But we cannot lead our opponents to look at things from our point of
view; let us now take theirs: let us examine the question as
producers.

I will seek to prove:

1. That equalizing the facilities of production is to attack the
foundations of mutual exchange.

2. That it is not true that the labor of one country can be crushed by
the competition of more favored climates.

3. That, even were this the case, protective duties cannot equalize
the facilities of production.

4. That freedom of trade equalizes these conditions as much as
possible; and

5. That the countries which are the least favored by nature are those
which profit most by mutual exchange.

1. _Equalizing the facilities of production is to attack the
foundations of mutual exchange._ The equalizing of the facilities of
production, is not only the shackling of certain articles of commerce,
but it is the attacking of the system of mutual exchange in its very
foundation principle. For this system is based precisely upon the very
diversities, or, if the expression be preferred, upon the inequalities
of fertility, climate, temperature, capabilities, which the
protectionists seek to render null. If New England sends its