The St. Landry whig., 1844-10-10
THE TARIFF.

We again renew this subject If we are
thouchs tedious or uninstructive, our wish to DO
good must DO the apology for the infection.
We stated that the Tariff was the best friend
Of the poor man. Let US see. Abolish the sys.
tenn entirely, and we must fall back on that obi
Gus feature, direct t~arasion. Well, each man as
then taxed according to his means; and whether
he INDUCES in ~luzuries or not, he must pay Tor
the indulgence Of his neighbors. The rich man
will have all the Injuries ofthe world. ltisex-
pensiye to keep officers at our custom-houses
and The expenses of those officers must be borne
by the poor man as we'll as the rich. Now, I'M
der the Tariff, the poor man only pays for what
he consumes. Hthe Tariff works hard at all, i
must be upon the rich man-as the Tariff act
shows that luxdries alone are highly taxed
Cannot the poor man, then, see, that this eternal
CRY from the rich, that the Tariff is oppressive to
the moor, is but so much dust thrown into their
ewes to blind them to the true issue Aside
from all this, what would be the teellngso 81 Amer
lean citizens, to see a gang of tax-gatherers, m
yading the ~sanctity OF their f%resides, to take lists
oftheir little, all for the support OF perhaps, a
spendthrit government
Again, Protection tothe manufacturer, is the
same to the agriculturist. Every spindle, every
machine, put in operation in%lr own country,
makes the demand for agricultural products
greater, and the competition less. The more we
nut into the one, the less we have il, the other.
The result is, that the more Of our oy n products
sold at home, the higher the prices fYe obtain.
This is plain. Suppose we now had'I n Lo'lsi-
siana, several cotton manufactorEs those
manufactures would employ q quantiFE ofhands;
those hborers would, Of course, be token from
our population-from our agricultural interests.
Very well those hands must live their bodies
m,,st be clothed. Our cotton would be worked
IN bythem-our corn would be eaten by them
The goods they manufacture would be worn BY
thom, us, and ours-the expense ofthe trarlspor'
tation of our products back and forth would bc
saycd--and, while we put these expenses on the
cotton, sugar, and manufactured goods here, GU
lands would become more valuable, and the pri
ces obtained for their products much greater
But, conceding that, in this state Of " ngs, W
obtained for our products but the pricd, we nov
get-what then 7 Why, We would kiow the
our State was growing III wealth and sbpngth-
our markets would become stahle-our t~rsolirce
sure-and our conseienccs still, because certail
that what we had was our own, and spent amOat
ourselves.
But, the great American feature ofthe Tariff
should recommend It to US in the strongest terms
with II, we must become . great and powerful
nasion-without 1t, i weak and imbecile affair,
II il a good maxim, that, IN time Of peace, we
should prepare for was. Unless We have re,
sources Of all kinds Of our own, within our owr
borders, and under our own control, we never
can be independent, Or prepared for war Eng,
land understands this matter well, and acts &C
cordingly. Lctns, 1 FIVE wishto become i stand.
ard Republic, and . model Government learn tt
value our own Importance and our own resources
and we can compel respect, and demand The
righsing Of grievances. Otherwise, we will b
but a by-word for other and more powerful ma
tlons.