The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-08-02

The New York Ercning Post commences an
| article by saying:
"Half a dozen Wing newspapers, among which
| the Washington Republic is the most prominent
are engaged in the attempt to persuade their read
ers that the time has arrived for making new
tariff The present one has lasted four years. which
precisely the life time Of its predecessor and the
| protectonists now claim that the pendulum shall
| swing back to the other side The Washington
print which we have named publishes almost daily
what we suppose it would call an argument in favor
| OF an immediate return to higher duties
at may be that this is the unavoidable fate Of
our commerce and of our manufactures alter
nation of high and low dutes-this eternal oscilla-
ton between tariff that favors the manufacturer
and a tariff that favors the consumer"
That the arguments we attempt are by no
means as strongly put as they might be, is
circumstance Of which, without pretending TO
excess of modesty, we have sufficient appre-
citation. But it will trouble the Post not a lit
tie to find what we would call an argument
in favor of an immediate return TO higher du-
ties" or even tardy return to higher duties.
We think nothing can be found in our col
umns during the period to which the Post may
be supposed to refer, indicating any dissatisfac-
ton with the nominal quantum of duties now
imposed, or belief that, if fairly levied upon a
just and uniform valuation OF imported arti-
cles, they would prove insufficient for the pro-
lection of our domestic industry. This is
matter Of detail upon which we have not
committed ourselves, though we have from
time TO time exposed the objections against
the ad rdLorem method Of levying the customs
We have only concerned ourselves with the
principles upon which the policy of protection
rests. The difficulty with the Post is, that,
in It's intense misconception Of those principles,
it can think Of the various industrial classes
only as having necessarily discordant interests,
and can imagine no mode Of beneftting one with
out a corresponding injury to the others. The
school to which it belongs is possessed by the
single idea that the advantage which manufac-
turers derive from protective tariff is enjoyed
exclusively by Them and consists in the fact that
they are enabled to put into their pockets an
amount equivalent, upon every commodity they
sell, TO the duty imposed upon its foreign rival.
Ii consequently imsgincs that what the manu-
facturers want is more money in the shape Of
higher duties So thoroughly imbued with this
notion is the Post, that under its influence it sup
poses us to have said what we have not said.
nor intended. We do not believe that the Post
means to misrepresent us, but it is self deceived.
Now we have an entirely different idea ofin-
dustra interests We conceive them to be in
absolute harmony with each other We have
never written line that by implication could
be supposed TO convey the opinion that the in
terests Of manufacturers were worthy of one
whit more favor or patronage than those Of
the farmer and planter-all our sympathies
are with the agriculturists The Post talks Of
an eternal oscillation between a tariff that ia
vors the manufacturer and a tariff that fayors
the consumer. II means to be understood as
approving the latter. We agree with il in this
Everybody is consumer, and Government il
bound 10 regard the interests Of the whole com
munity, and TO extend ne favor to a limited
class at the general expense. When and
where have we intimated any different SEN
timent! Perhaps it is because we do not
argne from the premises and in the fashion. that
il has been in the habit Of deemng essential 10
arrive at conclusions opposite to its own. that it
hesitates about admitting that our poor attempts
deserve the name Of argument Don Quixote
saw an army with banners in flock Of sheep,
fori was only the former that were worthy Of his
chivalrous arm. The method Of his madness was
thorough paced. The hallucnation Of the Post
halts midway. Sometimes il sees through the
cloud Of dust the fabulous old giants, with long
Names that it has been in the habit Of belaborinp.
as the foes Of free trade; sometimes. when it
misses them, it is ready to doubt whether there
is hos, Of any particular account, even as
sheep.
II the Post found it in its heart to discuss this
matter with us, it would be delighted TO dis
cover how much we stand ready to admit in
the outset there is no profitable reasoning be
tween parties until the points Of agreement are
established. The more numerous they are the
greater the likelihood Of final concurrence. II