The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-07-30

JUS, than the doctrne Of es'sionmore ,oss than thai
| But, Mr.. Chairman, this debate has assumed q
wide range. Gentlemen avail themselves OF the lat
itude allowed in committee, not merely TO denounce
| the policy of the administration in the graduation OF
| the price Of the public lands, but 10 condemn AMI
protest against the modification OF the present tariff
| law also With my settled convictions and undis-
gaised sentiments on this subject gladly seize the
occasion 10 reply in yindicaiion of tho policy OF
striking from the statute book the odious tariff Of
| 1912. general .HH HE.. .a#. Fl.
The President suggests, in his message, that this
one branch Of domestic industry by taxing other
branches" that it imposes heavy and unjust bar
dens on the farmer, the planter, the commercial
man, and those Of all other pursuits, except the
capitalist, who has madehs investments in manufae-
tres;" that the rates Of duty imposed by IL on some
articles arc prohbitory, and on others 30 high as
greatly TO diminish importatons and 10 produce a
less amount Of revenue Than would be derived from
lower rates.p The Secretary OF the Treasury IN
his report contends that Sat least two-thIds OF the
taxes imposed by the present tariff paid NOT into
the treasury but 10 the protected classes. The rev
enue from imports last year exceeded twenty
millions Of dollars. This, IN itself - heavy tan;
\ but the whole tax imposed on the people by the
present tariff Is not less than sighiy-one millions
Of doIlns--of which only twenty-seyen mil
lions paid TO the government upon. the imports,
and ffty-four millions To the protected classes, IN
enhanced prices Of similar domestic articles !"
Mr.. Chairman, these are grave propositions, CALI
ing aloud for action, zeaously pressed upon our
elaboration by the highest functonarles OF the
| land And when many Of these suggestions are
cordially responded TO by some Of US on this door,
and remedy for these alarming evils proposed our
ears are almost Immediately stunned by the loud
outbursts Of warning and remonstranee from others.
In strains Of impassloned and stirring eloquence,
one gentleman, deeply penetrated with eonylc-
ton ofimpending danger TO his constituents, enreats
US To touch not this tariff law il is the shield Of our
proteetion-the rampant Of our defence against a
yigilan foe without, whose triumph Is our destruc-
ton. He iDyokes our sympathy-appeals To our
neutrality-suspicious. our sense Of justice, and de-
picts in such vivid coors the widespread havoc and
desolaton and distress which, he fancies, inevita-
bly, await cur manufacturers II we pass our bill to
modify the tariff, that we almost imagine we hear
the shrieks and screams Of the houseless laborer
and the crash Of falling factores--hke my friend
Mr. THosrsosl from Pennsylvania, who thought
he distinctly heard the beat Of the BRUSH drum
when elcquently alluded to by the gentleman Mr.
PEspLErosl from Virginia in the late Oregon de-
bate. ..-.
Another gentleman, thoughtful Of the interests Of
his government, hoping that this chord may be
touched with success appeals to our patriotic regard
for the operation Of government assures us that
he can prove, by figures, that If we pass our bill,
the revenue will be lost, and the wheels Of govern
ment, il not stopped, will be most shockingly clog
gedl Another, keeniy excited by his hopes, and
agitated by his fears, with credulous enthusiasm
proclams that il this tariff is only spared to live in
peace few more brief years, lis magic influence
will charm into being the great desderatum--the
home Manifestations its blessings most especially
among our planters and farmers, make us indePend.
ent In and prosperous in peare. Another, whose
burning zeal makes his heart to expand and grasp
in its affections his entire country, with unaffected
disinterestedness assures that New England is
now becoming quite independent of the tariff, and
that its protective blessings are designed most par
tcularly for the south Pennsylvania, and Vir-
ginia, and the Caroinas whose infant manufactures
need more nursing than those Of naturer years In
the north Another points TO the restrictive legisla
ton of England and Germany. and other States,
breaches the doctrine Of retaliation, countervailing
duties, and winds up with the stereotyped sentiment
that Stree trade is the dream Of visionary" fEr
Mr.. Chairman, lot us pause little and inquire in
to the facts. Is il true sir that the modification OF
the tariff, as proposed, will annhilate our manuac-
lures increase the price Of goods, enfeeble our ma
tonai Independence, obliterate our home market,
and crush the aborer and the mechanic Are
American lnborers and mechanics so deficient in
native ingenuity, and skill and enterprise, so infe-
rior those nations that their existence and
success depend on the aid Of governmental bounty
and protection Let the history of our countrymen
from 1874, when Whtney's genius invented the
cotton gin, down to this period, when every work
shop in America, and in England, too, is filed with
the labor.saving machinery of inrention re-
spond. Let the fact that Yankee shrewdness, Yam
kee ingenuity, and Yankee enterprise, have become
"a by-word and proverb throughout the world,
respond. Let the fact that London journal, Of re-
cent issue, by no means predisposed to compliment
our politics. our morals, genius, admits shat
nearly all the recent mechanical contrivances intro
duced into our factories for dispensing with human
labor are of .9merican invention" respond.
Are our manufacturers still uninitiated into the
art and m ystery of the trader Let the magnificent
exhibition at the recent national fair, crowded with
splendid testimonials of the proficiency attained by
our countrymen in manufactures from the rich ard
costly fabrcs calculated to cmbeIlish the palace and
the paror to the soutes and coarsest texture htted
for the humble COTTAGE respond .f.
. Do our manufacturers labor under dlsad vantages
from Inconvenience of location, and the scarcity
and cost of the raw material Is it not an inconro-
vertible fact that they have millions OF dollars worth
Of the raw material almost at their very doors, with
out the expensive disadvantage under which Eng.
land labors from the cost and delay of Importation!
Are provisions for the laborer scarce and costly
The world knows of the superabundance of cheap
food with which the exhaustless granaries of the
hourshing west supply the domestic and foreign
demand at prices of which none can complain; and
that benefcent Creator has, with lavish hand,
blessed us Win fertHe SOIL, ABUNDANT streaiHs,
healthful climate, and the fecst institutions on
| earth. .g.h. 4, .+rE.sf
And yet, Mr.. Chairman, in defiance Of these in
disputabe facts, learned members Of Congress en-
poy their eoquence editors their press, politicians
and manufacturers almost every other means, to
alarm and persuade us into the conviction that If we
touch this tariff of l842, the offspring whose very
advent was accompanied by, its patrons with the
avowa that it unfit for long life, "death's In
eyitable hour will certainly have arrived to the
ufacturers OF this country. Their days will be
numbered; and the places that know them now will
| soon know them no more forever" .,. .ssa-.a
| Gentlemen treat the bill as reported by the Com
mittee of Ways and Means not as revenue bill
but as bill Of Indictment against the manufactur.
ing establishments of the country, on trial for life
and death, and doomed to instantaneous execution
so soon as the verdict Of its passage IS recorded.
And every argument is based on the unwarranted
assumption that il s sure distraction to manufac-
lures. Do not gentlemen, with apparently studied
resistance to conviction, shut their against the
voice Of experience and of history, at home and
abroad, tooI Do not members recolect that, pre-
vious to 1912 and 1916, our tariff of duties never
from N * i-and that under the