New-York daily tribune., 1844-05-03

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be The amount what it may. does or can afford any
protccG"n. 1t does rot raise the price, and thus
benefit the domestic producer, a Is con,cnd,d
for, 50 long as the supply is und!ministcd, the
market xii! be kept full and the price be gfadu-
atcd accordingly. To find, then, the point 1t
which II Tariff will begin to diminish the i'm
portation, is the first duty of Statesman, hon
cstly seek ng the welfare of his country. For,
should his object be purely Revenue, so high, at
least, he can 90, without diminishing the amount
sought. But If his aspirations of higher
order,-if, in the spirit Of his official oath, he
wishes 10 discharge his rhole duty to his country
b. promoting that country highest prosperity, by
rendering her truly independent, he wi!l foster the
labor Of her people by at leas, that incidental Pro-
tection which may reflect from the glitter OF the
Treasury.
The experience Of the past shows concIu:ivcly
that foreigners, in pouring their products into
this Country, are not influenced in the least by
our interests, or By our real wants. They wall
force upon our markets al they think we are
able TO pay for; and would, at any time food us
with two years supply II our specie would bear
the drain. There can be no doubt tiat without
legislative obstacles interposed on our part, our
markets will always be kept ina state oi plethora
Nv rival Nations. What then is the point, winch
will begin to check this nundatlOn2 That duty Oi
20 per cent ed vaore will not have the least effect,
IS perfectly evident from experience durng tie
horizontal Tariff. 1t so happens, that al the
foreign articles which come into competition with
the products of our own industry, are Oi the kinds
which other Nations produce IN an abundance, 50
nearly bordering on CIceSS, that necessity COM
pcs them to find or force a market for these
labiics at any and almost any hazard. Would
25, or even 81 per cent. these classes of artl-
cles diminish their !inpuTta,lons twenty-five
per cent. certainly would not, and when VIC re-
fleet upon the very extensive, il not crccSsire
inporlatcns of the present year, IN spite OF the
present dutes,-ii may well be doubted ii thirty
per ceut. would keep out Il single dollars worth
Of ;hcm. Up 10 fhis point, .hen thcro would be
no diminulion OF fsupply-conscqucntly no IN
crease OF p.ice-no opening of our markets TO the
American producer, and consequently, no Pro-
lection.
And yet, Gen. Mckay argues page Is of his
Report that Z" the lowest possible duty Is " Pro-
tcclivc to It's extent .. That Is, although 1t
does not open market for one single item OF
Domestic Production. Well has lie said TO
It's extent" which can only mean that the pro-
lection is so much less Than notling-that it
amounts TO an actual bounty against u.s. IN favor
OF the Foreigner. Again, proceeding on the tai.
lacious ground that the cost Of the article, and
not the proportion OF supply to demand, regulates
the price that increased price, and not increased
markets, constitutes Protection, he snceringly
saws. page lS)-" That branch of manufacture
which cannot sustain itself against Foreign conl-
petition, under protection OF from twenty-five
dollars to thirty dollars upon every ono hundred
dollars in value of It's production, must be very
sickly,-aImost too sckly to authorize higher
taxation upon an industrious People to sustain IT.
True if it really enjoys such Protection. Bat
what docs nc mean by =" from twenty-five dollars
to thirty dollars upon every one hundred dollars
1t is plain, from what has been said above, that
from % TO 80 per cent. ad valorcm gives no $ucb
Protection. Ii such duty upon the leading artl-
ticles would not reduce the amount OF their lmpor-
talion, and thereby open an increased market ior
the Domestic Production, then 1t clearly follows
that such per cent. would afford no Protection
at all And that such would be The practical
effect, is demonstrated by experience. Yet this
is the way in which Gen. Mckay, and Statesmen
like him, argue! and upon such false grounds do
they blndly logslatc for suffering People-
literally, giving them serpent, wien they ask
for fish to revive Their exhausted energies.
Acting upon this iallacious principle Gen, Nc
KAY has framed his new rarIti bill nov beioFc the
House. Proposing list duties on those leading
classes of articles competing with our own, ave
raging about 80 per cent FOR the present; and on
Tie first day OF September, lo15 10 be farther re-
duccd to 25 per cent And this is what is called
Protection to American Labor. 1t is Just such
Tariff as Great Britain would be glad TO sanction
bv treaty slipulations at any moment 1t might be
offered her acceptance. 1t is, most cmphatlcally,
British TaIlfi!
Two things are perfectly evident. First, that
those who framed this bill do not understand the
nature of protection; or, II they do, that under
the disguise OF false colors they deliberately de
spn to palm q fraud upon the American people
Secondly, that if this bill becomes law, every
producing interest in the North and East of the
United States will be prostrated as inevitably and
as fatally as they were in 1888. Owing to the
long continued peace, France and Germany have
also become extensively exportlng-manulaclur
ing nations and are now struggling wlthEngland
for the markets of this country and the world. Be
tween these fierce competitors, as so many MIL
stones, American interests will be ground topow
der; mot sustained by countcrvalling legislation
Even those domestic manufactures, which now
yield surplus for expectation, must sink with the
rest. For be it remembered that the exports OF such
put drops III lUc ~ 10 t!'S S"Ii'y va
orr home market on which they depend. and
which gives them lifc all else is merely inclden-
ta The surc,t way, and the only way for for
eicncrs to rid themselves Of our competition
abroad, is to break US down at home. Let them
"cany the war into Africa" Let them attack
us with all their energies here at home, in our own
markets Let them, even at present loss, flood
our unprotcce ed markets with their fabrics let
them empty their gorgcd warehouses in an ava
lanche upon us; and the best established inter-
csts here must be overwhelmed for want OF pro-
lection: and then will The foreigner, as with the
bosom of destruction, sweep us from competition
in otAcr markets, and drive us, ruined and undone
from or OWH.
II is TO avert this catastrophe that Protection
is wanted not for interest, or lew interests,
but for all The interests of all the producing
classes are so in,erwoycn, that "whether you
strike the tenth, OF the ten thousand;h link, you
break the chain alike" We want Protection
moderate and rcasonabic-but such a Protection