Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1846-07-09

folded striking illustration of The general doc
Iriue, showing that the minmums, the hig hest
protective duIIes, had produced The greatest re-
duciion of prices. But The same thing was
tue, TO greater less extent, with respect To
everv projected article in the entire list. Mr..
S stued inconrroyeriible matters of fact He
challenged con,radicton-he courted Invesil-
gaion--he de6ed gentlemen to disprove an
| atom of what he had asserted. Aud, TO put
'hls truth in the strongest light, he repeated
that the highest and most obnoxious duties,
hose abhorred mnlmnms. against which gem
;Iemen had wasted such furious denunciations,
presented precisely the very cases where the
reduction of price had been the greatest. Those
duties, il is said now amounted 10 TWO and three
hundred per cent. ad ua!orcm And why 3
Because they were fixed specific duties They
remained stationary, however prices might
change /; and, of course, as the price went down,
The duty bore larger and stlll larger proportion
10 it. AT first, the du'y was, say, half The price
of the aricle; The price declined, The duty
became equal TO the price; then 1t became
greater than he price; then double The price ;
and, al length, treble and then gentlemen ex-
claimed in horror, What an abomnabIe duty!
|, is three hundred per cent. un the loral value
Of the article. What horrible profits. How
The dury must raise the price! !" when, all the
while, the duty remained the same, and lis eI
feet had 5een not 10 increase, but 10 bring down
The price just three hundred per cen.--irom
thirty cents down 10 seven aud bali cents per
yard. and this was robbery and plunder And
still the gentleman said It was absuId dlty,
which no man could swallow, 10 say that the
higher the protective duty The lower The price
Now, Mr.. S. would venture TO say, that If the
duly on iron and its manufactures were incrcas-
ed 10 morrow five hundred per cent, the rapid
rush OF capital into that business, and The vasr
increase of supply would be such, and the con
sequent reduction Of price so great, that the
Uni'ed States would soon supply the world
with iron, It's capacity for It's production being
unlimited. He had stated facts, showing that
high duties had produced low prices. Can the
gentleman deny them! There they stand on
inpre enable foundations, fun as the hill, =
Let the gentleman and his friends disprove them
they can That such is the practical opera
lion Of The system is fully established hv the
fact, that whilst manufactures of various kinds
had declined 10 fourth Of their former price,
agricultural produce and the trdgeS Of labor had
underwen lille or no reduction, owing TO The
constantly Increasing home demand Tor both,
resulting from the protective policy.
But he wished 10 be understood correctly.
Mr.. S did not say that The effect of all dulles
was 10 diminish prices; on The contrary be did
rot deny that it was The effect Of some duties
to increase prices But what he SAID was this
that duties levied on articles we could make, TO
the extent OF our Own wants, and with a view
to project our own manufacturers, did in all
cases operate, in the end, to lower prices, by
increasing capital, competition, and supply
Duties imposed on foreign articles which we
could not make for ourselves, would generally
increase the prices, because they did not in
crease the supply by increasing home cOmpe
;tion. Ills position was this: dniieS leuied for
rereRue on articles zoe cannot produce increased
priceS pAiiSt protective duties, leuied articles
we can and do produce, dimintShed price. The
ruth of both these propositions was proved BY
nndeniable facts, aud by all experience And
the reason was just as obvious as the fact
When the supply of an article was Hol equal 10
The demand, he admitted The immediate effect
of high duty nigh, for The moment increase
the price and profits of its manufacture, but this
very increase induced capital to rush into it,
and the competition and increased supply re-
sulllHg, SOOu U1ouSlt Ut" u ItICC dhu
10 the lowest rates, proving the truth of the
proposition, that the higher the duty, the low
er The price" The imposition Of duty on an
article produced here, gave an impulse TO Amer
lean enterprise the machinery employed in It's
production was studied and improved; an in
creased supply was the natural consequences
and increased supply, while the demand remain
ed The same, must always diminish pnces.-
Would the gentleman undertake TO deny that
The proportion between demand and supply reg
ulaied price Mr.. S. hardly thought that he
would 60 SO far as that. But, as the gentleman
had asserted thar duties raised prices, Ne was
bound to prove the truth of his position by quo
ing facts The man who asserted a thing TO i
be fact was bound 10 prove it, in court or ou'
of court. As lawyer The gentleman knew this
to be so. Now, Mr. S. challenged the gentle
tleman TO pul his finger on one solitary case
v here his assertion was true What one pro-
tccted article. the product al American skiii ana
industry, had been permanently Increased IN
price after The duties, however high, mad oeen
first imposed for It's ptoleeiion! Mf ), 2nal-
Ienged the gentleman and all his iflelds To-
polnl TO One. Name the aricle-a pin or a
needle The gentleman had nOl-ho could moi
10 II And yet he stood up II The la:o o( the