The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-05-01

rienee since these revulsions! Nothing but
embarrassment and pecuuiary distress until
the act OF 1912 inspired new confidence and
gave a new impetus to the energies Of the
country. The departure from the protectve
policy was the cause Of all the evil we have
encountered, and return to it is your only
effectual remedy. The arrangement of the
currency has often been assigned as the cause
of our calamities, but what deranged the cur
rency! That arrangement wasan effect rath-
er than a cause, although in its turn il be-
came an efficient cause in aggrayatng the
misfortunes OF the couptry, by suspending
the operations of labor and depreciating its
productions; by adding to the weight Of in
debtedness, and thus giving additional force
TO the original cause of all. Had not your
imports vastly exceeded your exports 10 for
eign debt would have been created, no call
for specie for expectation, no pressure upon
your banking institutions, and Of course no
arrangement Of your currency. The State
debts, too, have come in for their share the
obloquy. Butthe contracting these debts did
not constitute the evil. II was the form in
which the loans were received-in pershable
fabrics, which furnished no means of repay
ment, 10 the disparagement Of your own do
mestic industry. You had TO a great extent
abandoned your protective policy, ard thus
invited the Introduction Of foreign fabrics in
stead Of that which would have served as a
basis Of your currency. The whole amount
Of State loans added but little, if snv thing,
to this basis; and when the day of payment
arrived, the pressure transcended the ability
and the means Of your r'onetary institutions
Here, in this abandonment, was the primary
and radical error.
How then. is the mistake to be remediedl
The remedy is obvious: reduce your impor-
tations, not merely TO the standard of your
expectation. but you must, for the present,go
below it, in order that portion CT the pro-
duction Of your industry the only true source
of wealth, may be applied to Ihe sxringuish-
ment Of your debt. Sir, | speak with partic-
uIar reference to the cotton planter Of the
South. Give to him the advantage, enjoyed
by the wool grower of my own State, of a do
nestle market. Save him from the conse-
quences Of this universal Indebtedness, both
individual and national, which tends, more
than any thing else, TO depreciate his great
staple; for nothing has a more decided ten
Gency to depress agricultural production than
distressed. embarrassed, and necessitous
condition Of the whole class Of producers;
and save him from these orerv helming revul-
sions, originating in the foreign market, which
fall with such tremendous and peculiar force
upon him.
Sir, this free trade policy, the favorile rem
edy of the Senator from South Carolina, will
only aggravate the evil. We have imported
too much already. The Senator says, extend
your importations sill further. You are in
debt; he advises TO contract more. You
need all your means TO meet this debt; he ad-
vises to anticipate those means, as you have
done heretofore, by free importation, hici
shall swallow them up, and leave your debt
where it is; his policy is to add TO your income
by increasing your expenditure. He adverts
10 the laws OF trade and the theories of wri-
tiers on political economy; he insists that you
can not export uness you import; and argues
that by increasing your importation you in
crease your expectation. ! am aware, sir,
that commerce is but an exchange OF COM
modities, but circumstances may, and often
do destroy the equilibrium of foreign trade;
and the nation which finds itself embarrassed
from that cause must take the proper meas
ures to restore it. He will find no writer who
lays down the doctrine that nation can ex-
tend its expectations indefinitely, by increas-
ing its imports; or that it ia necessary in order
TO preserve yOur foreign trade, that you ex-
coed in your importation the amount of your
exports, or who recommends it as a matter
of national economy. The Senator insists
that the South are the exporting portion of
the country, and therefore the importers; and
nfers from this (not very accurately in my
judgment) that they are the principal consul
mers; and he asks that they be permitted TO
do as they please with their own. To this,
certainly there can be no objection. IL is ex-
pected By the friends Of protection that the
commodities Of other countries will be re-
ceivedi in exchange for our own productions
exported; but We know that your expectation
must be limited to the demand abroad, and
we desire that your importation should be
graduated accordingly. And here. sir, is the
answer 10 tie objection that We desire the
extinction Of foreign commerce. We do not
desire to destroy our foreign trade, but TO re-
store its equilibrium-to place it upon its le-
Ultimate footing, as an interchange of com
modities-to make it conducive to national
wealth and prosperty-to lop Oh its excess
es in the article Of importation. which expe-
rience has shown TO be so fatal to our pros
perity.
Nor does the protective policy, properly
administered, tend to the destruction Of for
eign commerce. There will always be a COM
petition between the domestic and foreign
manufacturer. Could you throw the whole
American market into the hands OF the form
err, and make him the exclusive producer for
American consumption, twelve months would
not elapse before he would encounter COM
petition from abroad. That competition
would grow out Of your foreign commerce,
necessarily. inevitably, and out of the neces-
sity of receiving the commodities of other
nations in exchange for your productions ex-
ported.
And here, sir, permit me to advert to the
falacious apprehension which has been pre-
sented, as a sort of bugbear, that the tenden-
cy Of the protective system is to build up an
aristocrasy Of manufacturing wealth, TO which
the whole country shall be subject. Such a
result cannot be brought about. 1t will be
prevented BY foreign competition. The du-
ties imposed by the act Of 1916, are little more
than an equivalent for the relative cbeapness
of production in Europe; and should the
manufacturers of this country seek to aecurn-
ulate large profits by means Of unreasonable
prices, they would be at once undersold by
those of Europe. This cause cooperating