Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1850-10-04
From the New York Tribune.
Do they Mean TO Deceive?

Every few days we meet in some 0ppo-
sltlon Journal paragraph of this nature
"EL57 The - Mandatory has lust divided
ten per cent. profits for the last six months
And yet the Wings say Manufacturers need
more Protection ~
IP There are more Iron Works now in
operation in the country than there ever were
before the present Tariff was adopted, and new
ones are continually going up Yet the Wings
say the duties on Iron must be raised or our iron
makers will be ruined !''
Now it Is quite possible that some man
utactories, enjoying rare facilities or the
command of wide and eager market for
peculiar styles of goods, may be making
good dividends, in spite of general depres-
sion and loss. 1t may even be true that in
certain localities new Iron, Cotton, or
Woollen manufactures are from time to
time established, and that gradual. tardy
progress in certain branches of Manufac-
ture is made in defiance of the unfavorable
state of trade. We firmly believe, So ma
tural and benefcent is the location of the
manufacturer and fabricator by the side of
the farmer and planter that, if no Tariff
had ever existed, or all Tariffs were now
to be abolished, the ways and means would
IN time be discovered or created of natur-
alizing or perfecting in our country all the
arts of civilized life. Just so we have
faith that, if Steam and Railroads were to
be heuceiorth utterly abolished, the wants
or tastes they have created or developed
would find some means of qualification
mankind would not consent to be sent back
to such means of travel and intercommu-
nication as existed a century ago. But
that it follows that it would be wise to
abolish steamships and railroads, trusting
TO human energy and genius for efficient
substitutes, is not clear TO our minds.
In this year of grace, 1850, we shall
buy of Europe, iron and iron products,
cotton, Iinen, woollen and silken fabrics, to
the amount of not less than one hundred
millions of dollars. And all these goods
are forced in upon us, while the free trade
organs and orators are doing their best to
create and diffuse the impression that man
utactures in this country are yielding in
the average large profits to those concerned
in them. Now ask those who are busy in
endeavoring TO diffuse this Impression
Gentlemen, what profits are you realizing
from your estates, your ships, your impor-
tations, &C., &C." and they will tell you
the majority of them" not over five
per cent" IS Well, gentlemen, then why
don't you embark in making these fabrics
at home, instead of importing or buying
those of Europe Here is an immense
demand, in country rapidly increasing in
population and capacity of consumption,
while nobody apprehends that the tariff is
to be changed for the worse, as respects
our home interests-now if American man.
ufactureS are so profitable as you assert,
why don't you embark in them ? The
laws, &C., are as favorable to YOU as to any
body; you can buy two-thirds of the man
ufacturing establishments in the country for
good deal less than cost, or you can get
up new ones with improved machinery for
much less money than these have cost their
owners. The country is full of ore, coal,
water power, &c, which you can have
dirt cheap, if you want them, aside from
the fact that many of you own these al
ready. Now if manufacturing is so thrifty
as you assert-if the instances Of failure
may all be accounted for by bad manage
ment, high salaries, &C., why don't you
embark in home manufactures and prose-
cute them with due wisdom and economyP'
Yes, why don't they!
Those who profess to be free traders
own their full share of the wealth of the
country they have an equal proportion
of the ready capital and the business tai
ent. If there were money to be made by
manufac turing as easily as they pretend,
they are the very lads that would be into
it, heels over head. And yet on this Sd
day of September, 1850, they don't own
one-tenth-no, nor one-twentielh-of the
capital invested in manufactures through
out the country
Why don't they!
Simply because they know that the inn
preston they are seeking to make on the
country, as to the present condition and
thrift Of American manufactures is false
impression, countenanced by one case in a
hundred, but disproved by ninety-nine.
If this is not the reason, what is