The New era. [volume] ([Portsmouth, Va.]) 1845-1847, 1846-12-22
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE
ihEAStRH.
TCoucluded.l

CtlH' od'Ss " UdTiey w On 'Oe OOtn OF july.
lS49. under the old tariff. S493, 1891 COG and on
the LIST December. 1916. when the new tariff
wen, into effect, 5000 ,2S7 ,565-making an ar
gregaie difference in the price of Sll5 .955 $50.
IL is true, that the failure of certain crops IN
Great Britain and the continent has, To some ex-
tent, affected prices but then there are opposing
causes-snch as The enormous freight, low ex-
change, &c.-whi i'm the absence of reduced
duties. must have kept the prices on 30th July
and Is, December more nearly the same.
u, however. but sixty millions be added by the
new tariff To the value of the products of agTicul
ture and the profits of TN and navigation,
more than one half would he employed in pur
chases OF domestic fabrics. which. in the absence
of these augmented means and profits. could not
have found a market at fair prices at home or
abroad. Whilst vast sums have been, and still
are. being expended by the construction OF rail-
roads. canals. and other improvements. tn trans
port our products To our great srabnard cities,
when they reach those points the farmer and
planter. instead of finding tie ocean as a high
way prepared to carry their crops, free % all toll
or lax. To all The world. met the laws of their uwn
government closing in whole or in par that high
way to those markets for their products, by heavy
duties on nearly all the fabrics that can be sold in
exchange.
The labor employed in agriculture. commerce.
and navigation is as much American labor as that
engaged in manufactures. with less OF machinery
as a substitute. As you depress these three great
interests. the demand for woIkmen in those pur-
suits is diminished. The labor thus deprived of
employment is thrown into The power of the
manufacturers, and must enable them TO bring
down wages 10 the lowest point which will af.
ford n scanty subsistence whereas, If agriculture,
commerce, ard navigation are improved, as the
result of low duties. there must be increased com
petition and demand for labor, and its wages must
be enhanced.
The hnrpp ma kpt Dnvar ha en- ician g..
our rapidly increasing agricultural products hut
II Is for all 0r manufactures, and for a vast
amount b~esiIes, which is imported yearly from
abroad. Let us enlarge the market for our own
manufactures at home. by removing taxation and
restrictions from agriculture, commerce, and navi-
CATION, and, with augmented means, those en-.
gagged in these pursuits vii, furnish a larger and
better home market for our manufactures than
they can ever derive in a series of years by d-
minlshing the profits of other pursuits by high
duties and OnProus restrictions. The great body
of American consumers not engaged in manufac-
tnres are the customers of the manufacturer, and,
to affect iEjuriousIy the means of those who pur-
chase, must eventually diminish the profits of
those who sell the manufactures. BY extending
our own ommerce. agriculture. and navigation,
by increasing the profits of those engaged in those
pursuits. by relieving them from heavy taxes, and
opening tn them unrestricted exchanges with all
the world, a far larger, and better, and more per-
manent, and eventually more profitable home
market will he secured 10 the manufacturers than
any they can ever derive from diminishing The
means Of their customers engaged in other pur-
suits. When the farmer and planter, the mer-
chant and navigator, are most prosperous. they
will purchase more of American as well as foreign
manufactures. In this manner, labor, untaxed
and unrestricted by legislation. will find its way
into the most natural channels and prosperous pnr-
suits, and the aggregate wealth of the whole ma
ton will advance most rapidly. Thus, whilst a
large and profitable market, not dependent on
legislative bounties. or restrictions, or taxes, will
be built up at home for our own manufactures, the
foreign market for them will he extended by freer
exchanges. The export of our manufactures last
year amounted in valne 10 50. 500 .349, which
must go on rapidly augmeniing under a more
liberal commercial policy. Such of our manufac-
lures as, from their interior location or other
causes. do not require high duties. constituting
far the larger portion of the whole. are, especial
ly, greatly Injured by the protective system and
the higher the duties. the greater the resulting
injurious effects. They are injured both in the
home and foreign market. The injury arises in
the home market, by diminishing the means Of
their customers here to purchase their fabrics;
and they are injured in the foreign market, by
restrictions upon the exchanges there of their ex-
norts of home manufactures for foreign Imports
Under a system of low duties aIl our exports
would be greatly augmented, and we should ex-
port largely not only breadstuffs, provisions. cot
ton, rice, and tobacco, but also, in time. sugar and
moiasses, and ultimately large quantities of wool
and hemp, as well as manufactures Of wool, hemp.
and cotton. Already Indian corn has become a
new article Of export and in time, by a system
Of liberal exchanges with all the world, iron would
take its place on our list of exports 10 foreign
countries.
1t is as unwise and unjust, as it is repugnant 10
equal rights and republican principles, to furce, by
Legislation, any class of the community To buy
from or sell only TO another. High duties are
equivalent TO a legislative resolve that the farmer
shall buy and sell only in the home market, and
not to any extent in any of The other markets Of
the world. Such a system necessarily brings into
conflict the interests of the various classes com
posing the Union, and one class is &C depressed for
the benefit Of another. But, by opening all The
markets at home and abroad to all our people en-.
gagged IN every pursuit, agriculture, commerce,
manufactures. and navigation, instead Of being
antagonist interests, would soon all be united and
harmonlzed in Advancing together the public wei
fare. Such a tariff must soon satisfy all classes
and all branches of industry, placing this great
question on a permanent basis. taking il, as well
as all the pursuits of business, out of the arena of
politics. and out of the Struggle To advance or de.
press rival political parties or aspirants. SO long
as 1t is sought to advance particular branches of
industry at the expense Of Others, by hiuh duties.
the tariff will be a source of never ending politi.
cal agitation, rendering uncertain ali the pursuits
of business, defying all calculation as to the in
vesiment Of capltal. fuctuating with every cleo
ton, and rising or falling with the successive ele-
walton 'r downf Of political parties. No tariff
ever can be permanent which forces the American
people. for the benefit Of any class or portion Of
them, to buy or sell only in such markets as NAV
be prescribed by law. Such a system, although il
might for a time obtain a transient victory, cannot
ultimately and permanently be sustained by the
American people.
The British corn laws and Dur tariff Of 1912