Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-01-16

Government became bankrupts together.-
This was the blessing which the compassion.
ate Secretary had in store for the "poor
ma" ten times in two paragraphs! Blu,
his love would be very apt TO operate like
the love n certain bear once had for ..poo,
man." when lie I'ugged him to death. "a
laugh
Mr.. s. had seen Mr.. Walkers name an.
nounced for the Presidency. Now, an un.
charitable observer might perhaps say that
Mr.. Walker was looking TO be the /" poor
mans" candidate. If so, he proposed II
wise plan, for his system would soon make
all the people poor, and then he would 20 in
by scclama,ion. Much merriment.
The Secre,ary's system might not inap,ly
be termed planlo manufacture "poor men,"
Such would be its practical result, and there
would be no escaping it. Let the gentleman
from Alabama (Mr Payne) examine the re.
port as long as he peases. and see ifhe could
make any thing else out of it. And now Mr.
5. would ask the members ofihis House, and
his countrymen generally, whether the adop.
ton of such a plan would not be eqnivalen,
TO passing law that henc-furth no further
capital should be invested in manufactures 7
1t was in the nature Of notice beforehand,
and il ran in this wise: "Gen,lemen, you
may invest your money in such way as you
deem best, but we here notify you that, as
soon syou shall have supplied the American
market, and We find that in consequence of
Your success imports begin to diminish, the
duties must be reduced, and foreign goods
must be let in until we get revenue enough to
| all
notice before HIM, who would engage IN
manufactures Who would invest the cap
ital he had received by Inheritance or accu-
mulated by his own enterprise and toll, with
the certainty before his eyes that just as soon
as he began TO gather IA little strength, to ac-
qnire greater skill 10 improve the modes of
labor, and to realize its reward by getting the
better OF foreign competition, he must be
knocked down, and the foreigner let in TO
ruin him |! This might be called, in certain
parts Of the country, "legging for the Brit
ish." Gentlemen from the West understood
what was mean, by the term "legging."-
Yes, yes, and a laugh. This rule would
guaranty the. American marker to the for
eigner forever, or until American labor was
ground down and degraded to the half-s,arved
and wrelched condition of the seris and pau.
pers of Europe; and the American masses
thus deprived the means Of educating iheiI
children, would be Obliged TO work as in En-.
rope, from the cradle TO the grave, and then
moral and political condition would be in the
end no better than theirs.
Such most clearly must be the prac,ica
and inevitable operation of this rule, il carried
A Ind l,I
ings this administration has in reserve for thu
"poorman Z"
But the Secretary of the Treasury ha.
made other very wonderful discoveries il
finance. What did he tell us? "Experi
ence pfores that, rs a general rule, duty o
t,centy per cent. nd valorem will yield the
largrs, revenue" Yes; experience proved
that an ad cdlOrcm duty Of twenty per cent
J would yield the greatest amount of revenue
Twenty per cent. yield the greatest revenue
Why, what was the great, broad, universally
known experience Of the country? We hat
, tariff of twenty per cent. in 1912, ant
villa, was our revenucl Not one. half o
what it is now. The whole amount %
| revenue from imports was then about thrice,
millions, and this year it was twenty.sevel
! millions. Was thirteen more than twenty
scvenl lfso. the Secretary is righ, if no
r he was clearly wrong7 And what was til,
, effect of their twenty per cent. horizonta
, duty Under its operation the country wa
Frustrated, the Government itself was bank
I rupt, and the people were little better. Ye
, this man could say, in the face of these wei
, known facts, and Of the American people
. any one Of whom knew better, that an aver
y age duty Of twenty per cent yielded tn
y highest amount Of revenue. Tie Secretar.
had even gone further yet than this in hi
h famous circular he hal assumed that fWelv
u and half per cent. horizontal was the irn
: revenue standard. Some Western scribble
e asked him, through the press, how much rev
!. enue 12l per cent. would give on one hun
!, bred millions of mporls3 (thai being NOR
. than the average amount.) The answe
? must be twelve and a half millions; then de
e duet three and half millions, the expense @
d collection, and but nine millions of nett reve
r me would be left to pay twenty-six million
n of expenditures. TO make up the revenue
= You must add more than one hundred mlior
e to your imports. while your whole specie la
d never been estimated at more than eighty
HEe W'liloHS we" All y"ui spCe'c RotS ~
j. your first year, and where will you get mon
II cy for the next yearl These questions
e being rather troublesome, were mover an,
is wered.
l. The truth was, that the revenue resulte
J. from the tariff. and followed il. When I'll
!" tariff was low, the revenue was low; whe
= the tariff was high, the revenue was high
y Tha, had been the uniform experience Of til
country, and no challenged gentlemen
S, show the contrary. II must be so; il coul
: not be otherwise. And why? Because I'll
IS result of protection was TO make the peop
'e rich, and taking Off protection was to max
., them poor. When the people we're rich ii
IN Treasury was full as the country becan
n poor the Treasury was Impoverished.
n, this country the revenue was a coluntarl
re and not, as in the States, a compulsory col
M trbu,ion, made by the people to the Gov
l. eminent, The condition Of the Treasu'
V was, in fact, a political thermometer, TO te
Or the prosperity Of the country. According
e, the national prosperity, SO would The reven,
a ever be found. When men were improve
,e ishcd. could they purchase goods freely T.
is Certainly not. When prosperous. the
he wives and daughters could purchase cost
rk clothing and rich furniture, and then maj
ne goods were always imported. But when d
IA .,..,r, ,y,s ;u,novar;shed hv thu ru;no