The Somerset herald and farmers' and mechanics' register. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 183?-1852, 1846-01-13

QUESTIONS TO FARMERS, MECHANICS, DC.
10. What part of the value of yard
Of cloth consists Of wool, bread, meat,
and other agricultural products! And is
not piece of flannel, manufactured by
farmer in his own family, as much pro-
duction of his farm, and as strictly agri
cultural, as barrel of flour!
IL. What portion OF the price of for
eign hats, shoes, axes, hoes, glass, salt,
&C., consists of foreign agricultural pro-
duce, raw material, and the subsistence of
labor! and when we send onr money a.
broad, TO purchase these articles, do we
not send it to support and enrich foreign
farmers and mechanics to the injury Of
our own?
II. What portion of the value of ton
of pig iron consists of agricultural pro-
duce, estimating the subsistence of men,
horses, oxen, &C., employed in supplying
the ore and coal, and converting it into
iron? Is not seyen-eighths of its value
agricultural! Does not Great Britain make
iron, cloth, glass, &C., out of the same
materials that we do; and when we i'm
port these articles. do we not import the
British agricultural produce worked up in
them! And is the policy of reducing du-
ties to increase imports, such policy as
ought to be sustained by your representa-
tives! Your answer win inform them.
l3. What proportion of the value of
the whole Of our foreign imports consists
of foreign agricultural produce, estimating
the raw material and the subsistence of
the labor employed fin their production!
Is it not greatly more than one-half
Ia. Estimating, then, onc-half of the
value Of our imports to be agricultural
produce, and our imports of British man
ufacture Jas appears by official documents)
having exceeded for ten years past FORTY
MILLIONS year, while she has taken, for
the same time, of all the agricultural pro-
ducts of the grain-growing States, flour,
graid, meat, and provisions Of every kind,
less than two millions of dollars worth
per year from US; does it not follow that
we consume annually twenty millions Of
dollars worth of British agricultural pro-
duoo ~ Two millions OF the same that she
consumes of ours! and ought the cxten-
sion of this system of policy, by which
we are made to consume TEN DOLLARS
worth of British wool, grain, and provl-
sions in the form of British goods, to one
dollars worth she takes from us, to be
advocated by the American people or their
representatives!
QUESTIONS TO LABoRERs AND OTHERS.
Is. With our present facilities of IN
tercourse with Europe by steam, would
not Stree trade reduce the wages of la
Dor here in every department of industry
to the level of the wages of labor there!
Just as certainly as the removal of a wall
separating two unequal bodies of water
would reduce the one to the level of the
other!
I6. If the productions of European
labor working at 25 cts. per day in ma
king shoes, hats, cloth, and every thing
else, were admitted into our ports free of
duty, must not our mechanics and labo-
rers come down and work as low as they
do, or give up the market! just as GER
tainly as that labor on one side of street
or river working at 25 cts., would reduce
rs cent labor Oh the other side to It's own
level!
II. The message says the tariff sim
poses heavy and unjust burdens on the
farmer" General Jackson says, ''the
tariff by taking 100000 men, women
and children from agriculture, and en-
ploying them in manufactures, would cre-
ate home market for more bread-stuffs
than all Europe now furnishes"
Is. The message also says, duties ought
to be imposed for revenue only, and
whenever they are so high as to diminish
( imports and revenue, they ought to be re-
/ duced to the revenue standard. THOMAS
! JEFFERSON in his report to Congress says,
the true system is just the reverse of this;
he says Congress should select such arti-
cles as we can manufacture for ourselves,
'.nmposing on them duties lighter at first,
but HEAVIER and HEAVIER afterwards as
other CHANNELS OF sUPLLY OPEN" The
one says, as the American supply increa-
ses, REDUCE the duties so as to INCREASE
rMPoRTs-the other says, as the American
supply increases, INCREASE the duties SO
as to diminish imports. Here Jackson
and Jefferson both stand directly opposed
to Polk. Which is right!
The information sought by this letter
NAV be addressed to any friend of the
tariff in Congress, stating whether the
name of the writer may be used publicly
or not.
Letters are received from all parts Of
the country, anxiously enquiring whether
the tariff will be put down or not.
From present indications, think the
PROTECTIVE POLICY is in great danger OF
being entirely overthrown. The enemies
of the tariff are endeavoring to>make ii
a PARTY question, and to rally the Admi-
nistration PARTY against it on PARTY
grounds; if they succeed, the protective
policy and the present tariff must go down.