Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-04-11

intcru, commerce. and navigation OF We couh
try. They lave a right to expect, that Tie sys
tenn will not be abandoned. when the putPoSesol
war are to be subserved; and that susta,"eu 10
present rate Of productiveness anu ia''h'u''y aP.
plied, the country will. in twenty years sShlo.'
a condition of internal transportation anu oo'ii'
merce, of high ways, railroads. canais; II
yers, and lakes, without parallel Oh 'Iis u'oos'
What could have induced the Secretary, to ad-
wise the President, against bis former opihionS'
& his senatorial course not years before, TO thls
Inconsistent scheme of placing veto against this
great system: Is the lame OF Clinton hostile to
his repose; and does he regard each new canal,
nc new monument to the great founder OF
that system in our country? lie may be at peace.
Van Buren's and Ciinton's fame, belong to dlter-
ent hemispheres The exhalatlon, raised from
the boz, by the influence Of the sun, never bright
ems into visibility, until that luminary Is below
the horson, and the world is in darkness.
The Secretary, by his advice TO the President,
has, in the las. message, introduced principle
into our system Cor the encouragement and pro-
lection of our national labor and capital, intended
doubtless to be subversive Of the whole. No one
thing, as he saws, should receive encouragement
or protection until il be entitled to receive it alone,
and if no other article we're so entitled. why
gentlemen, If men lived individually and alone,
each man must provide for himself, but when they
are in communities the budy polite must cher
ism each aud all its members. What wise man
would neglect his feet or his hands, his head or
hi, heart, un!ess each one of them night be eGtl-
tied to the same attention il separated entirely
from the other parts OF his body:
Our system of encouragement originated in our
system of revenue. II begun by an impost at
about seven per cent. on imported comodi-
ties 1t was raised from time to time. as the wants
of the country requiI ed, until, during the last
war, duties were doubled. When the war was
closed these duties were reduced; but because
e eat interests required it these duties were not
duced to their former level; and in some instanc-
es. the principle of protection was introduced into
the revenue system. Such interests have multi
piled, and the protecting principle has been ex-
tended Under this revenue system, thus modi-
fed, immense interests have been fostercd, and
have grown up in every part Of our country.
A great problem is before the nation. Can we,
when the national debt is paid, reduce our reve-
nue. system down to seven per cent, and thereby
leave all these immense interests at the mercy Of
European competitions; and to be swept away in
two or three wears by the overwhelming capital
Of France and England. The sugar culture of
Louisiana now employs about S45, 600, 600, pro-
duccs annually about 100, O00,000 pounds Of su-
gar. " i'll you reduce the duty on sugar from
three cents the pound TO seven per cent On the
value? Do 1t; every planter is ruined, and the
whole state made bankrupt It IS admitted by in
telisent men in the southern states that such
measure would reduce the productive value of all
property south of the Potomac, at least twenty
five per cent What would be the fate of cotton.
rice and tobacco? If a reduction of duty to seven
per cent. did not directly injure these great in
erests, the converting at once all the sugar rails
ing land aud labor to the growing OF the other
three great staples of southern agriculture, must
Of necessity, SO crowd the markets of the world
with those products, as to reduce them at least
one fourth part in their market value. Destroy
the sugar trade by this modification of the reve-
nue. system, and the wreck Of that overthrow
would be like one burning ship. driven BY wind
and currents on whole anchored feet. Would
not this endanger their safety, if not effect their
destruction.
Under the same system of revenue, great intc-
rests have grown up in the middle and nothern
states; in wool, in cotton and WOODEN cloths, in
iron. in hardware, and in a great number of me-
chanical productions. Reduce impost to seven
per cent, and is there not enough surplus produc-
ton in Europe, which must be sold, at some mar
ket, and at any price, to Overwhelm all these va
rious descriptions Of trade, and bring all these
interests to level with those the South? Could
the laborer, the mechanic, the farmer, the manu-
facturer. the merchant, or either of them, escape
from his full share of this ruins Ships would re-
main, and mariners; and importation might be
continued and pressed upon our markets; but let
men remember that the more aty one can pro-
duce himself, the more can he. and will he pur.
chase, and consume of the productions of SOme
Others, if they will receire his productions in ex
change. The ,co'king men ofthis nation cannot,
wM not, support, or eUen endure system OF po-
diicai policy, uhich excludes Meprodocis offheir
own labor, from the markets gfiheir opn country.
A great oratoran statesman Ofantiquity has SAID,
- 1t belongs to our humanity, not to permit the
Interests of each other to suffer; and it con-
Germs our wisdom to know, that the great interests
of the many cannot be ruined, and the republic
remain in safety"
No very good reason can be given for changing
system, sustained and improved under every
former administration, since the founding of the
government Have we not prospered under it,
Our production is constantly increasing; for it re-
quires constantly increasing tonnage, to trans
port all the varieties of it to market In 1915, We
had about loo, COO tons, IN the foreign and DO