The people's press, and Addison County Democrat. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1838-1841, 1841-05-18
PEOPLES1 PRESS.
Tuesday Morning, May 1e, 1871.
THE TARIFF.

THE TARIFF.
We This week present TO our readers hi ghly
interesting extract from Gov Ellsworth'S mes
sage TO the Legislature Of Connecticut now in
session upon the subject of the tariff The indis-
pensible necessity o(prolect ng American indus
try against foreign competition, is clearly and
forcib'y urged upon the attention Of that body
We are also happy to learn from various sections
oftle country that vigorous movements are ma
king upon the public mind, to roll back the tide
OF popular odium which the administrations Of
Jackson and Van Buren have res red up against
the policy of protection, under which alone the
country can prosper. We may be permitted to
admire the beautiful theory Of free ira de which
mere abstraciionists have framed. But while
foreign nations refuse to meet US upon the foot
Ing Of reciprocity, they ever will, its adoption
in practice would be utter ruin the best inter-
ests Of the union. To its partial operations dur
ing the reign Of the two last anti tariff admins
trations may be 10 great extent attributed the
paralysis which has come over all the business
operations of the county, especially the pursuits
of agriculture which form the basis of every in
terest, and sustain The mountain weight of eve
ry misfortune. To the same source may be ira
ced with unerring certainty the enormous bal
ance of trade, creating debt last year TO foreign
nations Of forty millions, which must be paid out
of the very life-bo cd Of the republic. Spain and
Portugal, now tie most impoverished nations in
Euro pc are the sad monuments of the whitening
effect offree trade upon natio nal prosperity For
centuries the richest productions of the In
dies, and the mineral. treasures OF the New
World, flowed in broad & uninterrupted stream
into these now exhausted countries. But this
immense confluence of wealth reached their
shores only TO be mingled With every other re-
source and speedily CO inverted into Iemittances
to the manufacturers of England, to whose
leeching policy, during all this long PERIOD thro'
ignorance or weakness they have submitted with
out struggle. The hostile course pursued by
Gen. Jackson and his.party 10 the principle of
protection, in the congress Of 1923, which
forced the compromise bill upon us, has gradu-
ally reduced US TO similar condition. While
every production Of our soil except cotton has
kets by severe prohibiIoIy duties, British ara
rice Las roamed almost unrestrained over the
length and breadth Of our land. Our country
has been converted into widespread theatre of
British speculation and enterprise, upon which
her merchants and manufacturers have ieapt a
golden harvest, leaving our own te sink into
bankruptcy and ruin. This state Of affairs can
not longer be tolerated. Some entertain hopes
that an adequate protection for domestic indus
try, may be derived from the compromise bill, as
II will be in 1912, with the advantage of home
valuation. cash payments, and its provisions fair
ly interpreted and faithfully enforced. But from
some quarter it must speedily arrive. The cry
fer protection is coming up from the north, the
middle and the west. Ii has crossed the Polo
mac. and is listened to with increased approba-
ton by Virginia and North Carolina. Let the
81 nth once raise her views from the present
price of Cotton to future prospects, when Great
Britain shall be able to draw supplies from her
eastern possessions, and she would no longer
interpose the greatest obstacle which stands in
the way Of he prosperity OF cur common coun-
of the north abandoned, and sure and steady
home market for the raw material consequently
forever closed and she will curse the free trade
distractions which the hireling writers of Brit
in will sound in her ears, uni sufficient sup
ply from her own possessions will enable her 10
subject American cotton 20 the same burdens
which exclude every productisn of the north from
her markets. Nor should The south shut her
eyes TO the price of foreign goods, enhanced far
beyond the amount Of duties imposed, which
would be the ultimate effect of the destruction of
domestic manufactures. We cannot dismiss The
hope, that unless some extraordinary occurrence
should intervene, the time will speedily arrive,
when the south as she once did, will regard the
permanent and abiding interests of every section
of the country, to depend upon the wise i'm
provement of our own inexhaustible resources.
No free and intelligent people will long be