Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-02-03
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1926.
IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
REMARKS OF MIR. LLOYD, OF MASS.

REMARKS OF MR.. LLOYD, OF MASS.
On The Bill concerning Discriminating Duties of Import
and Tonnage.
Mr.. LLOYD, Of Mass. said, the object of the
bill was to clothe the Executive with the au-
thority TO proffer TO any foreign nation, who
would reciprocate the same liberal conditions
to the United STATES, an entire equality OF COM
mercial intercourse; in other words, that the
vessels and merchandise Of foreign powers,
agreeing to this condition, should be admitted
into the ports Of the United States on precise
" the same terms, and be subject to no other,
or higher rates Of duty, whether OF tonnage, or
of impost, than the vessels and cargoes Of the
citizens of the United States. This, it would
ne perceived, when aeceded TO, amounted to 4
complete removal Of the system Of discrimi-
mating duties with the parties agreeing to it
The report, he said, which had been made by
theCommittee of Commerce, laid on the tables
of the members Of the Senate, would give the
general reasoning on the subj ect, and more es-
pecially would the minute statements accom-
panying it, furnish precise data, on which gen.
tleman could correctly form their opinions as
to,lhe expediency Of adopting the course Of
+. policy recommended, and Of passing or reject
ing the bill Most gladly, he said, he would
leave the subject on this ground; but he had
been informed, in the position in which he
stood, as chairman Of the committee, that
something more was expected from him, and
that other calculations Of the bill should be
given. These expectations he would endeavor,
then, as briefly, as in his power to comply with,
and, in doing it, attempt TO trace the origin,
progress, and effect Of the discriminating du-
ties, adyerting in his remarks to three or four
more marked eras in the commercial history of
the United States; showing the relative amount
4. a., 81 L.
ferred to; the proportion Of it enjoyed by the
citizens of the United States, and that part Of
it occupied by foreign navigation; also, the
present state OF this trade, and the amount Of
it exhibited al the date of the latest returns
from the Treasury Department in 1924 He
would then advert to the effect to be produced
by the passing of the bill, on the commerce of
this and other countries, and leave it to the bet
ter Judgment Of the Senate for its decision.
The discriminating duties, he said, were coe-
val with the government, being among the first
acts after its adoption the effect was salutary
and bene6cent in high degree; at this time
the navigation Of the United States was in not
only depressed but nearly PROSTATE state.
We had, before the adoption of the Federal
constitution, scarcely recovered from the i'm
poverishment and exhaustion of the war for
independence; we had no common head to pro-
tect our rights or property in foreign countries
alien duties abroad were laid on our navigation,
which we had n" power to retaiate; for, if one
state retaliated those duties, and the others did
not follow her example, her situation was only
changed from bad to worsc-as it drove the lit
tie foreign trade she might have from her ports
to those states where no duty was imposed
The consequence was, we could rot compete
with foreign navigators; they taxed our vessels,
but we could not tax theirs; and this ineq ali
" was decisive against us; the conse quence in
little while would have been, that the whole
or nearly the whole, carrying trade Of the Uni
ted States, even for our own products, would
have been in the hands Of foreign navigators
Al this period, the general government was
most happily adopted, and the discriminating
duties were imposed; the effect was electrical;
the merchants aud nayigators of the Uni ed
Stares saw the whole reyeD.e of enactons of
the government based upon the interest with
which they We're most nearly connected; they
felt they had government, not only able but
willing to protect them; and that the counter
Yailing duties would place them in some de-
gree on footing with other nations; from this
moment the navigation and commerce of the
United States most rapidly expanded, increas-
ing in ratio uneXampled in the records Of
SthSi PSOPiS III IL -, lhc "Ho'S iOHHaSS
employed in the foreign commerce Of the Uni
ted States was only 2S4 900 tons, Of which
more than 100000 was in foreign navigation !;
but in the shore space Of II or Is years, the
tonnage employed in the foreign trade Of the
United States had swelled to no less an amount
than 100000 tons, giving an increase, in this
short space, OF more than FIVE fold. of which.
not near one halt, as in 1899, was in foreign
navigation, but only $4,000 tons, out of l,2o0,-
900 tons; giving an increase Of the American
tonnage, nine times oyer-it having increased
during this time, from about 20 900 tons. to
100000 tons This was the second aeriod 10
which he should allude. But this highly ora
tifying state of prosperity for the commerce
aud navigation Of the United States, he could
not contend, arose exclusively, or principally
from the imposition Of discriminating duties
nor did it arise mainly from them; it arose from
other and more powerful causes; from the DO
Itical events of the times, from the wars of
the French Revolution, which soon followed
which continued for twenty years, embracing
in their vortex within that time, all the navi-