The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-01-24
S p I; I: CH
Of Nj r, A. Sic ward,

Of Pennsylvania, on the portion of the Pres
ident's Message and Treasury Report relating
to the Tariff, and
Made in the House of Representatives. on n
motion 10 instruct the Committee of Ways
and Means to report that no alteration ought
10 he made in the Tariff Of 1872, exposes the
tallncies ofthe Secretary in manner oplain,
that We see not how he can well escape
from the impututen otignorancc and absurd
itv. To the Sncrat1ry's declaration that the
Tariff is unconstitutional Mr. Stewart oppo-
sas the declarations Of Washington, Jeifar-
son. Madison aud Jackson. This, however,
Mr. Stewart said was but one of the eXtraor-
binary doctrines ofthis document. In refer
rncn to the doctrine of protection Mr. Stewart
suid--
The Secretary told the nation that the poor
mrn was taxed eghty-two per cent, on cot
con goods over the rich man. Yes this poor
man seemed Il special fiVOrite of the honora-
Die Secretary. He had introduced him ten
times in the course oftwo paragraphs of the
report. His sympathy was greatly excited
that this unhappy poor man was taxed one
hundred and fifty per cont. on his cotton
shirt, because there was duty on imported
cotton goods of nine cents n yar'. Now Il
this specific duty of nine cents Amounted to
hundred and fifty per cent, al uaioyenl, that
fiVe the price ofcottOn 10 n poor man at six
cents Il yard, for nine cents was Just Il hum
dred ana fifty per cent. on six cents. So the
practical effect ofthe horrid tax was, that II lis
poor man got IL good shirt at siNpence n
ward And Ne Stewart would tell the gen
Ileman another thing. When those most IL
bominnbIe minimums, which 80 excited the
wrath of the Secretary, had first been intro
Nlucel in 1916, by William L1wudes-onc Of
the pprcst PATRIOTS and most intelligent states
mHu that had ever grac"l thes" Legislative
balls and sustained, too, by JOHN {. Calhoun,
50 lrcaly less distnguishad-India cotton
goods ofthc very coIrscSt quality, known TO
every Indy at the time by the name of hum
huns, cost rIirtY-thrcC cents yard; so That
the poor man would then have had to pay 1
dollars for twelve Yards oi'it,aud the effect Of
lhc Infamous minimmms had been that every
poor m m in the country could now get a bet
Ter article for six and qtrrtcr cents. That
was the way the people were taxed and OPP
pressed br the protective SYSTEM aud IN lis
was the manner in which the poor man was
ground down 10 the dust 10 benefit his rich
monopoiist The Secretary persuaded
this poor Inru that he was taxed
cighty-two per cent. more than the rich
man, and this was quite inSutlerIhlc; yet he
paid only six cents for what formerly cost him
ihrty-six cents, and of an inferior quality at
that. On that thirty-siX cents protection laid
Ave per cent. df rt'orcm.
These dreadful mniuums had, in their
practical consequences, given the farmers n
fntrket, given their children employment,
made their cattle profitable, filed the country
with the hum of contcuted industry, and had
brought down the price of the poor mans
clothing from thirty-siX cs. Il yard-down-
downtown as the system proceeded, till at
last it gave it to him at six cents yard. Now
the Secretary cried ont that the duty OH these
rDttons was hundred and fifty per cent. dd
vtorem Enormous! Horrid Aud why?
The duty had not changed, but the price had.
As the price went down the duty went up.
At thirty-six cents per yard, 9 cts duty would
be twenty-five per cent; al six cents yard,
lhe duty would he one hundred and fifty per
cent; aud ifthe price descended to one cent
Il yard, then the duty would be nine hundred
per cent! The poor mon robbed, plundered
and oppressed by Il duty otnine hundred per
cent, simply because he gets yard of cot
ton goods for one cent yard Let the man
ulacturar run up the price TO thirty-six cents
again, and the oppression is all over; the du-
~ of nine cents a yard falls instantly to TWEEN
ty-five per cent, n moderate revenue duty
No more complaint; these friends ofthc poor
man are perfectly satisfied.
Such was the practical operation of these
odous mnimums, which had reduced the
poor mans cotton goods from twenty-five and
thirty cents per yard to six and eight cents.
Yet this was the system which must be given
up; this was the operation which was so OPP
pressive and so unconstitutional that it must
he suffered to exist no longer upon our stat
ute book! The duty was to be taken off the
foreign goods, and put upon American man
utactures; such was the doctrine of this re-
port.
He referred to table which had been re-
ported to the House last session,by the Com
Inittee ofWays and Means,lo the purpose of
showing the enormous tax which was impos-
ed by the system of m;am,lnts; but when the
Secretary, by the assistance ofthe honorable
chairman of the committee OF Ways and
Means, was preparing with great labor and
pans this document, he seemed TO forget
that he was at the same moment furnishing
mathematical proof of the exact extent to
which protection had reduced prices. BY
converting specific into adj valorem duties, the
duty runs up precisely as the price runs
down; so, by showing an increased rate ofdu
", the gentlemen have only shown reduced
prices.
The duty is 6xed and cannot vary The
II ioaorem duties are always the same. None
were imposed by the tariff of 1842 above so
per cent. How then, does the President, in
mis- message, get duties of 200c'ts? This can
only be done by converting the specific duties
into at vn'orem dhties and when this is done
high duty only shows low price. If the
duty is 200 per cent. the price must be one
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