The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-05-30
From the New York Evening Post.


u
reward for farmers tolls, begins 10 make itself
felt Throughout the West. AS much of the
revival,of trade in the cities, owing entirely
70 other causes than the policy pursued by
the American government in relation 10
manufacturers, has been falsely attributed 10
the beneficial effects of the Tariff by its in
terested admirers, so it is but fair and reason
able to find that much Of the disappoint-
ment under which The agriculturists of the
west are now laboring, vents itself in ex-
aggerated complaints against its pernicious
operation.
The duty upon any article Of consump-
tion is but one of the elements Of price, 1t
is certain to produce its effect but the ratio
Of that effect may be controlled by other
causes which are constantly at work, and by
which the laws Of trade are governed.-
Summer is sure to come but it may be de-
layed by frost in May, or cold easterly winds
in June.
The duty is always paid by the consumer;
yet may and often does happen that The
imposition Of a duty is Immediately followed
by decline in cost, or its removal by an ad-
vance in price.
The farmer feels now, and knows to his
cost that he pays a price greatly enhanced
on Iron in every form, on sugar and molas-
ses, on all wooden goods, OH all articles of
grocery or drysaltefies, on paints, on salt,
and on glass: he knows too that he gets no
more for any one production of the SOIL
Some forestallers may, in an excited market,
obtain more for -four, cheese and pork, but
the owner and workman of mother earth,
tolls aud labors from early dawn, till night:
his wife and children ply their tasks without
an hours respite: he saves and spares, knows
no expensive luxury, INDUCES his family in
no costly dress or amusement, and yet with
the utmost frugality finds himself no richer
at the end of the year than he was at the
beginning.
They, who, like all jealous disputants, at
rtempt 10 prove the fallacy of Tariff solely
by its immediate effect on prices, take but IL
short sighted view of this great question:
A protective tariff is Objectionable on other
and more ample ground than this. 1t is 10
be condemned, because il is in direct oppo-
!, sition TO the interests of the mass: because
II builds up The fortunes of few at the ex-
pense of the health, the independence, and
the lives cf the many; because it favors the
cupidity of monopolies; because it endan-
gers the peace and welfare of society; be-
cause it renders legislation unstable because
it corrupts those who make the laws; be-
cause it retards the natural growth and ex-
tension of our institutions throughout the
wide and extended limits of the Union: and
because it cannot even accomplish the OBJ
jects claimed for by its friends. There are,
perhaps, fewer more ready to dispense with
some particular provisions of the present
Tariff than those who were most eager to
have it passed. The railroad companies
want cheaper iron; the wooden makers ask
for cheaper wool; the manufacturers ofpainis
and dyestuffs want their raw material for
nothing: and all the owners of capital in
factories demand more labor out of the opera
tive at less comparative wages.
In national point of view, the friends of
free trade have strong position over their
opponents. They who would encourage
free and unrestricted intercourse with foreign
nations, regard commerce as more than the
handmaid of the arts. She is the goddess
Of peace and plenty. She unites nations
by the strongest bond-that of natural in1
terests. Under her banner are enrolled theL
advocates of progress, of the improvement
of all the material interests of mankind, OF
the progress Of the arts and sciences, and oN
a gradual and onward advance, towards
better social condition.
In an animated debate in the House of
Commons Mr.. George Bankes, who, on the
I'd February, lS43, termed the free strade
League of England I" a selfconstituted ille-
gal body," on the 18th March dangerous
body,n on the 26th June, 1914, " a body not
likely to erist much longer" and on the 9th
February, 1S45, " an impracticable body"
made speech in which he impored this
talented, indefiatigable and powerful League
to aid him, and he was sure of success. He,
the advocate of protection, fell into a free |
use of all the arguments in favor of free
trade, repeating those employed by some ofI
its most able and consistent Advocates
Gibson, Golden and Fox. The manufac-
turers, with Sir Robert Peel at their head,
wanted free trade in such articles as they
consumed. Manchester, gorged with one
sort of protection, now calls for another, and
that other happens to be such one as would
form part of general system Of low duties
and active intercourse with foreign nations.
AT large public meeting Mr.. Fox, in the
course of an eloquent speech, made an alu-
sion to the exploded axoms of protective
theorists in the following illustration.
GA gentleman from the United States,
who is present with US this evening, put into
my hands the other day work produced in
that country, some fifteen years ago or there
abouts, at time when the American tariff
was first making portion of its community
feel an undue pressure; and there the prin-