Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1842-03-31
From The B.i.smore Amey,eon.
THE TARIFF-IHE CURRENCY.


shaping the policy Of this country, in re
soect 70 its commercial intercourse witt
foreign nations. One reason Of this aris
az from the fact that cotton has been al.
INST tbs only article Of our domestic pro.
duction which the nations with whom we
chiefly trade would receive upon foiI
terms. flonce the commodity has &C.
quired great importance, and entered
largely into our foreign commerce.
Now in point Of fact, the cotton inter
est is not the predominant interest OF the
country. AT the recent Convention oil
Leather Dealers in Massachusetts, il was
estimated by the Hon. Abbott Lawrence,
that the products Of the Leather business
in the United States exceeded fifty mil
lions per annum--wbich single item OF
manufacturing industry, amounts TO more
than three fourths OF the annual value OF
the entire cotton crop. The total results
ofthe Agricultural industry ofthe country,
as gathered from the statistics of the late
census, are estimated at 1874 DOC, 900, OF
which the production Of cotton makes but
1854, 10000. The entire manufacturing
industry Of the country produces annually
about Si2i, 100000.
The cotton crop therefore makes some
thing less than one lreJih part of the
agriculture! production OF the United
States; less than one-sirh part of the
Manufacturing products, and less than one
Twentieth part Of the entire annual pro-
duction of the Union.
The system Of Tree importatons has
thus FAR suited the cotton growers, because
the articles imported came not into COM
petition with any branch of industry in
which they were interested. The wise
policy which in former years looked to
the sustaining Of great interests in other
parts Of the Union, was attacked and vir-
tsalIy Frustrated by the South, because
they contended that they were compelled
by it to pay higher prices for articles con-
sumed by them than they would other
wise be required to pay, and further, that
tho price OF cotton was kept down by req.
son OF the difficulty which England found,
under our system of duties, in exchang.
ing her manufactured goods for the raw
material Of the South.
Thus il happened that every other in.e-
rest IN the country was, to greater or
less extent, abandoned in favor Of the cot
ton growing interest. The planters, how.
ever, have not reaped the advantages they
hoped for. Under the system Of free inn
portntions the cotton crop has not been
sufficient to pay for the immense mass OF
merchandise that was poured into our mar
kets. England, moreover, has found
other sources whence cotton may be had;
and the South, along with other paris Of
tho country, has participated in the suffer-
ings caused by an unequal trade and a
ruined currency. ...= ..
A remedy for both must be found in
substantial Tariff. The South will find
her interes, in this as well as the North,
the West, and the whole interior. For it
is to the interest Of all sections, that the
home market should be enlarged and made
firm, so that the cotton Of the South, now
falling in price abroad, may be kept up
by an increased demand at home; that the
agricultural products of the Western and
Middle States, denied admission into for
egn ports, may find ready sale in the
Furnishing towns and villages rising up
in the rich mineral regions of the interior,
or by the side of rapid streams atfording
abundant water power for manufacturing
establishments; and for the additional, yet
not less potent reason, that the mochanl-
cal industry of our cities may find Its due
reward in the home consumption OF the
articles it produces, and not be Frustrated
by the unequal competition to which 1t
must be subject by free importations from
abroad.
The same policy is demanded in behalf
Of sound currency. We have dwelt
upon this point over and over again. Is
there any need Of further attempting TO
show that il is impossible for the currency
TO be in healthy state when an unequal
trade is continually drawing coin from
the countryl 1t avalls nothing that legls-
lative acts require return 20 specie pay
men,s. Such acts cannot stop the drain
of the precious metals. We could have
pork and flour and tobacco enough to pay
our debts abroad-but these commodities
are burdened with heavy duties by the
nations that have crowded their impor,a.
tons upon us.
The lamentable effects of our unequal
foreign trade upon the country are set
forth il the following paragraph from the
Boston Atlas, in reference TO the resump-
ton now taking place in Ohio:
The Banks are, in compliance with the
law, redeeming their obligation in spe.
Gle: their liabilities are small among the
solvent ones. While exchange on all
specie paying points is SO high, all that
they pay out must inevitably leave the
State. When the operation is through,
they will be worse off than before, for the
State will have no currency OF her own,
and will resort to more deprecated one
from other States. General bankruptcy
and s,agnation OF business will only re.
Iieve them-boih Of which might have
been avoided under the operation OF a ia
riff which would have given them mar
ket for their produce. If Ohio could pay
her eastern customers, as heretofore, IN
pork, wheat, and other products OF her
soil, there would be no demand Tor her
coin. But she has different customer TO
pay now-it is the foreign importer
wants neither Of thess articles, but de-
mands gold and silver. The same rule