University of Virginia Library


46

FREE TRADE

But “free trade,—demand, supply:”
Freight your ships with human woe!
Is free trade then half a lie?
Ask of Cobden, Poland's foe.
Why not trade in Freedom's blood?
Why not barter Right for gain?
Let a Nation pine for food,
While old Mildew hoards his grain.
Free to sell, and free to buy,—
Free to toil for famine wage;
Free to reap, and free to die,—
Famish'd youth and foodless age.
“Export” should not mean despoil.
“Free trade,”—let the words be true:
Free and fair trade on the soil;
And export grain and landlords too!