Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1843-06-30
. CHAPTER ON THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES"
"He who OF old would rend the OAK,
dreamed not of the rebound"


sIe who OF old would rend the oak,
Dreamed OF the rebound"
auono the events which have been talked of in the
CITY, for day or two, IS the failure OF MI Summons,
was not long since, said TO be worth handsome es
tale which he had amused by calico-prnling. In
he course of few months the accumulaohs OF years
have disappeared, and he finds himself unable 10 meet
his engagements. The history OF tbs reverse IS IN
struc,ive and deserves TO be framed and glazed and
hung 10 in the bed chamber of every member of Con
gress and every manufacturer, where II can be read
every morning.
When The ne W Tariff was passed. hlr. Simmons, then
Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures in the
Senate was one Of the most jealous champions of re-
strc,ion Being manufacturer, ne imagined that bis
o.yn interest would bo promoted by high dutiea and
accordingly he brought in one OF The three bills out
of which the present Tariff was finally compounded
OF course, MIR. Summons took care 10 see That the
printers should he properly protected In franz
;no The law he and his associates put duty Of nine
cents on every square yard of printed cacoes, which
amounts TO a prohibition. Since that lime, The I'M
oortation Of printed calicoes from ABROAD has almost
entirely ceased and we told by an importing mer-
chant that probably not fifty cases OF tins kind Of
goods have been brought into the country SO complete
" have the high duties excluded them
The calico printers OF America, Senator Summons
and others being thus left in the entire monopoly Of the
Market from which they had driven the foreign manu-
facturer imagined that, in order TO ench themselves
thew had only 10 90 10 work and give the country plen
~ of printed calcoes The effect has been precisely
what has always followed the laying CT exorbltant du
ties the rival manufacturers have ruined one another
Too many persons engaged IN the business, and en-.
aaqed loo deeply invested in 1t too mnch capital, and
employed loo much labor, and produced more goods
Iban were wanted Large quantities of cotton cloth
were purchased in haste, passed under The engraved
rollers and impressed with colored sprgs and howers
and so great has been the over production, that, in
many instances they cannot now De sofa lot enougho
- boFo 1 MIR
Simmons has failed and told that all the job
caI;conrinters of Rhode Island, by which, we under
s,and those who purchase the cotton cloth they print
have failed with him-feow victims OF his zeal for
protection.
they foundered for want of proper warning They en-
barked on ocean swimming with wrecks The his
tory OF orr commercial tariffs shows that every increase
of duties leads 10 excessive competition ana stimulates
the production of the protected articles 10 degree far
beyond the demand Never were the duties raised
without hundreds of manufacturers being ruined, and
their goods sold below cost This consequence was
pointed out by the friends of free trade, again and
AGAIN. in the discussions 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 brought upon the manufactu.
rers The other day, the wooen mandatory at Dud
Icy in Massachusetts,, of the finest in the country,
built two years ago at the expense OF two hundred thou
sand dollars sold at public sale Tor forty thou
sand The machinery, which cost forty thousand dol
lars, was sold for four thousand. Before lies an
advertisement of the sale of the Cotton Factory of the
Spring Manufacturing Company in Winchendon, in
the same State, bankrupt concern, made over to
assignees and be disposed of to the highest bidder,
on the 10Th Of August. The Amesbury Flannel Fac
tory in the same State is also advertised for sale. All
over New England felt the fatal effects Of that eager
competition which an increase of duties is certain TO
bring with it.
OF course we take no pleasure in hearing Of ndivi-
dual embarrassmen,s. Many of those who will owe
their ruin to the new Tariff, are probably among those
who neither pettioned for it, nor voted for il; but, if
they did either caunot deny that they fully deserved
the fate which their selfish disregard Of other mems
rights has drawn down upon them
Gfen York Ere Post