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

Ident, which the committee have thought prop.
er 10 examine. 1t is contained in the express
sion, That objects of national importance a
zone ought to be protected" The committee
VIII not here enter into a discussion of the
question: whether Congress may not protect
opJec'st local in character The States, in theil
oFiglna' independence, before The adoption o
tue constitution, could have used the power o
imposing duties on imports for the express pur
Pose 81 protecting local objects. According lc
the doctfne entertained by the President, in
winch the committee fully concur, the severa
states no longer possess that power Where
IS IL: Where has it fled On what shelf is it
laid: The government of the Union possesses
! Il, or II has become extinct" If an object
dld present itself, purely local in its character
and It's protection was demanded by the pros
perity and happiness OF single State, and this
GOULD be best done, or done only, by the dele
gated power from the States to impose duties
on imports, it should be well considered before
Congress rejected proposition for that pur
pose. he discussion OF this subject, at thi.
time, is not intended. 1t may, however, be in
tlmated, that ii is the duty of the General Gov
eminent to protect every State, county, and
town in the Union from INVASION The Gov
eminent Of the Union is bound to protect eve
ry inch of our soil from hostile bayonet 1t
has equal poaccr TO protect every finger of do
nestle industry against foreign competition
Let 1t be firmly exercised. 1t matters but lit
tie TO real national independence, whether for
elgn guns or foreign labor coEquers us. How
ever this may be considered it is fully believed
by the committee that the present tariff, taken
together or in the minutest detail, is national
IN its character, although the language of the
President may seem to imply that in this re-
spect 1t is defective. He also told us in his
message, that I" it is an infrmity of our nature
10 mngie our interests and preludics with the
operation OF our reasoning powers, and attrl
butte to the objects of our likes and disikes quail
ltIes they do not possess, and effects they can
not produce - that our deliberations on this in
t;resting subject should be uninfuenced by
partisan conflicts" and should not be made
subservient ".to the short sighted views of fac.
ton" The committee have due regard, both
to the admontion and the sentiments express
ed by the President; and they, also, entertain
most ardent hope that our fellow citizens will
keep steady searching eye on every move
ment OF political ambition, in whatever quarter
of our country it may appear. 1t may speak
we'll and pleasantly to the public ear in favor
of national protecting system, and yet. with
calm, fair, honest looking countenance, scatter
such mysterious, yet captivating doubts, as to
the value of its different provisions. that "small
miroriiies" maybe taught low to form "com-
bination' to overthrow IT.
What gives national Importance to an object
or production of domestic industry ? How is
lis national Importance discovered Whence
derived? By what principles decided Is it
the place of production in the United States
that imparts to it the character or national
importance ~ Must production be found in
every narrow subdivision ofthe country? Must
it, of necessity, be "generai, not local e'-
Should the answer be in the affirmative, the
concentrated wisdom of the nation could never
provide protecting tariff. Our various soils,
our different climates, our diversified objects of
industry, would present an impossible barrier
against the adoption of any system of protec-
tien. The farmer who grows wheat asks the
aid of Government to protect that article. He
knows that Poland, RUSSIA, the Barbary States,
and France, may furnish, at times, wheat cheap
er on the seaboard than he can afford it, When
he asks protection, an objection ls made. Some
portions of the Union do not produce wheat
Its production is not general. 1t must be re-
jected.
Butter and cheese are presented for protec-
ton. Our farmers can produce them in album
dance. The Irish tenant, who subsists on the
humblest fare that unfeeling oppression deals
out, may furnish them cheaper than the cult
vators of our soil. Yet it is discovered that
portions of our extended country are unable to
produce butter and cheese. They cannot be
protected. They are local, and not general"
Iron is mentioned. 1t is indispensable in
peace and war. 1t may, perhaps, be for time
furnished by Doors and serls, aboring under the
command of Russian and Swedish nobility, a
little cheaper than the Pennsylvania and New
Jersey forgemen can produce it. and live as in
Dope ndent citizens Dug hit to live in free coun.
try. But iron is g local object, not genera"
II must be rejected.
Hemp is namcd-an article so valuable to
the independence of all branches of the naviga-
ton of our country. The strong arm of pro-
lection holds foreign navigation away from our
domestic trade. 1t should unfurl American
canvass with delight. 1t should also be well
kept in mind, that the great body of American
consumers of foreign productions sustain navi-
CATION engaged in foreign commerce. The
splendid ship that carries and brings is still
subordinate to the Interests of those who buy,
and use, and pay for the cargo The merchants
on our seaboard may heap up wealth, build pal
! aces, command all the luxuries oflife; but they
must well keep in mind that they all owe their
prosperity TO the strong arm of labor. They
owe it the daily toll Of our yeomanry, whether
engaged in subduing the SUBMITS of the Green
m0untains, or culvating the glens OF the AL
! lcghany. Let, then, the hemp of Ohio, Ken
lucky, and Tennessee. be protected. Let the
people of those States have a share in the ad-
vantages of the policy which they are willing
to defend lift has SO happened that navigation
engaged in our foretgn trads is suffering from
foreign competition, it is owing to itself Al
which it asked for protection was freely given
When it had gained such an ascendency as /.
supposed would enable it to challenge foreign
competition, it triumphantly told the Govern
ment that protection was no longer wanted -
Hence treaty after treaty has been concluded
for reciprocal navigation This was urged BY
the advocates of FREQ trade, If, now, it is
little crippled, if other nations supply us will
little more navigation; is it a greater evil thar
if foreigners supplied US with little more iron
or hemp, or sugar, or cottons, or woolens p
Must the great system Of protection be aban
doned because navigation has been INDUCED il
its wish, and has been some,ohat disappointed
The advocates of free trade ought rather to re
joice that one interest is free from the fetter
Of protection. If foreign nations can bull
ships cheaper than the people of the United
States, why not cheorlully employ themi Ac
cordng to the doctrines Of free trade, so nue.
I ,vnuld ha yaipad Rut is viooiion 80 N