The Arkansas banner., 1844-11-13

Constitution the powers granted to Congres. on the subject:
 Art. lst Sec. 9th. Con- |. S '.The Con. gross shall have power to lay and collec taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common de. fence and general welfare of the U. States. ; It goes on to enumerate the general power: foi congress, such as to borrow money, tc declare war, to raise armies, &c But all Ihese powers are for particular objects, anc the objects named. After enumerating all the grants of power, the section concludes ir these words: "To make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers yes ted by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department ol oIlcer thereof" It Is in the beginning and conclusion of this section, that the whigs profess to find power and constitutional au- thorlty for most of their lavorte measures And It was in particular, to limit and define this section, that the people attached to all the grants of power ffeffedd red iii the Con. stltntion, the tenth amendment, of which have spoken, and which will now read:
 Amendments Con. U. s. Art 10. "Tht powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by t to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the peoplen
 With this interpretation of the Consttu- ton by the American people, we in vain search Tn 1t for any constitutional authority to pass the distribution law It has there no | ssI0c9I babtatir,o 11 I with perfect confidence in the correctness of my position, declare any law 10 distribute the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to be clearly unconstitutional.
 -liaying-estahtished the unconsttutionality of the law, will now prove to the Senate, that m peennary aspect, 1t is unjustand in- eXpedlent; that 1t will take more money from the people than 1t will distribute to them, and that the whole operation of the law will be one of cost, of loss, and of injustice The amount to be distributed Is supposed to ave rage about S3,000,000. will here remove a wrong conception. The idea held out, to distribute the proceeds of the sales of pub ic lands, Is a delusion. humbug, held out by the wings. When money is received from any of the sources of revenue, for instance from the public lands, or from the Custom House, 1t Is paid over into the Treasury of the United States. All public. monies re- eeiYed from all sources Of revenue, are paid into the Treasury, and these form the revenue of government. Congress dc not, they can moi, distribute the proceeds of the sales of public lands. But they can distribute an amount equal to the sum received from that source. and that amount, so distributed. must be taken out of the Treasury, where were deposited the monies derived from every source of revenue. Congress would then have to raise by law, an amount equal to the sum distributed. How could Congress do this2 Congress cannot augment the amount derived from the sales of public land That st ueee of revenue vlelds all Il can be male to yield. The power of Congress is stretched to its extreme tension. Tine power of Con- gress (omitting direct taxation) has only one source that il can act on, that is the Custom House revenue. Congress can raise the amount by tariff law. If then, out of the revenue the government distributes a cer- tain sum of money, and raises the same amount by increasing the tariff, does it nos follow, that the amount distributed would be derived from mpost duties instead of the sales oi public lands3 And for this very plain and common sense reason, that the land revenue is now al is highest point, and cannot be in- creased The additional revenue required by the law must be derived from the source which Congress has power to increase. and that source is the tariff and Custom House revenue.
 Here, then, is the delusion and humbuggery of the law. It is represented to the people as distributing the land revenue, while have plainly illustrated, that the money comes, 1T most part, from a tax laid on articles, goods and wares imported from abroad. No persor understands this truth better than the whia leaders and the manufacturers It is the fac which have here set forth, that so recom- mends the law to its friends.
 Mr. President, will now exhibit the loss which the people sustain by the operation o this law. l will suppose that the three mil < #lions taken out of the Treasury and distribu, ted, have to be replaced by duty of 20 pei cent on coffee. take coffee because 1t is not grown in the United States. One hun dred dollars, add 20 per cent. duty, pel cent interest, and 335 per cent. profit for i'm porter and retailer, ill all, amount to SlG7 20; the price the consumer pays for 9l00 o coffee One sixth of that amount. the duty paid, is S27 S6. Who receives this sum Government gets SIS, Custom House officer, l $2, importer and retailer fp7 86. We fine that the consumer of coffee pays $27 86 duty; of which the Government receives, a revenue, in the Treasury SIS. If then SIS revenue costs the consumer S27 86, wha will the three millions cost the people, l will cost S4,644,333 B. This is the result laying the duty on an article not grown o manufactured in the United States.
 We will now examine the expense of tht distribution law, if the amounts to be raised by laying tax on articles similar to thost manufactured ill our country. We find b, the census of 1840, there was manuiacturet in the United States, S395,832,6l5. Of simi lar articles, imported into the United States the report of the Secretary shows there were