Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-02-16

ISOLATION, produce" 10y gross pcrvcrsiun OF the
very power which IS under the highest of
human obligations bound TO prevent IT, The
whole of the sou,hcrn staples, produced for OK
pprtatior, must utterly cease, when lhcv
can be no longer exchanged for fnrci0n
| productions suitable TO the demand o!
tins country for consumption; and how lou,r ca "A
the planting States continue to supply the mar
kct with any portion OF the manufactures now
! mp +, ed, under the oppressive wcnht Of a pro
scTipive tax, operating upan tho very spring
| of their Industry? IL would tc worse than vol
| untary blindness in thOSc To when The rights
the interests. aud the dcs,mes Of the soutAcrn
people, are, in an especial manner, committed,
not To perceive, and give warming o. the incva
! bic doom that awaits them, if that PROT CITING
ro'lcy, which lmp0vcrlshCs and DESTROYS one
| branch OF Industry. to cnrch and sustain ano-
! ihrr, be rot utterly and absolutely Gbnudonrd.
This Congress should adopt NJ halfway
measures, NJ Temporary cXDcdinn:s, but re
| form 1t altoge' her" The incidenta' protection.
! resulting from n mere system Of revenue duti~s
OF the lowest rate, is fearful odds arainst thu
planting States, and i, is Xcccdnrlv doubtful
whether even that will not ultimately dos ROY
| TIC business of rearing staples for cXpo-;ati, n
AS SUBJECT ofsuch complicated bearlngs, Will
DC best understood by plain and familiar .,us;ra-
| lions, the committee VIII now take leave t.
present few hypothetical cases showing forth
the true relative operation of protecting or pro-
| hioitive duties, upon the different sovereign
States of this '.Fcdcra Union"
| we VIII suppose that n number of cotton plant
crs should form themselves into company for
the purpose of exporting their cotton TO Europe,
exchanging it for manufactures, and importing
these INTO the United States with the view of sell
| ing them Tor the benefit of the company. When
these manufactures should be brouglt into the port
"l charleston or Savannah, the custom house
ohccr would demand forty per cent on their val
nc, before he would permit them TO be landed and
SOLD IN the United States; and the company of
planters would probably inquire why this duty was
| eNacled upon thsir manufactures, while the same
articles, manufactured in the northern States,
were subject to duty or tax of any kind? If
the oihcer OF customs should truly personatc the
system of which he is the minister Inc would an
swer inns inquiry, by saying 'il is not because the
revenue Is wanted to pay the debts, provide for
the common defence of the u. States, that you
are 10 lurcd to pay this duty but this burthcn ia
imposed upon you by wise, and Just, and paternal
government for the avowed purpose of excluding
me productions Of your O,cn honest and fdmfu
ministry from the markct Of your orn natiyc Suite
al or"er Mat n company Of Massachusetts manufac
t"rers may obtain possession IF that market, ana
Dc ehdbled TO sell inferior articles at hgher Drices
| 1 nc history OF the world may he confidently chal
ienged Tor parallel instance or outrageous iniis
tice pcrpetrated under the perverted forms of lc
gislation.
II is very apparent, that, in the case Just stated
inc Durihen or injury inflicted upon the company
OF cotton planters, by the discriminating tax levied
upon Their productions, would fall upon them cy.
cusively, as the producers and vendors of import
ed manufactures; for have supposed that the,
consumed no part ofthem; yet their burthcn would
be not very much less, than if they consn med the
who'll; for nothing can be more certain, than thai
they would have TO pay, out of their own pockets
the whole amount of the tax levied upon thor pro
auctions, and yet obtain for them no higher price
| than their rival producers, the northern rsanulac
| turcrs would obtain for the quantity of SINH
| lar productions.
| Let 1t be supposed that the southern planters
| produced these manufactures, which they now pro
duce by the combined processes of agriculture anC
exchange, by the use of machinery, as they arc
produced in the northern States;s and That upor
the assumed grounds that their water power wa.
never suspended by the cold of winter, and thai
they used dLGerent and cheaper kind of labor
Congress should impose excise duty of forty
per cent. upon their manufactures leaving those O.
| the north untaxed, they aIe--whereir
would this discriminating duty differ from tina
winch now exists! The only distinction would be
IN forms and names; the substance would be pre-
csely the same, without shadow of difference t.
the producers, respectively, of the taxed and the
untaXcd manufactures. The duty would he called
an excise, instead of an import duty, and it would
pc levied upon articles made by the southern ma
chinory, instead of being laid upon articles
made by Southern agriculture; but would
duty OF forty per cent. be either
more burthensomc to the southern producers, Of
more bcneilcia TO their northern competitors un
der one name, than it would be under an other! III,
most superficial reasoner must perceive that il
would not. And yet no one would venture TO de
! NY, that a discriminating excise upon southern
manufactures, such as we have supposed, would
| throw burthen upon the southern producers no
much less than the amount of the duty without
regard To their consumption. 1t would not be nos
sIble for them to obtain indemnity from The consu
mcrs, for the forty per cent duty they paid TO the
government; for if they should attempt TO raise the
price o. their manufactures only 20, or even &c
| per cent, their unCaxcd competitors, who could f.
ford to sell as cheap they did before the tax was
| imposed, would undcrSe and drive them from the
| market. The 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 aban.
don their business. If nearly their whole capital
were invested in houses, water power and machi-
merry, adapted only to manufactures, thcy could
not abandon their present employment without
first submitting to the sacrifice of nearly their
whole invested capital The alternatives presented
to them would be, either to make this sacrifice and
then enter upon some other employment with the
remnant of capital which they might rescue from
the ruins of that which they had abandoned or TO
continue The business of manufacture with re-
auction IN the profits of their capital and the wa
ges of their labor, pIoportioncd TO the discrmina-
ting tax upon their productions The latter alter
native is the one which would be adopted in the
INST instance, for very obvious reasons. The man.
utacturers OF the south would continue to manu-
1acture with reduced and declining profits and wa.
ges, until these descended to so low point, as to
make 1T cxpedicnt TO sacrifice the capital invested
rather than it in this way This is almost pre-
! ciseiy the present prcdicament of the planting
states They make manufactures, in a mode,
winch is put under the ban of a proscriptIvc tax.
The blessing of Heaven is blightcd by the
consuming of Federal LEGISLATION.
NO branch OF human industry can permanently
maintain itself in competition with rival
orahch, under discriminating tax of twenty, and
much less OF forty per cent. The business of
rearing agricultural staples for expectation must
be gradually and progressively abandoned i'm the