Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1842-06-04
CONVENTION
SoF SUGAR PLANTERS.

W JF ia FLA ~ l ks.
At a numerous meeting Of the Sugar Plant.
ers of Louisiana, and others interested in the
culture ofthe sugar cane, convened at Donald.
sonyille on Monday the 10th May, ls42, for
the purpose of taking into consideration the
necessity and propriety of addressing a me-
mortal To Congress upon the subject of a Ia.
riff OF Protection.
We copy entire the memorial to Congress,
which is as follows; !
10 the Honorable the Senate and House Of Repre-.
s%entatires = he United States, in Congress Us.
semtAd.
The undersigned. Planters and Sugar Mann.
facturers in the State Of Louisiana, beg respect
fully to state
That it is only after losses have reached
their height-that events have proved tina,
under the practical operation of the Compro.
mise Bill, Of 1881, our Agriculture and our
Commerce, as well as our Manufacturing in
terests are not only paralized, but brought to
the very verge of absolute ruin, that they APP
proach the Representatives of the nation. in
Congress assembled, earnestly to pray them
to como to the relief Of an industry Involving
an outlay of capital Of S52. 900, 00G-the de-
struction of which, besides causing a national
loss to IN extent beyond calculation, would
B'a3 " ttES4 1tkU OIFdiukUSi CIV UIlhL-
CT connected with II.
h against the theories discarding discri-
piinating duties intended to foster home labor
which have brought every department of
our government into disrepute--which have
made, with few exceptions, every mechanic,
every manufacturer, every merchant, every
farmer, every corporation, in our once happy
Union. a. bankrurt--and which at length, after
a long struggle, IRE shaking our government
itself to It's very foundation the undersigned
beg most respectfully to oppose the authority
OF one Of our aJ1est and most honored states.
men:
In 1855, Thomas Jefferson was one Of the
most ardent and strenuous advocate of free
trade, his opinions in 1915 were as follows +:
lNiles Register, vol. X, page 2b--lettcr to
BENZ. Austln.j
"Coinpare the present state Of things with
that Of 80. and say whether an opinion found
ed IN the circumstances Of that day can be
fairly applied TO those Of the present. We
have experienced what we then did not believe,
that there exists both profigacy and " 10
exclude us from the field of interchange with
other nations; that to be independent for the
comforts OF life we must fabricate them our
selves. We must now place the anufactu-
rer by the side of the agricnlturis.. The for
mer question Is suppressed, or rather assumes
a new form. The grand enquiry is now
shall we make our own comforts or go without
them, at the will of another nation He,
therefore, who is now against domestic ma
nutactures, must be for reducing us eth r to
a dependence on that nation, or be clothed in
skins and 10 live like wild beasts in dens and
caverns. am proud 10 say | am not one Of
them. experience has taught me that manu-
features are now as necessary 10 our indie
pendence as to our comfort-and If those who
quote me as Of a different opinion, will keep
pace with me in purchasing nothing foreign,
where an equivalent o~fdoDestic fabric can be
obtained, without any regard TO difference Of
price, 1t viii not be our fault if we DO no, have
a supply VT home equal to our demand. and
wrest that weapon of distress from the hand
which has so long wantonly violated it."
> That the fallacy and suicidal tendency of
the doctrines of 'S5-partiaily revived in 1888
ARE now fully proven by their practical ope-
ration during the last eight wears, which has
brought distress unprecedented. ruin and de-
ISOLATION 70 every class of society, to every
branch OF industry, throughout the United
States.
That in one of the papers annexed to the
report OF the committee on manufactures of
3ist March last, and particularly referred to
by said committee, it is stated
"That there were imported in the United
States, in 1910, of raw sugar, l2l ,000, 900 lbs.,
valued about $500, 900.
"That the great bulk of these importations
were from six countries, to. wit: the Danish
West India Islands, Dutch East indies, Philip
pine Islands, Cuba and other Spanish Islands,
and the Brazils; and that our exports during
the same year, to those markets, amounted to
S9,390,026.
"That this trade gave employrnentto 1906
men, 2l9 boys, and 1877 vessels, measuring
2s9 ,639 TONS"
The undersigned respectfully beg to observe
that the above exhibit gives only one side view
of the trade in question. That a reference to
the report of the report of the secretary of the
treasury will show our imports to the above
countries for lsli, to have been as follows, to
49,.