The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-10-24

oy That Committee, and which stands up
on the calendar of the House for its actor
at the next session, was the legitimate re
suit Of that doctrine.
As perpetual vigilance is the price o
Liberty, so is it emphatically the price o
protection to ouS&induslry. We can wei
resist the attacks of the open enemies o.
the protective policy, but may find our,
selves bafIled and foiled by the deceptive
warfare OF its pretended friends. The in.
ves'lgalions of this year, aided by the OBJ
vIous benefits of the existing tariff, will, it
may be hoped, result in firmly establish,
ing correct principles ON this subject, and
giving pe:manency to the tariff, of which
| they form the basis.
There is another subject fgreat impor-
ance which demands our attention and
the lore SO because it is question in
which our rights as a State, are directly
involved. l refer TO the debated policy OF
distributing to the States the proceeds of
the sales of the public lands.
The leading objection to distribution
aside from its alledged corrupting infu.
ence upon the States, which is not worth
consdering-is, that, by taking the amount
OF the land sales from the treasury, we in.
crease the taxes for the support of govern
merit, and thereby, in effect, tax the people
for The purpose Of distribution, in other
words, that we corrupt the people with
their own money. The argument rests
upon erroneous views of the effect of Ia
riff. Ii is well known that an increase of
duty does not necessarily, produce an in
crease of price. If the proceeds Of the
lands are taken from the treasury for dis.
tributlon, necessity will of course be
thereby created for raising an additional
sum, equal TO that amount, by duties on
imports. But, it is well known, in the first
place, hat an augmented duty, if 1t has
the effect of increasing the domestic sup,
ply of rival articles, is, in effect, divided
between the foreign producer and the con.
sumner; and, in the next lace, that so far
as the consumers pay the additional duty,
their ability generally. 10 do so, is increas-
ed by the tariff ITSELF in its influence on
the industry of the country. This is
shown, among other ways by augmented
revenue, under decidedly protective ta>
riff, as illustrated in the operation of the
tariff of 1912. An increased consump-
ton, generally, though not always, proves
an increased ability TO purchase duliab!e
commodities ; and this corresponds with
the great tariff theory, that protection gives
the impulse OF increased reward, and s,eadi-
ness of employment, to all branches of do
meSuc industry.
All that part Of the public domain which
lies within the original limits of the Uni.
led States, is holden by them strictly in
in trust for the benefit of the several states.
Distribution, so far as regards this portion
of the public lands, would De but SIM
pie execution of the trust created in the
deeds Of cession TO the United Slates-a
trust which, If the parties were subject to
chancery jurisdiction, might be enforc-
ed, upon the common principles appica.
bic to trust estates. And although the
claim for distribution of the proceeds OF
the lands since acquired, RESTS upon grounds
Of expedlency only y, and not of strict right,
yet that expediency is not less clear than
is the right under the trust referred to.
Distribution is expedient, in the first
place. because of its effect upon protection
preventing, as it will, the income from
the public lands from pernicious inter-
ference with the protective policy, by leav-
ing the whole of the needed revenue to be
drawn exclusively from impost duties
And this constitutes another striking
ground Of difference between the genuine
and spurious friends Of protection.
Distribution is expedient, also, because
the proceeds of the national domain are
thereby brought nearer to the people, who
can, through their immediate representa-
tiveS in the State legislatures, more wisely
and benefcially appropriate them to pur-
poses Of needed improvement. Since the
arrestlng Of the policy of internal improve
ment, by the national government, effected
BY the M9ysviIle veto, distribution has be,
come the only means by which the ayails
of the public lands can be made to accom-
pIish that important purpose. And if the
fund can be thus appropriated, through dis
tribulion 20 the States, The arresting OF the
policy, by the veto referred to, may not,
perhaps, be subject of regret, since the
object can, probably, be better accomplish
ed through State, than National admins
tration. But to stop the national appropria-
ton of the fund, for purposes of improves
men,, and at the same lime, withhold it
from the States, is 10 abandon the object
altogether, and thus forego the great ma
tional advantages which this fund, from its
permanent! character, as we'll as from its
large amount, is peculiarly adapted to Sc
cure.
This fund may, moreover, under the
state administration, be made to reach one
object of improvement, which it would,
probably, never reach in the hands of the
general government 81 mean, the object
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