Democratic banner., 1846-05-16
THE TARIFF.

to flow into channels which are less pro-
Iductive and profitable to the community at
large. Manufactures may be highly profit
able to the capitalists engaged in them, but
lit does not therefore follow that they are in
all cases profitable to the rest of the com
munity. The tariffs a tax upon the other
classes for their benefit. THUS, the manu-
facturers sell their goods for 4 higher price
than they could otherwise command. The
tariff enables them to take the place of the
cheaper productions of other countries; but
who pays thom? The agriculturists, mer-
clients, &C., of the country. And thus,
whilst the stream Of wealth is turned in one
channel for the benefit of the manufactu-
rcrs, the stream in the whole country may
be narrowed and reduced: An individual
is better Judge of his W interests t an
the government can be; and, as the whole is
made up of all the parts, the. community at
Large is more benefited by the voluntary
and profitable investment Of each mans
capital and labor. This is the great prin-
iciple of Adam Smith, the first of the enlight-
ened political economists who dared to dis
card the ~predjudices of the age and the Gus
toms ofhis own country. If this principle
be true in its general results, it is peculiar
ly applicable to a free people, in a compar-
ativelynew country, Astounding in cheap
and unaPpropriatcd lands, and under fed
eral government which extends over an i'm
mense territory, with a variety of soils,
climates, and interests; and that people
blessed too with the highest degree of enter
prise and ingenuity in the mechanical arts
and in the invention Of labor-saving ma
chimes. We venture to say that tie globe
does not contain apeople SO Industrious and
so inventive as the people of New Eng
land alone. Who Can believe, therefore,
that if the tariff Of 1912 be reduced to a
Iproper, legitimate revenue standard, they
would cease to be a manufacturing people,
We know, indeed, agreat deal has been said
about the necessity Of preserving the pres
ent tariff rates, in consideration ofthe fact.
that Without them the manufacturing inter
estS of the country would drooP, decline,
and finally be Frustrated.
What warrant does the infant condition
of the manufacturers Of the United States
present to make good this assertion? Il
appears that so far back as 1910, the CEN
Isus returns showed an amount Of capital
lowned by the manufacturers, Of one hun
bred and twenty millions. MIR. Tench
Coke, 4 great advocate Of protection. 1t
seems was deputed to ascertain the condi-
ton of the manufacturers in 1912; and he
states in his report, thathis inquiries shave
resulted in thorough conviction that aft,r
allowing for the interruptions to the impor-
of certain raw materials, the ~sevcr.l
b anches of manufactures III tie States,
Territories, and districts, have advanced up
on a medium at the f~ullrate Of twenty per
Icentum, which would give an aggregate
for this year of i2O7 900, 900" We thus
sec, as admitted by a great advocate Of Il
protective tariff, what an advance in 1872
these establishments had made and were
making. What other business was advanc-
ing so rapidly, and prcsperOasly? Sograt-
flied was Mr.. Coke, the employer Of MIR.
IGallatin, at the condition of the manufac-
turing establishments at this period, thathe
takes occasion tc vaunt of their compare
tive success in the following remark: Some
confirmation of this view of our national
operations, mercantile and manufacturing,
may be drawn from the facts that in the
years of general peace and prosperous and
regular commerce-frcm 1885 to 1851
the average exports Of England (alOne)
with about 800, 600 inhabitants, amounted
to seventy millions of dollars, while their
manufactures were computed at two hun
bred and sixty-six millions of dollars"
And yet after this report of the condi-
ton of the manufacturing establishments in
1912, triumphantly brought in comparison
81 ~ Il