The Arkansas banner., 1844-03-06

he contrcvcrted and 1 feel assured that the
 burdens of the protective system are not over-
 estimated.
 shall now proceed to show what are the necessities of the manufacturers. for the enor- nous amount of bounles annually extorted from the mass of the people, by the tariff of lS42. have made a careful calculation, showing the annual dividends received by the various descriptions of manufacturers, up- on the capital invested, and you will be ut terls astonished when ] state the result And ask your attention while show you the tleplorable, distressed, and impoverished con diton of these manufacturers. who came here in lS12, begging for more bounties.- And think shall be able to show that one h. Ii of the 40 per cent. upon the whclc amount of their productions, which the peo- pie of the United States annually contribute
 is about the clear profit they put in their poek- cts. l will siaie the facts and principles of my calculation, ill order that if have made any mistake. er left out any element in esti- mating the cost of production, their friends and representatives here may put me right.
 The returns of the manufacturers, contain ed ill the census of l840, give the annual amount of their productions, the number of persons employed, and the amount of capi- cal invested. will state my mode of estimating their annual profits. In cotton manufactures; have supposed the raw ma
 erial constituted one-fourth of the price of the article manufactured. The number of persons employed, is stated by the manufac- turers themselves. ] have supposed that, large and small, they received half dollar
 a day, as wages. or about $l50 year each. i l have allowed 10 per cent. for wear and i tear of maehnery-and presume, one with
 another, that Is a fair alowance-and l have
 added one-fourth to the permanent invest
 ment, as the circul lting capital necessary to keep each establishment in operation. ] will state the results. The manufacturers of cot ton in Massachusetts are now realizing an average profit of 35 per cent. per annum on the capital invested-permanen and circula- ting. But have been informed that some of these manufacturers have actually divided 40
 per cent The cotton manufacturers of Massachusetts, however, realize larger profits than many others-the general average in all
 States not exceeding % per cent The pro- fit on woollen manufactures, estimating the raw material at one half the cost of manufac- ture, is % per cent. on the capital. The profit on cast and rolled iron q want the at tention of my friend from Pennsylvania to what l state) is 34 per cent. on the invested capital. The number of tons of iron annu- ally produced IS stated in the returns, but not the value; and l have assumed in my calculations. that il is worth the first cost of English iron, with the duty added, making about2 cents a pound
 Mr Buchanan, from his seat, said :: great many of them have stopped within the
 last two years. notwithstanding.
 That (said Mir. McD.) is distressing but if they have long received dividends of 34 per cent, they can well afford to stop.
 On salt, the profits on the capital invested amount to 20 per per cent; but the salt works in Virginia, if the returns are correct, are yielding the incredible profit of S5 per cent, upon the supposition that salt can be sold for D cents bushel at the works, which have assumed, in the absence of positive n- formation.
 have thus, Mir. President, attempted to exhibit the enormous burdens imposed on the people of the United States, and to show into whose pockets you are putting the enormous bounties derived from them. The grand re- suit of the whole Is, that contributions to the annual amount of S32, 100000 beyond what would result from revenue duties, are ex- torted from the people by the act of 1842, which the bill on your table proposes to modify.
 come now. MT. President, to consider the arguments by which this system of pro- tective duties in the various stages of its pro- gress from 1924 to the present time, has been | The principal argument address ed in the commencement to the national pre- judices, and still urged by the supporters of the system is, that it protects domestic against l foreign industry, as if it were conflict be- tween the pecuniary interest of this and fo- reign countries.
 Now, think can show that this is to- al mistake, in point of fact; that there Is no | conflict at all between foreign and domestic industry that foreign manufactures cannot come in competition with our own, but by means of the domestic productions of this country which are exchanged for them; and hat the conflict Is really not between foreign md domestic industry, but between one ,ranch of domestic industry and another.- iidt Is II tO tiic ilistiudCtuFCrS eFt. tiidt uit of Manchester, Leeds, and shall make manufactures to an unlimited amount, and sell them at the low st imaginable prices, if the domestic indus " of the United States furnishes no produc- ions to exchange for them' As long as they ire the property of foreigners, that is, the productions of foreign industry, there can be no possible competition. When theyare exchanged for our domestic productions, they become American property, and to all intents and purposes, the productions of American industry and it Is at this precise point that the competition commences. It is the ex- porers of cotton, tobacco, rice, grain, and meat, and the consumers of the foreign ma nniactures obtained for them, who are the true competitors of our domestic manufac- turersi It is upon these, and not upon fo- relgners, that the burden falls of that suc- dal policy which regards foreign commerce as n national evil and rnre;u,, nations ,s m,