Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-02-14

duts; but this burthen is imposed upon you ~
wise, and just, and paternal government Tor 'he
avowed purpose of excluding me predictions 81
uour o,Un honest a.d lawfut Industry from me
marker of u,r o,g,, aafire Stat. in order that
company Of Massachusetts, ".na.faciurers nay 90,
tain possession of that market. and oc eaaosea 10
sell inferior articles al higher prices Inc MS,
tory of the world may be confidently challenged
for a parallel instance OF outrageous ihJuSuce'
perpetrated under the perverted forms ol 'es's'
latiOn.
IL is very apparent, that, in the case Jhst stat
ed. the burhen Or injury Inflicted upon ',e co"'-
pany of cotton planters. by the discriminating TAX
is levied upon them exclusively. as the producers
and vendors of imported manufacturers Tor we
have supposed that they consumed no part OF mem;
vet their burthen would be not very much 'ess'
than if they consumed the whole; for nothing can
be more certain, than that they would have topdy,
out of their own pockets, the whole amount OF
the tax levied upon their productions, and yet oo'
tain for them no higher price than their rival pro-
ducers, the northern manufacturers, would obtain
for the same quantity of similar productions.
Let il he supposed that the southern planters
produced these manufactures, which they now
produce by the combined processes OF agr'cul-
ture and exchange, by the use OF machinery, as
they are produced in the northern States; and
that, upon the assumed grounds that tnelr water
power was never suspended bv the cold OF WIN
ter. and that they used a different aud cheaper
kind of labor. Congress should impose an excise
duty of forty per cent. upon their manufactures.
leaving those of the north untaxed, as they now
are-wherein would this discriminating duty dif-
fer from that which now exists! The only dis
tinction would be in forms and names, the sub
stance would be precisely the same. without a sha-
dow of difference to the producers, respectively,
of the taxed and the untaxed manufactures. The
duty would be called an excise, instead ct an I'M
port duty, aud it would be levied upon articles
made by the SOUTHERN machinery, instead OF be-
ins laid upon articles made by southern agricul-
ture; but would duty OF forty per cent. be Ell
Their more bur.ensome to the southern producers.
or more beneficial to their northern competitors.
under one name, than it would be under anolherl
The most superficial reasoner must perceive that
it would not. And vet no one would venture to
dcnv. that discriminating excise upon southern
manufactures. such as we have supposed. would
throw burthon upon the southern producers.
not much less than the amount of the duty. With
out regard to their consumption Ii would not
be possible for them to obtain indemnity from the
consumers, for the forty per cent duty they paid
to the governments; tor. il thev should attempt to
raise the price of their manufactures only %, Or
even 10 Der cent, their unaXcd competitors. who
could atford 10 sell cheap they did before the
tax was imposed. would under-sel and drive them
from the market TIE result would be, that they
would be compelled to pay the duty, and still sell
at not much higher prices than they did before,
or abandon their business. If nearly their whole
capital were invested in houses, water power, and
machinery. adapted only to manufactures, they
could not abandon their present employment With
out first submitting to the ritlce OF nearly their
whole invested capital The alternatives pre-
scented to them would be, either to make this sa-
crlice and then to enter upon some other employ
ment. with the remnant Of capital which they
might rescue from the ruins of that which they had
abandoned. or to continue the business Of manu-.
facture: with a reduction in the profits OF their
capital and the wages of their labor, proportion
ed to the discriminating tax upon their produc-
TONS The latter alternative is the one which
would be adopted in the first instance, tor very
obyou, reasons The manufacturers OF the south
would continue to manufacture with reduced and
declining profits and wages. until these descend
ed to so low point. a, to make 1t expedient to
sacrifice the capital invested, rather than use 1t
in this way. This is almost precisely the present
prrdicanent of the planting States. They make
manufactures, ia mode, which is put under the
Dan OF a prOscrlptlVe TAX lhc u'ess'nS VI iioa-
ven is blighted BY the consuming curse of federal
legislation No branch of human industry can
permanently maintain itself i'll a competition with
a rival branch. under discriminating tax of TWEEN.
tv, and much less of forty per cent.
The business of rearing agricultural staples
for expectation must be grad ualy and progress
ively abandoned in the South, and that OF max.
no manufactures in the favored mode must be
substituted in its place, under all disadvantages,
if the protecting system be not utterly abandon.
ed. Already has this revolution commenced in
the more Northern of the planting States. and no
human power can arrest ITS progress under the
existing auspices. until a total change is produc
ed in the pursuits and institutions of these States
involving in the necessary transfer. the loss of
one.half their capital. Even nowitis only where
the soil is very productive, and the climate very
proptious, that the business of planting Yields
remuneratlng profit, even after estimating the la
Dor employed in it at One-fuurth of the average
wages of labor in the Northern States. 1t any
thing were wanting to confirm the argument
Which p,intains that the Drotectjng duties are