The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1831-02-09

Vi uOllC6 Dut tue DicinDcTS Ol "NS
sembly did make mutual concessions ana coh-
promises in order to establish general system
The President has advised Congress that inc
mower of protecting domestic industry oy tue
aid of duties on imports belongs 10 tue Ueher'
al Government. This, all know, IS secured ny
a constitution, founded on liberal concession
and compromises The committee oeileVe tnat
the protecting power may be exercised, without
exnosnre to impeachment for motives, on the
sam. ,rincinles as governed the convention
which framed and recommended our constitu-
ton. and the people who ratified it. The ap-
nIication of this protecting power must be made
bv the representatives of the people. There is
no other way BY which it can be exercised
Then. how can this be done? How can it be
brought down home to business and bosom p
IF blacksmith asks the Government of the
Union to protect the manufacture of an axe,
must his question be submitted "singly" for
deliberation' Must separate bill be intro
duced, and vote of Congress taken? Shall
abstract theory place the seal of silence on the
lips of the blacksmith, and forbid him to say
that he wishes the forge, the loom, the sugar
plantation, also, to be protected? The conss-
quences are too plain for extensive commenta-
ry. The great interests of the nation will hold
generous communion among themselves
They will make common cause. They will
make mutual concessions, compromises, and
SfCi SaSiiiASCSs " ptUIHOlC Tie 2t0GFdl W6lIdtey
in imitation of the example set by the great
founders of our government. Different inter-
ests have right to consult each other. They
will do so. They have always done so. They
must and will act in concert, IT they expect TO
exist Mutual aid may be required by the civ
il interests of the country, as much as mutual
assistance was once required from the different
States at New Orleans or PlattsbHrg. States
men who understand human nature must admit
Ii 4 al e
our country-of all countries. In the ADJUST
ment ofthe existing tariff it might be presum-
ed by another branch of the Government that
Congress did its duty; that it did not improp-
erly obtain support for different interests. 1t
must still be kept in mind. that if the infrmity
of our nature rendered it defective in its origin,
an attempt at revision might add to its imper-
fections. American manufactures have had
long and ar duous conflict with the popular, yet
delusive doctrine, that additional duties for
their protection are taxes on the consumer !;
and that every man who wears coat pays the
duty imposed into the pockets of the manufac-
turer The committee will not go into any
train of reasoning to show its fallacy. They
will merely advert to a few facts: and they con-
graduate the friends of the American system,
that the memory of every man in the nation can
furnish abundant evidence, that, in all cases
where the material is found at home, and the
protecting duty has been adequate, the domes-
tic article becomes cheaper in price, and inn
proved in quality. Cotton goods furnish strik-
ing example of this truth, and every man who
wears a cotton shirt knows it. The article of
nails furnishes another proof, as is we'll known
to every man who builds a house. The COM
mttee might enumerate hundreds of articles,
such as hats, caps, shoes, boots, and cheese, to
sustain them; but thew know it would be su-
perhuous. The tax is not paid, because the ar
ticles are not imported. The duty secures the
market to the home manufacturer, and domes-
tic competition among the manufacturers re-
duces the cost TO the lowest possible price,
while, at the same time, it improves the quail
ty. This is the plain truth of the matter, and
is now so we'll understood by the great mass of
the nation, that the American system will not
be surrendered nor abandoned, so long the
people elect their own rulers. II has taken
deep root in our soil: the tree is fourishing-
its branches have extended far and wide and
the people will frown Indignantly upon every
effort to wither it's leaf, or to blast its fruit.
The President having, in the proper exercise
of his duty, submitted to Congress his views Of
the tariff, and these having been referred to the
Committee on Manufactures, it became the
committee to give them candid and respect
fol consideration. This they have endeavored
to do. Being representatives of the people
they have no apology TO make for the freedom
with which the opinions of the Chief Magistrate
on this interesting and delicate su beet have
been examined.
In framing the tariff. they believe that the &C
knowledged principles efthe Constitution have
been applied as faithfully as Z" Washington, anc
Jefferson, and Madison, and Monroe" coulC
have desired; that the present tariff although
1t may be defective in parts, is adjusted on prn
elpes which those great Statesmen approved
Had they been employed to consider its details
and adapt them to the present condition Of oul
country and the world, and their united wis
dom had been exerted, every one might have
discovered imperfection in many of its parts :
yet, as a system, all of them would most cheer.
fully have given it their powerful and hearty
support. They understood the infrmity Of
our nature" too well to designate a single in
terest, and trust it to single considerations
They would have made all interests that re
CURED protection come forth together, stanC
side by side, and then provide a system BY
which all could be mutually sustained.
The committee are satisfied that the provis
ions of the existing tariff are national in their
character that no interest which it has under
taken to protect is "too minute - that il con-
talns no evidence of attempts to force man
utactures for which the country is not ripe"
Of sufhclent Importance to require revision
that no comforts of life are taxed unnecessa.
ry high" with proper regard to revenue and
protection; that the /" low prices of manufac-
turod articles have aot been caused by the
Increased value ofthe precious metals" for
The precious metals were never before so abun-
dant and cheap in the United States but that
the low prices Of manufactured articles are
caused, in great degree, by the existing tariff.
which has made the labor, skill, and enterprise
ofour people add a vast supply for consumption
to the stores Of the world
The committee fully believe that the present
general prosperity of our country is mainly to
be attributed to the protecting system; and il
our fellow-citizens can retain full faith and con.
fidence that our Government will firmly exc.
cute its repeated and solemn premises that il
will maintain the high assurance of support
which our people have right to demand from
its dignity and honor, their prosperity will be
daily and more rapidly promoted, and the re.
sources of our country more and more amply
developed.
The committeerepeat that they cannot con.
cur in the Sopinion Of the President, that, in