New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-08-08

| cost here and the actual average reouction ID our
ssaboard markets would not DO 20 per cent--ws
think not l3-while across the mountains il would
be little or nothing. We repel the assumption
with regard TO favoring Manufacturers their in
terests should have no weight, save as they are
coincident with the general interest II Protec-
ton benefits none bot the classes and svocations
Immediately affected by it, it ought to be aban-
doned at once.
But the fact is otherwise. Our correspondent
talks though the fact that British rails and other
iron are now sold here at $50 per ton, while like
article made in our own country must sell here at
eco in order to be made at profit, proves the for
mer slO the cheaper to our people-which we con
slider very far from the truth. Let Us look closely
st the matter, and see which of Us is right: Our
Country requires, we will say, 100000 tons Of Iron
annually, of which large portion will be made
here while another portion will be imported, no
matter what may be the duty the practical ques
ton being Shall we import 10000 tons, or only
10000 Of the aggregate we requirer Common
Country settles the matter off hand by simple
arithmetica process, viz 1t would cost $1,000
900 to make this at home and only 100000 Tor
If you please $4,000 OOO) TO buy sbroad-saving
by Free Trade in Iron, One or Two Millions.'-
But No, Sir! You have forgotten that the dollars
in either case are bat counters-the practical ques
ton being viii it cost more Of our Labor Tor its
Products) 10 import this Iron than 10 make it at
home We say Yes. decidedly, certainly To
import it is to necessitate larger expectation of
Grain Cotton, depressing the market for our sta
pies abroad and reducing their market value at
home.
But let us make it at home. and not only is this
injury obviated but the real cost is far less though
the nominal be more than in the other case. For
this $50 per ten represents the Fuel and Gre en-
ployed and paid for in making the Iron, which
would else have been valueless-represents the
Grain, Meat, Butter, Fruits, &C consumed by the
Choppers, Ore-diggers, Golfers, Teamsters, Fur
mace Builders, &c. sc. as well as the immediate
Iron-makers whom this Home Production has set
at work at prices far above what they would have
commanded if this work had not been done. The
farmer on the Susquehsnna or the Allegheny sells
bis Vegetables and Fruits for cash at fair prices
when the IronW orks are in full operation stop
them and he must travel far for market and sell
much cheaper or perhaps could not afford TO send
them to market at all Suppose he pays slO more
per ton for bis Iron and pays it by selling wood on
the stump at fifty cents per cord, when, with Free
Trade and the Iron Works langushing, he could
not sell his wood at all, but must pay slO or sl2
to have his land cleared Of it-what would be his
gain by Free Trade Now it is clear that every
man who W ants iron will not sell wood to make it
with but he will sell something else-and there
is no branch or kind of useful industry which will
not be benefited by that diversfcation Of Labor
which the multiplication and growth Of Manufac-
lures among US insures. Be his staple product
Grain, Wool, Beef Butter Sugar or even Cotton
itsef-or If he be but laborer working out for his
subsstence-the Protective Policy, and the spring
ing up ofnew branches Of Industry under it, will in
crease the demand for and the value Of what he
has to exchange for whatever he needs 1t brings
producer and consumer nearer together, thus dimn
ishine the cost Of Transportation and increasing
the reward of Production More Productive and
less Unproductive Labor-this is the end and aim
of true Protective Policy-whateyer does not
conduce to that end is not Protection.
All we have here affirmed we are prepared to
sustain by statistics if required, but we have en-
deavored 10 make only statements which the com
mon sense of every observing reader will readily
confirm. The actual saving in Labor and mercan-
tile charges effected by making ourfabr cs at home
instead of sending the cotton and wool TO Europe,
having them manufactured, then returned to and
sold among us must amount TO many millions per
annum This saving does not always tell on the
prices of the goods but must be felt in that of The
articles exchanged for them. Let our Iron and
Cloths be made in Europe, and there can be no.
market among us for bulky and perishable articles
such as Vegetables and Fruits save in the neigh
borhood of our seaboard cities still less for Fuel
&c. and these articles must sell accordingly. |
The money price OF an article is most uncertain |
criterion Of its cost to a nation 1t is always dear
if bought abroad while the labor and skill which |
should have produced it stands idle at home or il
the skill remains undeveloped and unknown for |
the want of such Home Production.
We have not said all we could wish on this |
topic, but our article is already too long and not
one Free Trader in ten who takes up the paper |
W i'll ever read it, And within year shall see
the same assumptions are here replying to re.
peated at least hundred times as in profound I'M
consciousness that any body ever demurred to /
them To make the loudest noise-to reiterste
and reafim assertions hundred times answered |
such are the tactics of our adversaries on this |
question. There is not book in existence which
takes up our side Of the question where it is laid
down, and even attempts to answer US, though
the shelves eroan with wha, purport TO be Falla-
ces Of the Protectionists Exposed, 'Monopolists
Sophstry Reiuted, &c. &c. Shall such tactics
prevail
North Carolina Elections.
MAJ. for Gor.--'4s. PresideHt-ai.
Cos. Manly REID. CLAY. Polk