Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-12-03
AIApAMA LnaIsLATURE.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
THURSDAY, November 24.

Congress fSSenl0fd-
 Your memorialists present themselves be- fore the Congress of the United States, and
 reeDcctfully solicit the attention of your hon
 orable body, to such suggestions as they may
 urpe. in common with those of their fellow
 citizens who may in like manner avail them selves ofithe privilege of declaring their views, on the great question which has for years dis tracted the harmony, and pressed heavily up- on the interests of the Southern States, viz.
 "The Tariff, or American System" Though among the youngest of the great sisterhood ot States, who, by inc wise care of mild, kind, and beneficent government, have attained the enviable attitude of sovereignty and indepen- dence-Thoughn not nasty in obtruding their O. pinions upon the attention of Congress yet they believe the time has arrived, when ii has become, not only proper, but necessary, in justice to themselves, to those whom they have the honor to address, and to those whose opinions are in unison with their own, to make known to the Representatives of the nation, when constitutionaly convened, the grlcvan- ces which are believed to bear partially and progressively upon them, in consequence of some of the provisions of the tariff laws Though we hesitate not to declare, that we are satisfied that those laws were conceived in the best ofmotives, and matured in feelings of the purest patriotism-Your memorialists have deliberately examined the proposition, that the enactments of the tariff impose their burdens and distribute their benefits equally among the people of the twenty-four States. If the same interests are protected, the same arts encour- aged, the same industry advanced, in propor- tion to wealth and population, many of the ob- jectiohs urged against the tariff are without just cause, and are not sustained by the req sons assigned. But if, instead of an equal dis tribution of the advantages and hartships in cident to the operations of the tariff through out the several States, some of the States are in high degree benefited, bearing their equal portion of the tariff burden, and other States which bear precisely the same burden receive no benefit of any description, the con- clusion cannot be, that the operations of that law arc equal on the various interests which it is made to embrace. It cannot be denied, that while some portions of the United States are much favored and protected, rapidly ad- vancing in their faN orite pursuits, enjoying prosperity seldom attained by the most sue cesstul theoryor the most persevering industry, other portions of the country, say many of the States, are, in consequence of the very means provided by Congress to ensure the success of the former, gradually, perceptibly, and mani festly suffering privation, loss of property, and
 
 the facilities of climate, soil, wealth. skill, and industry, cannot secure to them the ordina- ry benefits to which they humbly conceive themselves entitled under the constitution of their country.
 That constitution, the charter of your DOW CTS, formed and adohted 6y The heohie for the benefit of all. your mcmorialists conceive, furnishes no authority to Congress, to enact laws having for their real obiect the protec- tion of any class of citizens, or the advance ment of any branch of industry or art, by le- wing taxes directly or, indirectly by the inn position of duties on foreign merchandise, whe- ther the same be considered necessary, as convenierces oflifc, or assistants ofluxury and taste. "All duties, imposts, and eXcises shall be uniform throughout the United States" Your memorialists have searched in vain for that authority, which empowers Congress to enact laws granting to any section of the coun- try, or to any class of citizens, privileges and advantages which cannot be enjoyed by all, when the benefits conferred are at the expense or inconvenience of the whole nation. If the tariff laws are unequal in the burdens and ex- actions imposed by them; if in some sections of the country, at the very moment the reve- nue is collected for the public coffers, more than adequate remuneration is made, by vir- tue of the operation of the laws under which the assessment is created; if in other sections of the country, nothing is given in return for the exactions forced from the people, is it suf fcient to say that the eXigenoies of the go- vernment, and the necessity for means to de- fray the national debt, rendered it necessa- ry top pass the tariff? Desirable as it may be to pay the national debt, yet that object and that end can never sanctify means that are unjust, nor purify the inequalities of law, which, while it forces collections from aH, Teimburses some-whch aggrandizes some cities-embellishes with art and grandeur some States, while other cities and other States are as rapidly retracing their steps Of prosperity and improvement, in consequence of the operation of that ve,y law. We, there fore, without attributng blame, or presum- ing to censure the motives which influenced the public guardians in 1916, 1924, and 1928, believe the tariff violation of the SniYit of the Constitution. Those enactments have given an artificial impulse, and unexpected success to manufactures, and materially affect cd the agricultural and shipping interests ofthe country, which have failed to return the ac- customed bounties of their enterprise, capital and industry.
 Your memoralists would solicit the atten- tion of Congress to the remark, that the az Iiculture ofthe country ought to be in no way impeded by legislative interference; all trades, arts and pursuits being so intimately depend ant on that employment for their support and advancement, that the moment that fails to yield its ordinary return, all other branches of industry must feel the injury, must languish; and although artificial aid may for a time give apparent activity and life, yet, if agricul- tnre Continue to decline, they also must fade, droop, and die for it will require no argu- ment to prove, that the United States can never de'ive substantial benefit from foreign agrieuitur'. The cultivation of the soil is her Dithright; it is her individual and national nope c,,1I