The daily union., 1846-08-29
With 80 per cent. duty, the advantage is abou

s25 80
With 80 per cent. duty, the advantage is abou,
five dollars per ton against us.
The above, sir, is the relative condition Of the
iron manufactures in England, and, believe, the
United States, in times of low prices. 1t is only
when prices are low in both countries that we need
the tariff, The above is a faithful calculation,
most conscienuously believe What chance, ask,
is there for competition for existence, when prices
are low, with your 80 per cent. dutyi None what
ever; and the result will be certain destruction to
our iron interests If you pass this bill. The diff
ference wldens as you increase labor on the raw
MATERIAL and 1t is more against US on the bar-iron
than on the pig; and still more and against us
as you advance in the higher manufactures Of iron.
Thirty per centum is no protection whatever on pig
and infinitely less on the manufactures. Sir had
the melancholy experience Of witnessing the scenes
of lS4l, when all our furnaces "blew OUT" and
our forges stopped. Yet protection then was about
what this bill proposes. The same scenes will again
recur, the same distress eDsue; the fires of fur
naces will be put out; all the nose and bustle and
circumstance of these busy workers will cease, and
the officer of the law will again do execution upon
the remnants of property of the broken manufactu-
rer Prices are high at this time in England, owing to
the great demand for railroad iron, but coming
down; and when the mania shall have subsidized, and
the joint stocks shall have exploded, as they cer-
tainIy will, iron will be cheaper than ever there.
Then, sir, what will become of us' We shall be at
their mercy and when we shall be prostrated, then
will prices rise, and we shall have to pay higher
than ever. Sir, they will scarcely wait for low
prices to arrive in the ordinary course of things 1t
will be within their power to effect their object much
sooner; $500 900 worth Of iron thrown in upon US
when the country is conscious that there exists
nothing adequate to protect its interests, will have an
immense effect to produce at a much earlier stage
the disasters that must eventually ensue. Why,
sir, trade is the most tickle thing in the world. A
e., nah,x AF hAsre
heads of sugar in Louisiana advanced prices 100 per
cent, and supernduced the import Of over IS, 600
600 of the article above that Of the preceding year.
The inverse of this result will take place, when
four five hundred thousand dollars worth of iron
shall be thrown into our market greatly below sell
ling prices; depend upon it will. There will be
no anchor to rest upon until the storm shall be
over. Its fury will be resstless as it will be dis
astrous,
But why shall we disregard universal experience
well as reasoni No nation on earth exists, but
what has adopted the protective system Let us
look at England herself In 1905, she imposed a
specific duty on iron of sos % per ton, and contn
ued to increase it, from time to time, until IL
reached, in 1919, to the sum of S39 62I per Ton. In
1926, il was reduced to Sc per ton. This system,
in fifty years, brought up the manufacture Of iron
from 10000 tons to 100000 tons-nearly twice
as much the product of the whole world beside.
France has specific duty Of SIS so per ton on
large duty on iron in Sweden. Not only 10 this so
in that kingdom, but money is loaned on the depos-
te of iron in the warehouses of the Bank Of Stock
hom so as to enable the manufacturer to sustain
himself. This is a law of the kingdom. In all the
German States, where il is produced, protection
lists. In England, less duty now exists on iron than
in any other nation on earth where 1t is produced,
simply because protection is not necessary, ac-
count of the immense amount produced. Russia
tried the experiment Of free trade; and Of her
first men, as well as premier Of the empire, speak
ing Of the freo-trade regulation of 1918, said:
"It offers continual encouragement to the manuacto.
res Of other countries and its perish in the struggle
without market industry without protection languish
and decline Specie exported and the most solid houses
shakenn ..
Russia has long since adopted the system Of pro-
lection. .a.. Ha... .
Mr. Chairman, this bill proposes no protection.
The details of it denies the principle, and abandons
il as such. The ad valorem principle is at war with,
is the antagonist of protection. Why, SIR, when
prices are high abroad protection s but little need
ed then it is that ad valorem duties would be high
The higher the price, the higher the duty. But
when prices are low abroad, then the duty is low.
Az the time that protection is needed most, It is at
that moment that sd vslofems fail to have the effect.
The lower the price Of the article the lower the
duty. IL, therefore, cannot be made to discriminate
for protection SIR there is another insuperabe OBJ
lection to the present bill. And the objection is