Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1831-11-24

|
| wonld contend that ncth;no should be-
r,;sed hv du,,.s above tho ordinary ann.
pl;es necessary for the nav of the hubble
agents. With This class all the excess
above the sum that tbev micbt hold 10 be
! necessary. would he the rruit oc nm I'M
constitutional tax. Who should iudoe
between these coniictinr opinionst II
such were the limits upon the bower OF
/ Congress il would be true, as has been
said, that there might be acts in violation
Of the constitution which would clude the
notice of the judicial tribunals; but the
! evident absurdity Of subjecting the right
to exercise fundamental powers to so
vague and intangible standard of inter
! pretation, furnishes one of the most salts
factory proofs that no such intention exist
ed in the minds of those who framed our
constitution.
| Pursuing the investigation, it vii! be
found that the difficulty attending this no
ton of the source of the protecting pow
or does not end with the impracticubiiity
of determining upon the necessi!y of rev.
enue. 1t goes still deeper 1t is affirm
! ed, and no doubt with truth, that "a re-
duction of duties upon the ncce ssuries or
CUSTOMARY luXuries of "a nation frequently
increases the revenue. In such an C.
vent the defenders of the position that the
power of Congress is limited to the sup
r!y Of necessary revenue, will find
themselves uneypectedly put in possess
sion Of n surplus income which, accord
ing to the assumed principle, they had no
right to raise; and It will be apparent that
the pcoplc will be even more taxed than
they were before; for the duty having
been rendered productive of larger a
mount of revenue to the government, IL
greater aggregate sum will have been
taken from the rockets Of the people; and
il will then be found that Congress, i'll
stead of Iesseninq the public bur,hcns by
their reduction Of duties. will have only
l,bcen encourapinp the consumptinn of a
,re.ter onantity of the taxed article. A
1,ry. co,sumnt;on with a small tax being,
in This case more than equivalent to a
small consumption with n large tax. And
thus. in spite of all the precautions which
tho most scrunulous guardians of the con-
st;tut;on NAV exercise. the public tunc-
lt;onaries. oGoinst their will, and with the
! mos, conscicntious de sire Ia avoid inirac-
tions of the law, will oitcntimes be lated
| to discover that they have produced ,n,-
constitutional results. The only remedy
F.! for which would seem to be to abandon
! This ;ntroctablc mode of taxation by inn
nosts and resort to direct taxes UPON the
ncnnlc
A. Iono bowcvcr as sncb results may
! cJIou, Tie reduction of dutics il will he
coon that a system which merely increas-
cs the consump,ion of imported com.nodi-
t;cs without diminishing the revenue will
hc in effect the adopiion of a policy for
tho enco,,raoeme oi foreign Industry
! A nd we mipRt here pause and ask ,whcth-
cr it can be supposed that the founders
oc our government intended to give a
mower to Congress to adopt scheme of
policy directed to the encouragement Of
f5reign labor by n scale Of low duties,
d without also allowing 10 that body right,
when they found it convenient, to cncour-
age domestic industry by higher scale oi
duties? Let those who answer this qucs-
ton in the affirmative, show some reason
for the opinion that the convention which
framed the constitution should set mere
volne upon a power to encourage ioreis n
industry. under any possible necessity to
exercise it, than upon a similar power to
encourage and protect our own.
We think we have said enough to indi-
cate the pcrnicious tendencies Of the doc
tr;ne. sustained by many eminent citi-
zens of our land, which ascribcs the right
to protect domestic manufactures, solely
to the revenue power conferred by the
constitution upon Congress; and have de-