The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-10-03

from being the mere creature Of Con
grcssional Legislation. was one Of lhep
cIpal causes of calling Congress itself an
the Government into existence.
IL is well known as matter of his,o RIGA
fact, that of the causes which led to the es.
tablishmen, Of the present Government, 1
very prominent one was the desire to es,ab
llsh uniform duties and imposts through
the several States, and, by means Of such
uniform duties anu impos,s, to enable the
country to provide for the payment of the
Revolutionary debt.
Not to dwell, hewever, longer on this
part ofthe subject, he wished to call the
attention of the meeting 20 the immediate
effects, should the proposed duties be laid.
And, in the first place, it is admitted that
great falling off of revenue must be ex.
peeled. No one, as far as he knew, had
computed this loss of revenue at less than
five millions year. How is this loss to
be supplied! The inquiry was very natur-
al to the Government as well as ~ the PEG.
pie,
In truth, every man in the community
not Immediately benefited by the new du.
ties, would suffer double loss. In the
first place, by shutting out the former com.
modify, the price Of the domestic manufac.
ture would he raised. The consumer, there.
fore must pay more for it. And, in so
much as Government will have lost the du-
ty on the imported article, a tax equal to
that duty must be paid to Government
The real amount then, of this bounty, on
given article, will he preciccly The a.
noun, oft present duty added To the
amount ofthe proposed duty, a, least, so il
appeared to hum. (Mr w. aud, it any cal.
culaiioR could make il otherwise,h he wonld
be glad to see it. Again: |, is proposed to
raise the duties on sal. aud brown sugar;
these are articles of very general consump-
iion, and the duty on them is raised proba-
bly with view of supplying. in some de-
gree, the loss OF the Treasury arising from
excluding other articles. This is the tax,
then, Imposed, to enable the Treasury, III
some measure. to bear It's other losses. it,
other words. sugar and salt are taxed, be-
cause Gotten and woolen cloths are to be
taxed so high as to prevent their imporla-
llon--there is tax on Jood, in order that
there may he tax on clothing.
And, after all, how few Of all the mem
bers of society are to he benefited by this
system, so ar'lticiaIy aud eIaborMely con,
structed, Certainly not all manufacture.
ers. nor all mechanics-but particular
class only.
All Those manufacturers who have now
The home market in their possession, aud
export more or less Of their wares-,he
manufacturers. for instance, Of shoes, mills,
cabinet furniture. carriges, &c, all these
are injured, no, benefited, They feel the
burden, without pnrtaking the profit. We
might add to these at once, all the numer-
aus classes whose occupations are con.
neced, directly or indirectly, with nav.
igallon and commerce. 1t is said, to lull
the alarms in the Treasury, that the deficit
of five millions in the revenue, made up by
an excise on domestic manufactures. when
the foreign article should be excluded. But
on rhm manufacturers On cotton and
woollen alone, or principally! Certainly
not: On others, as much or more, than on
them. On car-iges, for example among
the first. This is a tax, which, like many
others, always diminishes the demand TT
the article. 1t takes away, then at orce
the employment Of the artist. who works
in this line. He is a manufacturer, the,
fore, not benefited, but likely, in the enc,
10 be ruined.
AM We, he (Mr wy had understood
that, in making out the new census,
coachmakers, aud all other handcraiismen
or tradesmen, were denomnated mana
faftur,rs-and this would show a great
number Of manufacturers in the census,
appearing to he benefited by protecting
manufacturers. The case he had alluded
tn, might suffice for an instance or es.
ample of many; and, when The whole
should be investigated, it would he found
that the sorts Of manufactures to be beu-
Gifted ~ the proposed measures, we're yer,
lew. An appeal had been made to the
qa,riotic feelings OF the nation.
1t had been said we are not independent
so long as We received these commodities
from other nations. lie could no, see he
force of this appeal. lie did not perceive
how the exchange of commodities be-
tween nations, when mutually and equally
advantageous, rendered one dependent on
The other in any manner deroga,ory to
It's interest or dignity. a dependence OF
this surt exists every where among indl.
viduals ms well as nations. Indeed the
whole fabric Of civilization, all the improve.
menis which distinguished cultivated STU
ciety from savage life. rest on dependence
of this kind. lie thought the argument
draw fromlhc necessity oiprnvidlne mean.
oi defence in war, had heen pressed quite
too far. twas enough, that we had "a
parity to produce such means. when oc-
casion should call. The reasoning as
sumes, that, in war, no means Of defence
or annoyance. can he probably obtained.
or not without great difficulty, except, from
our own materials or manufactures. He
doubted whether there was much ground
for that assumption. Nations had hiher-
to obtained military means, in the midst of
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