The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1850-07-24

8ntsructins the people how to petition.
-.thG tariff.

| hhtsfuctms5 the people how to petition.
| --thc tariff.
A committee of Congressman composed OF
James Cooper and John H. Clark of the Sen
ate; and Hugh White, Jos. r. Chandler and
James Wilson (big Jim) of the House, have is
sued what was intended to be secret circular,
instructing their constituents how to petition
Congress for modification of the tariff of '46.
This circular is systematic affair, we'll calcu-
lated to subserve the base, unworthy object for
which it was intended. 1t advises the people
to cry out "Distress,' "pain,' "ruin"-to weep
and wall at the door of Congress until their pc
culiar interests are protected by excluding for
cign competition from the home market
These protectionists straining every Joint
and limb to deal death blow against free trade
against the principle which actuates every
seller to seek the highest market, and the buyer
those marts where the best commodities can be
cheapest bought. There is a natural and Just
principle upon which mankind from the cradle
| to the grave, found all their calculations of do
| mestic economy--a principle, the Justice of
which never has been and cannot be questioned
and the exercise of which is attempted to be
crippled by a party protesting enlarged and lib
cral ideas of government. Where is the Whir
who will not 90 to the best market for his goods
Such man does not exist And vet these
! Wings party combine against the interests
and feelings and designs Of the great mass of
the community in such manner as to seek
legal enactment from the National Legislature,
the effect of which would be, to compel the
consumer fcertain articles indispensable to his
daily wants, to pay for them a price beyond
their worth.
What matters it to 4 farmer where his plow
is made, if the material and Workmanship arc
substn"tial; and if it is adapted to the use and
purpose for which he procured it, If he can
purchase article Of the same value from a for
eign manufacturer for 80 or 40 per cent less
than he can at home, will he not be likely to do
it? would not all men avail themselves of SINH
lar advantages And should they be prevent
cd by legal cnactments We know how the
majority of men will answer. And how strange
it is to hear poor Whigs-tor there are poor men
among thcm-advocatng a system which on
the same principle compcls them 10 pay a high
- piSS Aol CloLilo ILlluilSn SllartlSt
is compelled to pay for his bread Here the ta-
riff is designed to protect the manufacturcr-
that is, the maker of our calicocs, knives and
forks, spoons, pots and kettles, &c, &C. while
IN England the same principle applied to anotl-
or class protects the agrculturist. But the cf.
forts are substantially the same in both cases
The advantage gained by class Of the COM
munity at the disadvantage Of all Others and
whether it is tax upon food, as it is in Eng
land, or a tax upon cloths, pots, kettles &c,
| DC; as it is intended to be, and as it has been
in the United States, the burden is the same
the drain upon the pocket of the consumer is
the same-the principle upon which the lcgsla
ton is based is the samc-and the wrong to the
community is the same.
Tariff laws are cmphatically species of class
legislation, which are designed to make the
erich richer, and the poor poorer and they
can have no other effect. They have ever been
applied to the protection of particular interest,
and that interest has always been represented
by few who possessed a portion of wealth dis
proportioned to their numbers. In a word, tar
itf laws have always been enacted for the bene
fit of the aristocracy; and it may with propric-
ty be sad that legislation which enables one
man to acquire wealth which he could not ac-
quire by industry, must be at the expense of an
other who has nothing but industry for his sup
port. 1t is truth which cannot be controvert-
ed, that protection to one class is a tax upon an
other-That protection to any amount per
cent, by which the manufacturer can charge
more for his goods, is to the same amount tax
upon the user, consumer or purchaser of
these articles.
To hear some poor wings talk, one would al
most infer that they needed neither clothes nor
toos-nothing to wear-nothing to work with.
But they need these things like other men, and
hence the unaccountability Of their position.
There may have been time when the Wing
party embraced no poverty within its ranks; but
rich mems children sometimes do get poor, and
children will follow in the party tracks of their
ancestors. On these premises, which are not
principles by the way, we can account for the
position of poor Wings upon the tariff question,
and by the same course of reasoning, we account
for the political anomalys that some poor men
are Wings.
Principle has nothing to do with such men S
positions Physical and mental association ;
habit, birth &c, are the governing motives of
their conduct. When these have no influence
over the man who gains his bread by the sweat
of his exertions, he must be and always is a
Democrat.
| BANKS REFUSING TO REDEEM-The N. Y.
Tribune Of the 9th says:--"The Chester Co.
Bank, Pa, the Phoenix Bank, Westerly r. L.,
and the Dorchester and Milton Bank, Mass, re-
l fuse to redeem their notes except Oh certain con-