The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1842-05-17
DUTY.
Tobacco, unmanufact'd,

Now, the freedom of trade which the Sena-
tor from South Carolina and his associates pro-
pose, is a trade or 90 per cent on one side, and
l 900 per cent on the other! That is the free
dom Of trade on which the Senator dwells with
such enthusiastic delight that he likens it to the
divine right of kings; it came, he tells us, from
heaven itself; divine ordinance! Well, let
US look little into the practical effect of this
divine doctrine offree trade, where, as the Sen
ator assures us, it has of late years been max
ing triumphant progress. What is the re-
duction of duty which the people of England
have been able to achieve on the primary arti.
Gle of human subsistence, the very bread of
life? Forty per cent! Forty per cent is ex
acted by a sliding scale until the population
shall have been reduced by famine to state of
actual starvation; and then when the want and
desperation of the people may no longer be
safely resisted, then, and then only, the bread
stuff5 this country are to be admitted And
this is the divine free trade so eloquently COM
mended to the adoption of an American Con-
gress!
And now let US look at the practical opera
ton of the protective system as modified by the
compromise. And first, as to the progress of
our home manufactures. The duties have been
hitherto reasonably protective on most of our
fabrics till S1st December last; and if you will
now continue that protection to the articles
needing it, and admit the rest duty free, there
will be no complaint.
What do the Senators from Pennsylvania
and from Maryland ask! That the duties on
iron may be the same as in December, 1889,
Under the practical operation of protective du-
ties, our manufactures have all the Time been
expanding, because they enjoyed moderate pro-
lection. What did we tell you on this very
point in 1929? And what did the Senators
on the other side predict? | feel pride and
pleasure in being able to say that there has not
been solitary prediction made on the other
side that has not been contradicted by fact and
experience; nor single prediction on our side
which has not been completely fulfilled. What
were those doleful warnings' That the reve-
nue. would be ruined-that we must resort to
direct taxation. Importations would cease, and
we should be driven to the necessity OF domes-
tic taxes. What farther did they tell us! That
prices would rise, and that the duties must be
paid by the consumers in one section OF the
country for the benefit of manufacturers in an
other.
And how did the fact turn out? The reven-
ne proved fully adequate, but there was no ex-
cess; q mean from the duties on customs; Tor
all the excess that did accrue was exclusively
from the enormous sales of the public lands.)
1t is true the actual amount of imports was
lessened, but the augmentation of the duty
more than compensated for the dimlnution, and
we received more revenue than when the du-
ties were lower. In these points, then, our
predictions were fully verified. And how was
it with regard to prices!- Did the American
consumer pay more for the objects OF his con-
sumption! Without entering into the details'
assert, in general, that in every single IN
stance in which sufficient protection was an