Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1832-04-04

ject. Great as are the present evils Of the
system to the south there are greater still-ln
prospect. We are seriously threatened with
the entire loss of the foreign markets for our
productions. All trade is but an exchange OF
equivalents. and is founded on the maxim Of
I"gve and take" Ifyou exclude British goods
from our market, you, in effect, exclude our
cotton from their markets. 1t is in vain to tell
as that England must have our cotton. You
may force her to do without it. Even now
she supplies herself, to great extent, from
other countries: from her East India posses
sions, Egypt, Brazil, and elsewhere; and you
will make it her interest, in the end, to give
up the American trade entirely? Even now
she is looking to thi, as possible event
You find her encouraging the production OF
cotton in the East Indies, by a discriminating
duty to which you have forced her, and slim
uiating the production of the article in South
America, where she is furnished with mar.
ket for her manufactures, almost duty free.
Can we, then be blind to the fate that awaits
US when the American System shall be con-
illuminated, and we shall be cut off from mar
ket of seven hundred thousand bales Of our
cotton; an event that is hardly necessary for
me to say, would involve the whole South in
irretrievable ruin. 1t is idle for gentlemen to
pretend that the North can ever furnish a
home market for all the cotton of the South.
Two or three hundred thousand bales is the
utmost extent to which we could find a mar.
ket in that quarter. The catalogue Of the
evils of this system, however, is not yet COM
pleted. 1t is not merely the mischief it has
done, and the still great evils which il threat
ian hvtf \ has orr tod
ness, and prevented us from fulfilling our high
destines. What would have been the cond-
lion of this country now, if we had never
been deprived of the blessings Of free trade
Why is it that our tonnage and our exports
have not grown with our growth, and strength
ened with our strength? 1t is because our
prosperity has been blasted by the restrictive
system. Look, Sir, at this picture. In 1910,
with population Of seven millions, we had
a tonnage ofone millioo four hundred thousand
In 1881, with a population ofthirteen millions,
our tonnage is reduced to one million two hun.
dred thousand; and, going still further back,
in the year 1900, our exports amounted to
Ieighty-one millions, while now, with popu-
lation Of thirteen millions, our exports are re-
duced 10 seventy-two millions.
nearly threefod, our foreign commerce has not
advanced at all. Sir, if Washington's free trade
system had continued unto this day, for be it re-
membered that Alexander Hamlton's protecting
system was essentially system Of free trade,
imposing duties only of from five to seven and
half per cent, can it be doubted that we should
now have had tonnage of two millions and a
half, and that our exports would have amounted
to one hundred and fifty millions. am told that
one of the ablest inanciers in this country has
recently declared that he should consider an ave.
rage duty Of twelve or fifteen per cent. ad ralo
rem, as abundantly sufficient for all the purposes
of revenue; and that, under such system, our
imports and exports would, in his opinion, ex
coed a hundred millions of dollars the very first
year. know, Mr.. President, that it has some
times been said that the evils under which the
South is suffering arise from the over-produetion
of cotton; but this is not so.--Cotton is an art-
Gle, the production of which cannot be overdone.
1t is the cheapest of all known raw materials. II
is fast superseding silk, wool, hemp, and fax all
over the world. AS a proof of this, will ad-
vert to the fact, that, during period, in England,
when her woollen manufactures advanced from
five millions of pounds sterling to six, the cotton
manufactures progressed from one million to more
than thirty. Ifyou would take off your duties,
anu tlfOR OPEN 10 us tne IntTkeeS VI ttlc WOTiu,
American cottons would, to a great extent, super
sede all others, and we should find market, not
for one, but two millions of bales The whole
South would then, indeed, become 'garden
spot" But it is insisted by the supporters of the
protecting system, that its only effect is to make
our goods come cheaper. Sir, If this were true,
will venture TO assert, that the manufacturers
themselves would be the very first to abandon the
system. Their object, certainly, is not to lessen,
but to increase their prices. Even if this were
the case, however, am unable to discover how
the cotton planter could be compensated for the
loss of his market How is this supposed redoc-
ton to be brought about? By competition, say
the gentlemen, between the British and the A.
merican manufacturer. But if it is competition
that is to produce this reduction of prices, the
manufacturer, on both sides, must be put on an
equal footing. What sort of competition is that
which is founded on discrimination of fifty per
cent. in favor of one of the parties--and if, in
spite of such discrimination, the contest can be
maintained at all, is it not, by that fact, put be-
yond dispute that but for the tax, the prices would
be still further reduced? Gentlemen take it for
granted that the competition among the foreign
manufacturers is not sufficiently great to reduce
the price to the very lowest rate. They even tell
US of combinations among them to keep up their