Litchfield enquirer., 1842-03-24
THE TARIEF REVISION.

1HefG Is nafuIV room IOr QlIitTGllCc OH InIS
point, that the Tariff Of Duties on Imports
must be revised at the present session o.
Congress. The Revenue is VIGOROUSLY,
ton expended Fifteen Millions of Dollars
which had accumulated under Il higher Tia
riff by the preceding, and ran in debt sew
eral Millions by issuing Treasury Notes
The Expenditures during Mr.. Van Buren's
four years exceeded the net Receipts O:
those years by more than Twenty Millions
of Dollars. The present Administration
commenced with no surplus, but a pressing
Debt instead, while the Tariff. greatly d.
unfinished during MIR. Van Buren's four
years, was still in process of reduction, and
is to be finally reduced very much on the
LIST of July next. 1t surely cannot be pre-
tended with any show of reason or fairness
that the Government can be efficiently con
Quoted upon the Revenue arising under the
present Tariff, as it will stand after that re-
duction.s AS to the alternative of continu
ing Mr.. Van Buren'S borrowing, shining.
Treasury Note device, we find no open
though many virtual supporters Of that. A
| any rate, we trust those who are so greatly
shocked at the idea of National Debt, and
who are perpetuallv quoting Mr.. Jefferson'$
depreciation thereof, will not insist on con.
tlnung in practice what they so violently
denounce in the abstract. The Govern
ment has been disgraccd and crippled by
this shining policy long enough. Let III
have an end of it forthwith and we can
have it only by raising more Revenue.
How shall we do this! There are some
half dozen journals who talk occasionally
over the shoulder in favor of Direct Tara
lion, but they are not half in earnest. The
enormous cost, the meagre proceeds, ofthat
| ind >F f111 boo oct., Il
ring the Last War. But then, there was an
abundance Of money in circulation, and he
who had any thing to sell could readily pay
his taxes. Now there are whole counties in
which n thousand dollars of par money TO-
taxes could not be raised without cOnstra'n
ing sacrifices of property t" three times the
value. With warehouses full of Pork and
Grain, they are hardly able to pay theiI
State Taxes, and, if the Federal Govern
ment were to lay more, they could with
great difficulty be collected.
| But, saws Loco-focOism, you must re.
store to the Treasury the Public Land Pro
ceeds, which you have apportioncd to tho
States.' Well, suppose this were done; how
much would it add to the Revenue? Les
than million dollars last year; little
more or less this This is but drop in tho
bucket, and so it will remain while our Ag
Sub Treasury prices. Who will buy Pub
lie Lands to any extent, when the Produce
which may be raised thereon will not pay
for carrying to market, and when il can be
occupied without paying for it? IL needs
| Protection and a National Currency 10 make the
Land ,corih buying. We have of course
deeper objection than this to this recourse
we are infexibly hostile to any applica-
| tion of the Land Proceeds to the ordinary
purposes Of Government. 1t is thriftless,
short-sighted, sauandcring policy-iust like
that Of the profigate heir who sells the tim
her off his estate to meet his daily expenses
But it is enough for the present purpose that
successive Presidents and Secretaries OF the
| Treasury have declared the Land Proceeds
| too prccarious and fuctuating to be relied
on as means of meeting the Annual Ex-
penditures of the Government
We come back at last to the only proper
and adequate resource-higher Duties on
imports. These must manifcstly be laid.
On what rinciple-Horizonta or Discrm-
mating! This has been settled by the votes
Of The Free Troders themselves. At the last or
Extra Session, they resisted to the utmost
and successfully the imposition Of duties on
| Tea, Coffee, &c, on the distinctly avowed
Ground that these, being articles OF general
necessity, not produced in this country,
ongM to beadmined free. The inevitable CON
| verse of this proposition is that Other arti-
rles must be subjected to higher duties than
hey wou d otherwise pay. The vote on
Tea and Coffee esta blished the principle of
Discrimination beyond n caviI, and the Free
Traders voted en- npasse to exempt Salt and
several other nece@sarics in like manner.
They are therefore cstopped by their own
repeated acts from any opposition to Dis
eliminating Duties.
But, more than all, THE CONDITION OF THE
COUNTRY calls loudly for the judicious in
crease Of the Tariff. Our Currency is bro
ken down and vitated our Produce is SELL
ing at rates runously low for the producer;
and in many sections of the country money
can hardly be obtained for it Sf any rate.
The land is full Of Provisions which cannot
be sold, and for want of which those who
make our Clothing are furnishing. This is
partly caused by the grasping policy OF
Great Britain, but its occasional recurrence
is inseparablc from a system of exchanging
Provisions for Cloths with nation four
thousand miles off. Such trade must al
ways he insecure and f1uctuating; and it
tolcrably steady, the cost of transporting
the Provisions eats up their value and leaves
the producers dependent and beggarly. 1t
is monstrous disregard ofthe plainest die
tatcs of Economy to send flour from Chlca-
go and Cincinnati to Leeds for Cloths and
Sheffield for Cutlery, when the same man
ufacturcrs could procure just as much cloth
and cutlery at Pittsburg and Peoria, and
thereby save to themselves and our farmers
the enormous cost of sending the -four and
pork from Indiana to England. 1t is, it
must be our true policy. to invite hither the
manufacturers rather than the goods. The
Country conld pay tomorrow for Fifty
Millions North of Manufactures to produ-