Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-07-05

general conclusions from pri0ri reasoning.
We may infer, in general, that the protection
of domestic industry is, or is not, advan-
tageous to the interests of nation but it
is impossible to determine, even, approx
mately the effect of given duty upon even
revenue or home production, otherwise than
by experiment. But the interests involved
in these questions are of such vast magni-
tude that the experiments are always in the
highest degree dangerous; and when you
have tariff which satisfies at once the de-
mands Of the revenue, the producer and the
consumer, 1t is the very acme of madness to
adventure upon extensive changes, except
upon such cogent evidence as, in the nature
of the things, is hardly attainable. An al
teration of the tariff which shall add but a
few thousands to the revenue may not i'm
probably destroy branch OF business in
which millions are invested. You may safe
ly amend your tariff by the gradual and
cautious change Of the duties on single
items, or narrow classes, but the sudden
subverslon OF complete system, passage
per Sditum from protection 10 warfare, is an
act Of absolute political revolution.
Sir, as | have said there is in the specu-
lations of political economists mos, re-
markable uncertainty. The calculations of
the keenest and most sagacious publicists
have been more frequently disappointed
than verified; and there is no branch of
human knowledge in which the results of
experience have SO frequently and so fatty
contradicted the theories of the closet
The cause which affect trade and mannfac-
lures are numerous, and oftentimes obscure
LON. ool sc al.
upon each other, and upon commerce and
industry, complicated as it is by unknown
and. ever changing influences, constitutes
problem harder Of solution than that of the
pertubations OF the planets.
Were we without the light Of experience,
it would seem TO be very obvious truth,
that you must increase the cost to the con-
sumner of every imported article, by the
amount Of both the duty and the profit and
commission on the capital required to be
advanced for the payment of the duty. But
experience is to the contrary, and you can
scarcely cite an instance in the history Of
any country, whose industry is unshackled
and unrestricted by Government, where
! protective duty has not been speedily fol-
lowed by an improvement in the quality, and
a reduction in the price. of the articles pro-
tected and of this you have had numerous
illustrations in the course Of this debate
! The immediate effect of such duties seems
in general to be reduction in the price Of
a manufactured article al the place Of pru-
duction, the foreign manufacturer submitting
to dimlnution of his profits, for the sake
of retaining the market. AT the same mo-
ment domestic establishments are growing
up, and by the double competition of these
! with each other and the foreign producer, a
further production Of prices, accompanied
by an improvement in quality, soon follows
Various causes concur TO produce this i'm
provement in the quality of American man
ufactures, besides the competition TO which
II have Just alluded. The scrutnizing
habits of the consumer, great mechanical
ingenuity in the artisan, his better knowl-
edge of the tastes and wants of his country
men, and above all the readiness with which
he seizes upon and appropriates every i'm
provement in his art In Europe all changes
are slow. New machines or mechanical
combinations are for long time used only
in new establishments, and the fixed habits
of the people, whether laborers or employ
ers, render the introduction of new processes
difficult aud tardy. The American loves
change for its own sake and is keen in the
appreciation of Improvements and new
machine is no sooner patented and tested,
than the old process is abandoned, thrown
, aside, and supplanted by the new. The
! consequence is that every mandatory is,
at all times, near the highest attained point
, ofexcellence, and there is an incessant strug-
, gle for precedence in the march of improve
| ment.
1t is extremely hazardous TO argue from
European precedents, and perhaps there is
: no country from whose conditions it is more
: unsafe to draw conclusions than from that
f one which is, unhapply, almost the only one
ever referred TO in our debates, for the OBJ
vous reason that community of language,
{ frequency and facility of intercourse, and
the extent of our commercial relations with
! England make us more familiar with that
country than with others, from which we
might draw quite as valuable lessons OF
/ practical wisdom. The apparent analogies
3 between our national character and insttu-
r tons and those of England are so numerous
3 and striking, as quite to conceal from the
= view of the superficial observed those less
| obvious but more deeply rooted and most
' important features in which we differ Sir
: in genius, habits and condition, the Ameri-
S can people, l thank Heaven for it, are as di.
verse from the people England as they are
S from any Christian nation. Our most cher.
}, ished and valued institutions are based on
l. principles fundamentally opposite to those
s ofthe civil and political systems of England
i and apart from community of speech and
e historical recollectons, and those habits OIL
s thought which similarity in the forms Of
Y language necessarily implies, we are rad
!. u nIlu histinct nennla We sir are lie zen.