Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-11-29
our Domestic Interests.

sense that runs la OuSuAe oOpuistIy uAd y
confuse and deceive, and it is the great
AGENT used by those who live on the labor
Il others without adding anything to the
wealth or productive industry Of the coun-
trv-but truth will finally prevail, and
vii be the more potent and effective, as
The masses come to understand and appre-
cate more fully the acts by which their
labor is made subservient, without pro-
ner equivalent, to increase the wealth oil
the few:
.Although simple in themselves, the
onerations Of trade are not SO obvious in
heir influence ON labor and industry as
we generally imagine. Some suppose that
a high duty on imports operates as pro-
lection to American industry. Others ar
que that moderate impost, graduated on
he scale of revenue, is the most legiti-
mate regulation Of trade. Divested Of all
nartisan bias, the question would appear
e he simple, and not involved in mystery.
Philadelphia consumes annually an inn
mense amount of foreign labor, and the
whole State still larger amount. Many
reasons induce to this importation. First,
being new country, we are more prone
to agriculture than manufactures second,
the natural exchanges OF produce and raw
material for manufactures, constitute the
profit Of the merchant, who gains on both
operations; commerce being as much a
source of wealth as agriculture, and ha-
wing commenced as colonies to import our
manufactures, we still continue the prac-
tice, owing to our immense tracts Of wild
lands, on which an increasing population
are constantly settling, craving the same
supplies that were originally peculiar to
the "thirteen provinces"
The fact that we import foreign labor in
the shape Of manufactures, proves that we
cannot manufacture enough to supply our
own wants. To 60 beyond this fact for
arguments would be ridiculous. 1t is not
pretended that any country imports more
than it wants, or more than it can sell to
profit, because duties are low 1t is not
pretended that less are imported because
duties are high; but the argument is, that
if you make the duty high, you put bo-
nus in the pocket Of the man Of capital, who
establishes the factory; that is, you tax
labor Tor the benefit of monied aristocra-
cy. This is the plain argument Of the
champions Of high tariff. Labor derives
no benefit from the high tax. Starving
wages are still the fashion. The indus
trious 'hew wood and draw WATER" while
unequal laus place princely fortunes in the
hands Of an idle aristocracy.
Nations not commercial are invariably
poor. 1t is the exchange of surplus pro-
duee that brings riches on the wings of
enterprise. Semi bar barianism is the con-
dition OF all people destitute Of commerce.
A country must produce more than it
wants, or it very soon consumes more than
it produces, and falls into famine and beg
gary. High duties to protect American
labor, imply that the duty is paid to the
llborer. This is not SO. On the contra
ry, the American hborer has to pay the
high duty to enrich the princely capital
ts,tothe extent of the article he consumes
himself aud in his family. Now, how can
tax on the laborer, for the benefit of The
manufacturer, protect American industry?
Yet this shallow sophism is the whole sum
and substance of the logic of the protec-
,Ionists. We must look at the facts as
they exist, and not at the sophist.ies Of
partisans.
Labor, like the blood Of Douglass, must
protect itself. Laws cannot protect it.
Give 1t fair play, give it justice, give i,
gold and silver in payment Of wages, and
labor will never complain. 1t is only
when it is cheated, oppressed, taxed, sha-
we'd and "starved out that industry en-
tiers protest against fraud.
A country will always import too much
that has >uperabundant volume of cur
rency, whether that currency consists of
specie or paper. But it is not easy to pc,
loo much specie. The only danger lies
IN the excessive manufacture OF paper cur
Fency. A country Of banks of circulation
will always crave high tariff, because it
will always add to the profits of the paper
noney-lender; and under an inflated pa
per currency, importations will always be
excessive. 1t is not low tariff that eau
les foreign manufactures to swarm among
Is, Cutting the market and draining the
country Of its gold and silver, but bloa-
ed paper currency. Besides, a paper
medium, by causing rise Of
'rlces all round, Except the rate of wa
'es, } operates to discourage American la
'or, and acts as bounty on that Of for
ign countries, where prices are not so
,lgh. Paper money, by being always
oundant, raises house-rent, the price of
neat, of flour, and all sorts of provisions.
specie, by causing low prices enables a
ountry to furnish labor at cheaper rate
all paper money nations, the latter being
lways necessarily dependent on the for
aer. We must not look to the tariff, for
:auses that are SO obviously visible on the
ace Of the currency. for the supreme law
nat controls trade, commerce, labor and
manufactures, as well as agriculture, is
ne medium Of exchange. A hundred
Millions OF paper currency, issued to-mor-
'ow' would nearly double the prices Of all
but could not produce one
lolar Of value, would not grow one bush
i Oh wheat, or build one house, make one
jar OF shoes, or weave one piece of cloth.
," It's immediate consequence, in relation
0 our home manufactures would he to |