The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1831-11-23

,,;etv the necessity of retaining such duty as
Should exclude from the American market all fab
RIGS made from the cotton OF the last Indies. 1t
was an anomaly apparent 10 every citizen OF the
limited States that our government, possessing so
,-anx r.c;lities for supplying Europe with cotton |
.honid neyertheless allow a trade that threw in |
~, ~. vast Quantities Of cotton cloth produced a,
the distance Of thousand miles that our most
common household supplies should be furnished
from .uch quarter. Nothing more generally
acknowledged than the duty Of the government 10
protect the cotton grower against such competi-
tlon and this argument was addressed to the ma
ton by the cotton growing States even with the
conviction, at that time prevalent amongst them
selves that its success would be TO give them
what may DO termed species of monopoly in the
supply.
The duty was retained and it is important to
know that, being designed for the protection of
the cotton grower. il was graduated To scale
precisely adequate to that purpose. His interest
required the exclusion of the East India fabric
bst was supposed to be hostile to the attempt Of
the American citizen to manufacture the material
the duty, therefore, adapted to the FIRST pur-
pose, but not to the latter. 1t banished the for
egn manufacture ;--it did net protect the home =
being thus accurately adjusted to the wants and
wishes OF the planting interest, without protesting
to serve any other.
This placed our commerce upon the most ia
Sorabe footing for the cotton gtower that could
be desired; and the nation, having thus perform
ed its duty to this valuable interest, turned its
tention to other branches of industry.
The Tariff Of 1876 it may be remarked was
measure that met tho appreciation of large ma
jority Of the people in every section of the Union
No partial nor local considerations embodied
against the operation of eithe. its principles OF
policy. The southern States were even more for.
ward than their northern coniede.atss in recon-
mending the pol.cy and defending it in the coun.
ellis Of the nation. BY this tariff various manuiac
lures attempted to be established in the
United States. The want of skill and capital ex.
posed these infant Institutions to fierce and win.
dictive competition from the manufacturers Of
Great Britain and, in three years, almost every
capitalist who had rcn:ured into this field Oh en-.
terprise broken up. The heavy loss and dis
tress that visited this endeavor to establish
| features subsequently urged the subject OF more
cxte hded protectio upon Congress, and the result
after various struggles, close and elaborate inquiry
and careful attention TO the expanding means o.
| the country was the establishment Of vigorous
system which has ditfused health and strength
into the industry of the nation, and added TO the
wealth of every class Of the community
We ask the attention to another topic. Reyu
sions in trade are unavoidable the balance Of
supply and demand cannot always be regulated
| with precision. There is a tendency, growing OUT
of prosperous commerce. TO push success 10 an
extreme which produces reaction. 10 these peri
DDS of embarrassment, of general stagnation, and
severe pressure for money, the Unite. States have
been peculiarly subject. We attribute this, in =
great measure, to having depended, in SO great
a degree, for our manufactures, upon the nations
| of Europe. Importation is induced more frequent
w by The necessity or hope Of the manufacturer to
find a market, than by actual reference to the
! wants means Of the country. reduction il
the prices Of exports, following excessive i'm
| portation causes state of exchange which lead:
TO an expectation Of specie the moment this Ell
portation touches that portion of the precious met
ais necessary TO sustain the money circulation
the operations of the banks become embarrassed
and distress and dismay are spread through all
classes of the community.
! We believe that the system which furnishes a
| nation with manufactures essential to its daily
| wants from its own industry is the best possible
security against violent changes in its currency
changes which paralyze all industry aid disturb
all trade and therefore submit it the expert
ence and Judgment Of the American people wheth-
the protective system is not, in this particular
more advantageous to the country than that which
after delugng markets with foreign manufac-
lures, draws from US, in return not useless COM
modify but the instrument by which exchang-
performed, the very basis of our bank
circulation the essential principle of commercial
confidence.
Mistaken opinions in regard to the effect of the
tariff upon the prices Of commodities used in the
United States and upon which the protective sys-
TEN has been brought TO bear, have furnished some
popular objections against the wisdom of the poll
CIV. II has been said THAI the effect of duty is
necessarily to increase the price OF any article
upon which il is laid to the full amount Of the tax.
1t would be easy to show, by minute survey Of
the whole field Of American industry, that, so far
from this being true, the invariabe operation OF
the tariff has been 10 lower the price to the con-
sumer Of every article that has been successfully
manufactured under the protection. Such a sur
vey would require more detail than the purpose of
this address allows, but propose to examine the
operation of the tariff upon some Of our most i'm
portant staples.
l. L.. Al. .f-1 -. Il IL H.
manufacture has arrived at such perfection in the
production Of coarse fabrics that they not only
furnished at little more than one half the cost
which the imported articles of the same kind bore
few years ago, but they are produced as cheap!y
at the present time our foreign riyais, under
all the excitements OF American competition, are
able to furnish them. They have had constant
and increasing demand for several years for ex-
portation asweh as for home consumption. None
but the finer qualities now imported, which
are little, If at all affected by the minimum duty.
The price of raw cotton has fallen but about
pound within the last four years, whilst the price
OF cotton goods,-of sheetings, for instance, Of
more than three yards to the pound, bias fallen
nearly four cents yard within the same period.
Sitinetts, of weol and cotton, made less than
one half the price of cassimeres, ard arc more
durable. Cotton nannels formerly imported from
China at from fifty TO sixty cents yard, are now
made, OF better quality, here, al from fifteen to
twenty cents. Indeed, we might enumerate every
species of manufacture in which this material en-
tiers a. component part, 10 show that both in the
character of the article and the cheapness of its
price, the country has been great gamer since the
enactment of tho system that has promoted its
fabrication.
To the cotton planters of the United States. the
system has undoubtedly yielded the most decisive
advantages II has created a cert1in and valuable
market for about one-ffth OF their crop and it has
encouraged the consumption of large quantities of
their staple IN fabrics TO which it would never
have been applied, is the manufacture had not
been carried on in our own country. The estab-
lishment Of cotton mills amongst US has bad the
most visible tendency to induce our manufactur-
ers TO apply cotton TO uses which both tina policy
and the position of foreign manufacturers would
have for ever forbidden them from adopting This
fact is conspicuousiy seen in the application OF
Gotten TO sail clnth, and to all those articles Of
heavy clothing in which it has lately been substi-
tuted for wool. II is now manufactured into car
pets, Blankets cordagc, Irvine, net work, and va
rety of other commodities that NAV be said to be
exclusively Of American origin. Cotton being a
product of our own soil we have naturally an in.
tcrest TO extend its application to uses above
what might DO expected from nations who are
mere purchasers Of the article, aud who are as
much. If not more, concerned in preserving and
promoting the use Of wool and hemp in the fabrics
TO which we have applied our cotton.
Let US next consider the article Of Iron and
we will introduce the notice Of 1t with quotation
from the mastery report o. the first Secretary of
the Treasury, which, forty years ago, recommend
ed prohibtory duties in favor Of the rsanufactur-
en Of this article: " for" says that report they
are entitled to pre-einiDent rank. None are more
esse initial in their kinds extensive in their