therefore, down with competition and rival marines!
Does M. Reybaud begin to understand that his
economico-socialistic oscillations are much more innocent than he
would have believed? What gratitude he owes me for having
quieted his conscience, which perhaps was becoming alarmed!
The reciprocity of which M.
Pages:
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363