Independent Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1842-1844, 1843-07-01
From ". Y. Ercning POST
A CHAPTER ON THE VANITY OF
HUMAN WISHES
"He who of old would rcnd tho oak,
Dreamed net Of the rebound"

Among the events which have been
talked of in the city, for day or two, Is
the failure of Mr.. Simmons, the United
States Senator from Rhode Island. Mr.
Simmons was, not long since, said to be
worth a handsome estate, which he had
amused by calico-printing. In the course
of q few months the aecumuIallons o.
years have dsapp eared, ana he finds him
self unable to meet his engagements
The history Of this reverse is instructive
and deserves to be framed and g.azed, and
hung up in the bed chamber OF every
member of Congress, and every manulac-
turer, here it can be read every morn.
ing.
When the new tariff was passel, Mr..
Simmons, then Chairman of the Commit
tee on Manufactures in the Senate, WAS
one OF the most jealous champions OF re-
slricton. Being manufacturer, he I'M
agihed that his own interest would he pro.
NOTED by high duties, aud accordingly he
brought in one Of the three bills out OF
which the present tariff wss finally com
pounded. Ofcdufse Mr.. Simmons took
care TO see that the calico printers should
lie properly protected, In framing the
law, he and his associate put duty Of nine
cents on every square yard of printed cal.
icos, which amounts 10 prohibition -
Since that time, the importation of printed
calicoes from abroad has almost entirely
ceased, and we are told by an importing
merchant that probably not fifty cases Of
this kind of goods have been brough, into
the country, so completely have the high
duties excluded them.
The calico.printcrs Of America, Senator
Simmons and others, being thus lett in the
entire monopoly ofthe market, from which
they had driven tie foreign manufacturer,
imagined that, in order TO enrich them
selves, they had only TO 60 to work and
give the country plenty otprlnted calicoes'
The effect has been precisely what has al
ways followed the laying Of exoFb'tant
duties; the rival manufacturers have Film
ed one another. Too many persons en-
gagged in the business, and engaged too
deeply; invested in it too much capital,
and employed too much labor, and pro-
duced more goods than were wanted
Large quantities Of cotton cloth were pur-
chased in haste, passed under the engrav-
ed rollers, and impressed with coored
sp!igs aud flowers, and so great has been
the over production, that, in many nstan'
ccs, they cannot now be sold for enough
to pay for cost of the cloth before 1t was
stamped. Mr.. Simmons has failed, and
we are told that all the job calico printers
of Rhode Island, by which, we understand
these who purchase the cotton cloth they
print. have failed with him--iellow VIC
TINS orhis zeal for protection.
MIR. Simmons and his friends cannot
. complain that they foundcred for want of
proper warning They embarked on an
ocean swimming with wrecks. The his
tory of our commercial tariffs show that
every increase of duties leads to excessive
connection and stimulates the production
of the protected articles to degree far
beyond the demand. Never were the duties
raised without hundreds of manufacturers
being ruined. and their goods sold below
cost. This CONSCIENCE was pointed oui
by the friends of free trade, again and
again, in the discussion which ended IN
passing the new tariff.
Meantime, we hear of numerous other
instances of the ruin which the unhealthy
competition, awakened by the new tariff,
has borught upon the manufacturers
The other day, the wollen mandatory al
Dudley, in Massachusetts, one of the finest
in the country, built two years ago at the
expense of two hundred thousand dollars
was sold for four thousand. Before u
lies an advertisement Of the Cotton Fac;o
ry ofihe Spring Manufacturing Company
in Winchendoa in the same state. q bark
rupt concern, made over to assignees, anC
to be disposed Of T. the highest bidder, on