Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1842-04-25
PROTECTION
TO AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE AND
MANUFACTURES.
REPORT TO THE HOME INDUSTRY CON-
VENTION.
Anril Tth 1910

REPORT TO THE HOME INDUSTRY CON-
VENTION.
THURSDAY, April 9Th, 1912.
MIR. II. Greeley, from the COMMITTEES appointed
to consider the General Interest of Manufactures
and Of American Labor, and the necessity of Pro-
lection, reports
The several Productive Interests Of the Coun-
try, whether Agricultural. Manufacturing or Com
mercial, being otherwise referred TO abe aud en-
lightened Committees, il seemed the more applo-
p-iae duty of your Committee to consider gener-
ally and abslrnctly the Principle and grounds Of
Protection:
Protection is the fundamental necessity, the pr-
mnry object, of all rghtful government To pro-
ect each other against the feloniOus practices of
the swinder, the burglar, the assassin, the
formidable assaults of barbarian hordes of ambi-
tious chiefaias Of invading armies, the members
Of a community unite TO bear the burthens and
submit to the restrictions of natural right inciden
tai 10 the existence Of government. Each indi
vdual, on his part, incurs the obligations, submits
TO the restrictions, and assumes the burthen of
citizenship on the implied but palpable contract
OF the government TO protect him in the full en-
ioyruent of those rights reserved TO him under the
social compact; in the undisurbed and absolute
use of the products Of his own labor aud skill,
and in the right to employ advanlageously all his
faculties IN the requirement OF an adequate sub
sistence.
Very few have over denied to Government the
right and duty of protecting its people from over
acts OF aggression and violence. That an inva.
ding Toe should be resisted, law breaking villain
arrested and confined or n domineerng, encroaeh-
ing nation checked and resisted, propositions
so plain that no writer Of note on Government has
doubted or demurred to them.
Now it cannot be seriously, considerably deni-
ed that nation may he injured as certainly and
vitality by the policy Of a rival as by its arms. An
Order in Council, an act of legislation, may Grip
la a mn md inbt tha nd If
distant Nation, when open hostility would have
been wholly unavang. The Navigation Act of
Great Britain did more TO destroy tho commercial
Importance of Holland than all the aeeIs that ev-
er issued'from Portsmouth and Plymouth. His
tory is full of examples of the decline and de-
sirucilon OF nations from the which they
failed clearly 10 recognise, but which later and
clear sighted observers have readily detected in
the grasgfng policy and deep-lad plans of subj
lie and determined rival.
Your Committee, therefore, hold it self-evident
that it is rs clearly and fully the duty ola govern
nent to guard It's cllizens against the nsidiOus in
fluences of hostile foreign policy, against the
more direct and manly assaults Of foreign armies
Aud they insist thut a wise and paternal govern
ment will as carefully guard, unsleepngly
watch against the vaccinations of foreign cabi-
nets as the shock of hostile fleets and battaons.
To illustrate this position, let us adluce a case
such as has substantially happened at least once
in the history of our own country. Let us sup
pose that the great mass of our people salts
lactOrlly engaged in Agricultural pursuits and that
they obtain their Manufactured goods by an ex-
change OF their surplus Wheat for the fabrics and
wares of Great Britain. No duty, or u very mod
era,e one, tor revenue merely, is charged on Ell
lher side At length however, Great Britain re-
solves to produce all her own grain, and 10 this
end imposes heavy, n probibItory duty, OIL its
importation from abroad by this ac' our farm
ers are eft witout market for their produce, its
price deprecules, and it remains drug oil their
hands. British fabrics are still pouring into our
ports, sold for Jetoer dollars than would cost
TO produce them here, and thus fill all the chan
nels OF trade What is the duty thereby impos.
ell on our Government Free Trade affirms that
il should do nothing, but simply wait until the in
evitabe bankruptcy of our business classes, the
continued decline in The price Of our great sta.
piles, the withdrawal Of our specie and the degra-
dution or destruction of our circulating medium,
shall have reduced the price of American Labor,
and with il all results of Labor so low that the
Manufacture we need car be produced here at as
low money price MS in England. This is what
is implied by leaving trade to regulate ITSELF But
we insist that Il Il neither n wise nor n stable adj
Justmcnl of the difficulty. 1t is not wise, for it
involves our People in an infnhy of suffering,
sldgnalion and pecunnry loss II is not stable, for
tho first glenn Of prosperity in our laIid-if such
geani could he under Tint policy-would draw
hitler cargo after cargo of British goods, and
sue a repetition of our disasters Now the true
AMI manifest policy of our Government, MS it ap.
pears most obvious to us, is 10 meet the agrees
siye policy of our rival AT the outset-to counter
vail duty by Duty restriction by restriction-,o
protect ard foster our Manufactures AS fast and
far as Britain at our expense shall favor her Agri-
culture-and thus to preserve our People from the
botlomless abyss OF foreign debt and bankruptcy,
extend the sphere OF their industry and lay deep
and enduring the bases of a substantial National
lndep Evidence of all foreign policy whatever:
Let us offer another illustration. Great Britain,
about two hundred years ago, passed her Nayiga-
ton Act, allowing goods to be imported into her
| ports in British vessels at a lower rate of duty
than the same goods must pay il imported in for
egn vessels This simple act of aggressive fOs-
lering her own commerce is the foundation OF her
long career Of overwhelming Commercial and
Manufacturing ascendency-an ascendency which
would never have existed to any such extent il
the other nations Of Europe had at once perceiv-
ed the absolute necessity of counteryailing this
advantage. They did not, however. and the con-
sequence is seen in the decline Oftheir Commerce
and Marine TO the verge of extinction, and in the
elevation of their once humble rival 10 the proud
station of Mistress of the Seas. Under the bligh-
ting effect Of this graspng policy our own Com
merce languished during the whole term OF our
peaceful existence as Confederation.
But when the terms of a more perfect union
had been agreed oil, and Congress assembled
clothed with power to watch over and protect
the interests of our People, we find that one Of its
first acts was aimed al the express Protection and
encouragement Of Manufactures on our own soil
by duty on the importation offoreign goods, and
the next was intended to countervail the Nsviga-
ton act Of Great Britain, by enac,ing that cor.