Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-01-24
From the Boston Courier.
Mn. FLOYD AND The TARIFF.


n,e sting the committee on manufactures win
power 10 send for persons and papers, MIR.
Floyd of Virginia said, SSH, am farmer, !
hold an estate in Virginia, and while members
of this House were voting for tariff 10 pro-
,eet the suffering manufacturers, was selling
corn a, fen cents a busbe." 1t is somewhat
surprising tina, a gentleman, of so much saga,
city as Mr. FLOYD is represented to be, should
BE- opposed 10 a tariff 10 protect domestic man
ufaciures, when the congregated wisdom OF our
political fathers is not able 10 devise any bet'er
method Of relieving he suffering farmers, than
to continue that tariff Of protecting duties. Mr..
Eloyd SAYS he sells corn al ten GEMS bushe',
and leaves us 10 infer tina, he would be glad to
get twenty cents, and we presume I've would not
refuse to take even fifty or hundred. Buthow
is he 10 ge, ii? Not by repeal or reduction Of
the duties Oh imported goods. Suppose there
were no duties on hemp, iron, or goods manu-
featured OF cotton and wool, and suppose the
operations Of all the cotton and WOODEN iaeto-
ries in New England were to be stopped. Does
that open market for Mr.. Floyd's corn? Not
a, all. Neither his -four nor his corn can be
exported 10 England, for the British duties on
our brradstuff, amount 10 prohibiiion. VIII
he be able 10 Durchass cheap cotons or wool
lens a: a lower price than he does now! Not
cent; for the domestic factories being all stop
ped, there Is no competition; the foreign man.
ufac,urcr has entire possession OF the market,
and he sets mis- own price; and consequently,
the Sc kind Of goods advance 10 the prices they
bore twenty or 6fiy years ago. But even admit
ting that prices of Brush goods did not adj
vance, how are they 10 be paid for? Not by an
advance in the price Of corn, nor oy the sale oil
any extra quantity of -four, tor no market would
be open in Europe for these that does not exist
now: and the operatives Of the northern manu-
fredericksburg thrown out of employ al home,
& senllo raise corn in the western states, states
which are no, supplied with corn or flour from
Virginia the northern marke, for corn will OF
course he. in great me asure closed. Whe;h-
err under such circumstances, the price Of corn
would rise in Virginia, or no., is problem
which Mr. Floyd might solve i'll few moments
to his own satisfaction; and we apprehend
that he would come ~ the conclusion That
home market, although corn be but ten cents
bushel, is better than no MAJ et.
In the speech from " HIGH the preceding quo
tecting duties, Mr.Floyd relates pleasant aneo.
,lote. He Says some gep,lema" took il in their
heads that we could in this county manufac-
ture umbrellas to great advantage, and they
prayed this House that the importation OF
square wire might re prohibited, because tina:
kind Of wire was employed IN making the
stretchers Of the umbrellas. The petition was
grained; square wire was prohibited; and the
umbrella makers were obliged, in consequence,
TO import the s'etchers ready-made! This
NAV be true; We dare say It's, for the gentle>
man stated il as true, aud we would take his
word for much more surprising fact. But
does il prove,--what it ought 10 prove in order
To answer the purpose FOL which II was intro
duced-that umbrellas are any 1earer in con-
Sequence, or that by such an operation corn
is reduced to ten cents a bushel?
In the same speech Mr. Floyd states another
curious fact, which has a, little force IN appli'
alton to his arguncn, as the preceding. The
manufacturers, h. say, are in the haiti OF sei-
lirg ,heir iron al certain price, 10 their own
neighbours, and after carrying 1t eighty miles
by land, they will sell il at twenty dollars per
ton less. What conclusion we should draw
from this, we are MOI able to see; uni SIS 1t DE
that all kinds OF manufa' tured goods grow
cheaper m propotion Ia the distance they are
transported for markei, in which case, 1t his
argument be good one, we certainty ough, TO
give VI our system of domestic manufactures
at once, aud import all our cotton and WOODEN
goods from England by the way OF the East
Indies. They would doubtless improve IN
quality, a. wine does by double transpo!a>
tion across the Atlantic and Pacific y, cans; al
the same time that the price oil The article
would be lessened at The rate OF twenty dollars
in every ton weight for every eighty miles OF
Transportation.
If such a singular fac, exists in regard to the
of iron, & il the fact be applicable
to the gentleman's argument,ws should imagine
that a similar reduction might sometimes take
place in the price of agricul,urisi products
under similar circumstances Presumlngilhat
we should find it so, we have just looked at the
Boston Price Current, expecting 10 see corn,
whice is bu, ten cents in Virginia, quoted in our
marke, at 2ropor,ionably low price; but what
was our surprise on finding it,-not reduced
like the manufacturers iron,-bearing an adj
vance price of six,y-,wo cents! A pretty de-
cen, sort Of a profit; and in the emphatic Ian
guagr Of Mr.. Floyd, sue ask naW ,Dho pays
for this9" We answer the northern manuiac"
,ure,s S; and if Mr.. Floyd wishes to know who
pockets il, lei him ask the commission mer-
chants at Norfolk, Alexandria, Fredericksburgh
and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS who are engaged