Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1832-03-08
CONGHs HlsSRONAE.
MR.. McDUFFIE'S REPORT AGAINST THE.
TARIFF.
HOUSE OF NEs-Frp. s, 1882.

TARIFF.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE 3 1890
lCoNcLUDED.
Let he supposed that the Southern planters pro-
duced these manufactures, which they now produce
by the combined processes of agriculture and ex-
change, by the Use of machinery, as they are pro-
duced IN the Northern States and that upon the n :
sumcd grounds that their water-p power was never
suspended by the cold of winter and that they uscd
dtrem and cheaper kind of labor, Congress
should impose an excise duty of forty per cent IN
on their manufactures, leaving those Of the North
untaxcd, as they now are-whereiu would this dis
terminating duty differ from that which now
c1s's' The only distinction would be in forms and
names; the substance would he precisely the same
without shadow of difference to the producers re-
spcctively of the taxed and untaxed manufactures
Inc duty would be called excise, instead of AN
import duty, and it would he levied upon articles
made by the Southern machinery instead of being
laid upon articles made by Southern agriculture; bnt
would duty of forty per cent be either more bur
dcnsome to the Southern producers, or more benc
hcIa TO their Northern competitors under one name
man IL would he under another? The most super
neal reasoncr must perceive that it would not And
yetno one would venture to deny that a dscriin
mating excise upon Southern manufactures such ms
we have supposed, would throw n burden upon the
southern producers not much less than the amount
oil the duty, without regard to their cons,lmpton
Hwou'd not be possible for them 10 obtain ndcmni-
~ from the consumers for the forty per cent d,ty
they pad to the Government: for IT they shouId nf
tempt to raise the price of their manufactures only
twenty, or even ten per cent. their untaXed com
pettors who could afford To sell ms cbean no tho,
tid before the tax was imposed, would underse and
drive them from the market. The result would be
that they would be compelled To pay the outy and
sui sell at not much higher prices than they did be-
fore, or abandon their business. If nearly their
whole capital were invested in houses, water-powcr
and machinery, adapted only TO manufacttr they
could not abandon their present einplovmeut with
out hrst submitting to the sacrifice of nearly their
whole invested capital. The alternatives presented
TO them would be, either TO make this sacrifice and
than aotnr
remnant of capital which they might rescue from the
ruins of that which they had abandoned or to con-
tln'Ie the business of manufactures with reduction
IA tic prots or their capita; the wages of their
labor, proportional to the discriminating tax upon
their productions. The latter alternative is the one
which would be adopted in the first instance for yc-
nv obvious reasons.
The manufacturers Of the South would continue
TO manufacture, with reduced and declining profits
aud wages, until these descended To so low pont
ms TO make it eXpedient to sacrifice the capital in
vested, rather than use il in this way. This is al
most precisely the present prcdcanIeut of tho
planting States They make manufactures i'm n
mode which is put under the ban of n proscriptiyc
tax. The blessing of Heaven is blightcd by the con
Stunning curse of Federal legislation. No branch of
human industry can permanently maintain itself i'm
competition with a rival branch under discrimi-
mating tax of twenty, and much less of forty per
cent. The business of rearing agricultural staples
Tor expectation, must be gradually and progressively
abandoned IN the South, and that of making manu.
PICTURES in the favored mode must be substituted i'm
It's place. under all disadvantages, if the Protecting
System be not utterly abandoned. Already has This
revolution commenced in the more Northern of the
planting states, and human power can arrest IFS
progress, under the existing auspices until fotol
change is produced in the pursuits and institutions
of those States, involving, in the necessary transfer
the loss OF one half OF their capital. Even now it
IS only where the soil is very productive and the
climate very propitous that the business of planting
yields renunerating profit, even after estimating
the labor employed in 1T at one-iourh Of tho aver
age wages of labor in the Northern States If any
thing were wanting to confirm the argument which
maintains that the protecting duties are specifically
taxes upon the productions of Southern labor for
tho benefit of Northern capital it would be fully
supplied 10y the fact of this vast and almost incred-
bc difference in tic prOductivcncss of agricultural
labor III two portions of the same country No
thing can he susceptible of clearer proof than that
if the soil and climate of the Northern States were
as well adapted 10 the culture of ms those of
the Southern States, it would not and could not be
cultivated there for less than twenty cents Mound
In South Carolina and Georgia, it is usually csli-
mated that one laborcr will produce three bales of
upland cotton, averaging three hundred pounds,
which, at twenty cents pound, would amount to
one hundred and eighty dolars Al fifty cents n
day, the wages of this laborcr would amount 10 at
least one hundred and fifty dollars, leaving only
thirty dollars to pay the interest the capital in
vested ia land, and the expense of management
and Of furnishing horses, agricultural implements
and an other necessary supplies. What, then
would lee the fate of Northern cotton planter
WHO ld My cents day Tor each laborer, and sold
lis staple at eight cents pound, the highest aver
ngc now Obtained for upland cotton, aftcE dcraying
the expense of transporting it to market? lie would
not realize for his production half enough to pay
the wages of his laborcrs. When it is added, that
there IS no agricultural labor in the whole Union
more efficient than that which is engaged in the
production OF upland cotton, and that naturally, no
staple of the earth has many advantages the con
sequence irresstibly follows that tie unwise, unjust
and discriminating taxes Of the Federal Govern
ment have not only counteractcd these advantages
but reduced the wages of the labor engaged in the
production to lower rate than the wages of the
starving operatives Of Europe
VI nlc duties upon imports were levied in kind
ana Tie planters made their own exchanges with
the foreign manufacturers, without the Intervention
either OF money or commercial agents, the most I'M
rejecting would perceive that the import duties
werc direct taxes upon the productions of the plan
tcrs. IT, for example, forty bales of their cotton
were taken out of every hundred, when il passed
the custon-iouse going abroad, il would lie inpos-
sible for them TO obtain any large quantity of goods
for tho remaining sixty in consequence of this levy
because the agents OF the Government would carry
the other forty into the foreign market, and of course