Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1849-02-16
Friday, February I6, IsA9.
FOR THE SOUTHPORT TELEGRAPH.
FREE SOIL PLATFORM.
No. o.

"dies OH slInpie people at high prices, and then
setting the bloodhounds of the law on them. and
selling them out of house and home, when the
State and the county might build poor houses and
penlentiarles TO pat them in. This is another ste
towards the abolition of all laws for the collection
of debt, and when fully carried out will rid us of a
great part of that swind.ing tedious, and costly
law system entaed on us by England and prac
tced there since the dark days before the reorma>
tlon and before the invention of printing, when the
functions of priest and lawyer were vested in the
same person That was the age of corruption
This is the age of reform.
The general adoption of this measure would
make credit what it ought to be- AT present it is
a mere speculation. Men vino now ge, credit and
do not pay, would have to work for a living as they
ought to do; those who get credit and do paw
would still get credit, and buy. much cheaper
ohonfsighted storekeepers can see that they would
have to sell for less profits but they cannot see that
they would make fewer bad debts and less cost in
collecting. They cannot see that the cost of COLI
lection is dead loss to community at large. They
cannot see those who contract debts and never paw
would have to be more economical and Industrious.
which would be clear gain to the community at
large. And so with physicians and others
would like to have had another plank in the
platform for the ancient trial by jury now called
thai by arbitration, TO rest on, Every thinking
man who has seen this system tried in the settling
oidlsputed claims on the mineral lands when they
came into market, was satisfied with its operation.
In Galena alone there were two hundred causes all
settled in single week; and more in accordance
with justice than the same number ever were set
tiled IN any law court and the cost was about three
dollars 4 case 1t would have taken the courts
about forty years 10 have settled them, and the
cost would have been incalcu able at least far be.
You'd the value of the property IN dispute. l con-
sailed with friend in the Convention on this SUBJ
ject. He thought 1t Lest not 10 ncumber it with
too many things, and perhaps he was right, for
when public opinion gets awakened it will carry
the whole rotten fabric away as flood would
rnlldam built on one of the soft bottom creeks in
the lower part Of Illinois
&C. That we approve of the system Of free and
uRrcS'1jfced trade between all States ard Nations,
and we will endcayor to secure its adoption by our
own government as soon as practicable"
How men can imagine themselves free who are
restrained from buying where they can buy cheap
est, and from selling where they can sell dearest is
more than can comprehend. The tables accom-
panyiug the report o! the Secretary of the Treasury
for the present year, show that under the tariff OF
10 we would pay one dollar and seventy one cents
for the same quantity OF brown sugar thltwe would
buy for one dollar under system of free trade If
we bought syrup we would have 10 pay two dollars
and sXtyone cents, instead OF one dollar and if we
bought refined sugar we would pay two dollars in
stead of one. We do this to make the labor OF
slaves more profitable to their masters. The same
tables show that the duty on bar iron was seventy
seven per cent.;-that is to say farmer who
bought the iron for a wagon that under free trade
would have cost twenty dollars, under that tariff
would have cost thiryfye dollars and forty cents,
and every thing made of iron IN that proportion.
This was to increase the profits capital IN Penn~
sylyaua and other places. Ike same with cotton
goods wooens, salt ass, AMI many other articles
and the western farmers who bore these heavy
burthens called themselves free Americans. But
the evil did not stop here. We could not exchange
with other countries only under these restrictions,
and the result WIS, that in lSi3, the first year Of
this tariff the export of breldstus and provisions
fell from SIG,9O2S76 to Sll,204,l23. Let ives.
tern farmers think Of that! S5,GoS,2j0 worth,
nearly one third of the whole gorged back into our
own market that manufacturers might get cheaper
blcadstufs and provisions. Add TO this the ex-
empion Of their property from taxation and it will
appear in a very clear light why the capitalists and
manufacturers are opposed to free trade and direct
taxation.
To those who wise for light on this subject,
would recommend the perusal the report alluded
to above 1t is a lucid document from one of the
clearcst headed statesman sn the country. The
following is an extract:
The adoption, by each nation, of high tariffs, is
a war upon the labor of the world. As labor Is
more productive. capital is more rapidly increased,
and wages augmented; yet the tariff by competing
each nation 20 employ portion of It's industry IN
articles which can be produced more cheaply
abroad. and refusing the exchange forces labor
throughout the world in less profitable pursuits;
and, as a consequence, diminishes the products OF
labor as well as wages
And again:
"The doctrine of free trade is the petition Of la
Dor to employ itself every where in those pursuits
best adapted by natare TO every country and yields
ing therefore in each the largest products and high
est wages Ii looks upon our race everywhere as
friends as brethren, equal in rights, and united
in interest and destiny Rightly understood there
;s nertect unity of interest between man and man.
and nation and nation, and between capital aud
| labor"
But let any one read the whole report and doc
uments accompanying it, and il he cannot see the
advantage of free trade, and direct taxation don't
see that he need trouble himself further on that
subject, for his mind must be made up right or
| wrong FARMER OF dRANr'