The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-07-25

roads aad ssi0n aad s faciitaiinr
nSossn ns o,iss STATES and he shall nom time to time
to Promots those objects, n - u n. : -
80 The secretary Of commerce and finance who shah be
appointed BY the President during pleasure Ii shall be h
duty to suPsrntend all matters relating 10 the public imam
propose and report plans Of revenue and for the
eguauoh Of expenditure, and also 10 recommend such
things In his judgment promote the Commercial In
tsrests Of the United states. -
treaties sc. 49, -
20 The secretary Of war whose duty shall to Ipsrn
20 The secretary Of msris whose duty n shall be 10 an,
Perinisnd the public ships, dOcysrds naval Itores
These several propositions, thus imposingly sub
mi.ted, were referred TO the committee of de-
tail; and we ind in tho constitution, as IL
came from the committe, Of which the mover of the
propositions was the leading member, express pow
&c Is conferred upon Congress each of the sub
leeh referred TO In them except those in the sec
ond. AS have already said, this omission was not
occidental The mon who composed that eonven-
uon were not the men TO be guilty Of iqsdyerepee
OF that sort II 10 true the constitution did not pro-
vide for the organization of these departments bat
u conferred authority upon Congress over the sub
ecs, and loft IL Congress TO organize the depart
ments 10 take charge ofthem. o ...' r| .1a w
From these proceedings IL appears that the lead
ing members Of the convention considered the sew.
eral subjects referred TO in these propositions as
equals in point Of imporance-as subjects
.jlsdeia gensrisn-of the class And when il is
evident that they 80 regarded them, and conferred
authority upon Congress over all Of them bot two
In express terms, can you, upon any just principle
OF construction, infer that they meant TO confer u
over the others by implication Il Is impossible
And in confirmation Of this view, we find that when
the first Congress came TO organize the departments
they substantially adopted the suggestions Of Mr..
Morris, with the exception of the second which
shows that they did not suppose that jurisdiction
over the subject referred TO in II was eonided TO
Congress- Otherwise how can you account for the
omission to organize such a department ..
To show that the wise men OF the convention did
not understand that power was conferred upon the
general government TO protect manufactures, either
expressly, under the power TO lay impost, or an
incident 10 any other power, refer 10 a proceed
ing Of the convention, which is very significant.
On the 18th Of September, only three legislative
days before the adjournment, when the business OF
the convention was through, in convention Col.
Mason said:
"He had moved. without success for a power to make
sumpuary regulations He had yet lost sight Of his oh
Jees After dsseanting on the sxtrsysganee OF our man.
ners, the excessive consumption Of foreign superfes
the necessity Of restricting IT, as well with economical a.
republican views he moved that committee be appointed
report articles Of association for encouraging ~ tie ad
As in,nes and s enampIe OF the OF the
yenton economy, frugality AID .Amieda manl Ietus "
Can anything be more conclusive than this' Had
so wise man as Colonel Mason thought that the
power vested in the general government for this
tion rather than the voluntary association Of gentle
men, to effect it. His movement was obviously the
last effort of gentleman reluctant to abandon a
cherished object. To all this the protectonists
only reply, that If the power TO lay protective duties
not vested in the United States is 80 trammeled in
the States to be in fact extngushed and that the
first revenue bill imposing duties on imports recog-
missed in It's preamble the right Of the genera gov
eminent to levy them for the purpose Of protec.
ton. .'' .'H '' .... t' .. I'd" TO-. ...sE 'a $3.50
In answer to this, all can say is that think
have shown that the power TO levy imposts for the
purposes Of protection does not exist any where ex.
cept in the States under the restrictions Of the con-
sdtution. But the levying OF imposts is not the
only mode by which manufactures be en-
couraged 1t may be done byibounties. 1t may
be done in variety of other ways, all within the
legislative competency of the States. One Of the
FIRST and most effectual laws passed in Great
Britain for the encouragement Of the woollen manu-
acture TIE one requiring the dead to be buried in
woollens. But suppose the power were entirely
extingushed, it would not be without many exam
pies in our system. ... ..' -. .r p
As to the coemporaneous construction, 80 far
from the tariff of 1889 recognising the principle OF
protection, it does precisely the reverse 1t is true
in the preamble Of the act, the necessity of en-
couraglng manufactures is recited Of its OBJ
jects. But it must be borne in mind that q
preamble is no part Of law, and that it is
not legitimate to refer to, aid in construc-
ton, unless the provisions of the law are obscure
Where they are clear, you cannot refer the pre-.
ambe at ALL Before refer to the provisions of the
tariff Of 1889, to show that it was anything but g
protective tariff, desire to premise few remarks.
Ii there ever was time when high protective
tariff might with proprety have been laid if the
power existed it was in 1885, chad but shor
lime before come out of the long and bloody war oil
the revolution. 1t had been the policy of the mother
country to discourage manufactures in the colonies
had
During the war, our people had suffered intensely
for the want of their products. There was very
naturally at that time strong wish that in any sub
sequent war me might not be in the same situation
In addition to this, we had come out Of the
war loaded with a heavy national debt, and
the great difficulty with the patriots o.
the land was to raise revenue to meet the en-
gagemens and sustain the credit of the government
If there ever was time when high tariff would
have been tolerated it was then. As there were
but few manufactures in the country, the foreign
articles would not have been superseded in the mar
ket by domestic products. high tariff at that time
would have produced large revenue which was
so much needed. Besides, it would at the same
time have given protection to the manufactures
while they in their infancy. Yet with all these
inducements to enact high protective tariff, the
average rate of duty in the they did enact was 81
per cent only and the highest rates imposed were
upon Injuries not produced at all in this country
eS SIT, tnlb Is hCt atneft
of the republic enacted at time when the pecnnia
nv wants of the government were such that il was
compelled to resort to direct taxation at the expense
of domestic discomfort and actual instruction. Ant
this they did rather than enact tariff with ar
average higher than 81 per cent. This is the law
a casual expression in the preamble of which il
seized hold ofas recognition of the power Of Con
gress to enact protective tariff! But here is
practical test Of the character of that law. Gentle
men say it was protective tariff. It was passed
when our manufactures were in their infancy, ant
when they were weak. They are now in the ful
vigor of manhood, and Of course require less sup
port than they did then. Will gentlemen now taxi
for their manufactures the protection which wal
accorded them them Sir, we all know they will
not Why, sir, if we were now to propose such
rate of duty adopted in 1885, these gentlemen
would be ready for open rebellion. They are no
satisfied with a rate Of duties average fv
times as high. And yet they tell us about the &c
of 1889 being protective tariff. Such thing a
protective tariff never was heard Of until 1916.
| But, sir, the power to levy protective tariff no
only is without warrant in the constitution, but it !
most papably in derogation Of its spirit In con
STRUNG the constitution of the United States, like al
other instruments, you must not look to it's lette
l,,, he amir in