The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1841-10-26

pdTrasSinsnt 10 wealth., power anu Dauohai
greatness. For more than thirty years, the
constitutional power of Congress to impose du-
ties for the purpose of protection, remained
;saqncstioned. Every successive Congress e1'
crciscd the power without the suggestion OF
doubt as TO its constitutionalIty and II the
constitution itself had not been, as it is, per-
feetlv clear on the subject, yet time, usage,
constant Legislation, ard universal acqulcseence
have fully established its possession by the
general government. After all this, however,
after generation had passed away, and when
the pursuits and business Of the country had
boon built up, upon the basis of protection, 1t
suited sectional and party purposes to object
10 it on the ground that 1t was unconstitution-
al; and, strange and unjust as it may seem, a
long established system of laws, designed 10
encourage and protect domestic industry, mas
been, for the present, at least, abandoned-not
because the people of the country so wlled 1t,
but because a single southern state, denying
the eonstitutionality of such legislation threat
ened violently to resist the execution OF these
laws. And this has been termed comprom-
ise "a compromise which yields all that is
demanded to violence and a breach of faith,
and quietly consents to the ruin Of a vast por
ton of the country for the exclusive benefit of
comparatively small section.
It is needless to say much Of the causes
watch have thus led to dscontinuanee of
protection to domestic industry. A remedy
for such an evil can be found only in the in
tclIigence and SPIRIT Of that portion Of our
countrynnen, to whose existence such protec-
ton VIII be found to be almost indispensable.
am not aware that you, as legislators of this
state, can directly participate in applying
b,,f ,t Of nur
delegation in Congress your deep and abiding
conviction of the strong necessity of shielding,
by an adequate tariff, the domestic industry Of
the country, against competition with the
pauper labor and solid capitalists of Eu-
rope.
If the constitution of the United States
does not already authorize Congress to afford
such necessary protection to domestic industry
language wonld fail to accomplish the object,
and any amendment of the constitution would
be frutlcss. The states have surrendered to
the General Government all power over the
subject. When they gave to Congress cx-
cIusivaly the power to lay duties, they de-
prived themselves forever of all power to pro-
tect domestic industry. They surrendered
this power 10 Congress, to the extent to which
they possessed it themselves, and for the same
purposes, for which they themselves might
have used it, not only for the purpose of reve-
nue., but of protecting the industry of our citi-
zens against ruinous foreign competition. If
Congress do not possess this power, then the
states themselves possess it = for the states
have retained all power which they have not
granted to the government of the Union. But
nothing would be more absurd than con-
struction ef the Constitution which would thus
distribute the power of laying duties, giving it
20 Congress for purposes of revenue and to
the states for the purpose of protection.
1t would be suPerfluols to attempt to show
that protective tariff is essential to the pros
perty of this portion of the Union. The
value of our agricultural products, and especi-
ally of wool, depends entirely upon the sue
cess of our manufactures, and every farmer
in Vermont is deeply interested in saving them
frem the ruin which, it is feared, is impending
over them. We cannot iaise wool for eXpor-
tation, and five abondon wool-grewing, what
are we to do with any other kind of produce
which we may raise in its place? Wool will
not be received in foreign countries which
have supplies of their own, and who in our own
country will consume it, when manufactures
shall have been DESTROYED and manufacturers,
who have been IFS consumers, are compelled
to cultivate the soil as their only mode of sub
sistence What would our farms or our pro-
duce be worth, if these now engaged at the
loom should come back 10 the plough J? We
could hardly give away the contents of our
oveEburdened granares. Manufactures are
vet in their infancy, and although during the
short period of their existence, they have ac-
quired strength with unexamplcd rapidity,
they cannot be supposed to be stronger than
those in older countries, where they have been
much longer established, and where labor IS
cheapest. Yet in all countries, protection has
always been found to be necessary to their eX-
i5;snce and no government on earth has
ever been SO blind to its own interests and
those Gifts citizens, as TO permit free trade
with other countries, in articles of its own
manufacture. There are two very sufficient
and obvious reasons for this. One is, that a
free or reciprocal trade among different nations
never has heen, and probably never can be, es-
tablished. The other is that TO allow one
country, whatever ii might choose, to lnundate
another with its surplus manufactures, reduced
IN value at home by excessive production or
bankruptcies, would be to ruin those engaged
IN The same bu2inoss in the importing country.
Steadiness is the safety and fuctuation the
destruction of trade.
England, witha modcsty peculiar to herself,
proclaims and advocates the doctrines of free
trade, for the benefit of other nations, while
fer her own benefit she practices upon direct.
~ oposite system. In thus advocating free
trade she is seconded by the Southern planter
Bat neither from the one nor the other can we
consent to receive instruction. They have
their interests, and we have ours. We have
also the capscity TO understand, and, trust,
the the resolution to maintain our rights.