The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1852-02-28
Tho Whics and the Tariff

/ the tyrants Of the Old World. England, via,
but short time ago was naughty and insolent
"has Kissed the barney stone" and is nov
lavish in bestowing compliments upon our pol,i
cal institutions, and eulogiums upon our military
power and commercial greatness. Tie nation,
OF the Continent OF Europe dread our influence ant
talk Of clubbing together to crush us before il
saps the foundations Of their own power and
makes them crnmb'c t" pieces before the popular
will. Our own people too feel thrill Of pidu
as ilcy trace upon the map the vast bounds of our
territory and read in the official rcporss from
the different departments the eahaustess re
( sourses Of our government, AMI contemplate
the rapid increase Of her wealth
In view OF this degree ofprosperity and great.
ness, then, what must rejecting people think of
the wing cry Of national ruin and bankruptcy,
which is daily hcralded abroad through the press
OF that party and which has, for a fountain head
President Fillmore aud his Secretary of State,
Daniel Webster The fact that Mr. Webster. a
few years Since, sold his services in the United
States Senate to tic manufacturers Of New En-.
land, explains fully why he should advocate
protective tariff, and hence no one, who knows
his influence in the Cabinet is at all Surprised ut
seeing the president and all his subalerns bow
to the opinions and argrtf rnis of the god-like
Daniel and closely follow in lis wake
I Hence We find the Secretary Of the Treasury
Nj Corwn, in his report, trying to undermine
the democratic tariff Of 40 by so arranging bis
estimates for the coming fiscal year as to present
our manufacturing and commercial interests in
truly deporablc condition. The balance Of trade
Against us is again held UP in monstrous gui,e
to fnshten the people The expectation Of specie
is also dwei' upon largely, and is repeated over
and over from one end Of his report to the
other md he finally brings his alarms to Il cul.
minaticn in the following manner:
"Shoull the large imporiations of foreign fab.
res continue TO increase until they drive from
The maj krt the like articles.of domestic manufac.
ture, 1t follows as inevitable that the labor Of our
people now engaged in manufacturing must he
driven mainly into planting and farming They
must. with equal certainty. produce "a supera.
bundance OF the latter products with no increas
ed markets ior them abroad and greatly dinIln.
ished demand for them ut home
This certainly would be deplorabc state Of
things; especially il 1t should be allowed to 20
on until our rich gold mines ,houll be exhausted,
our money all exported, our manufactures all
gone down, aud the people all ragged or naked,
and flt as 'porkcrs' from the "supelabundm cc
derived from planting and farming" The Sec.
Rotary anticipates such n calamity in the next
paragraph, where he says;
III this state Of things shall be realized, il FOL.
lows that the ability of the people to purchase
foreign commodities will be DESTROYED impor'a.
tons must greatly diminish in amount, and the
revenue at once sink Ear below its present swollen
amount. It should constantly be kept in view
that our system Of revenue is not cumpulsory. but
depends solely on the voluntary contributions
Of The people. If our citizens refuse or are una
bic to purchase furejgn goods, the revenue now
almost solely relied on must cease and the 20
vcrnmcnt driven TO direct taxation for its annual
support"
Bat VIC are happy to say tina, TO such state Of
things can ever come to pass, and we think Mr.
CorwlnS report slows that plainly. Our total
imports t.pccie excepted for The past yeor have
amounted 10 .2lo,GJSo9i. and our total exports
(not including spccie) to Slss 2s5 $50, indicating
an amount of S22,i72sls imports over and
above our exports. Now were the price Of cot
ton, tobacco, rice flour, pork, dc, no higher in
foreign markets than they ore at home, then there
would be some sense in the wing doctrine Of "a
balance # trade But such is not the case
When flour is worth $3.50 in New York it is
worth $3.50 in Liverpool; similar difference
in price exists between the home and foreign
market in reference to all articles Of our com.
merce, Thus loo barrels of flour a, the harbor
in New York would be set down as worth $3.50
but when it arrives q, Liverpool it has risen in
value 10 $3.50 or little over 20 per cent, and will
buy that amount Of foreign merchandise for i'm.
portatcn. Thus exporting s45o in -four and i'm
porting $3.50. Our excess Of imports are nothing
more than our profits on our exports.
When We recollect that our exports are est
mated at their valse in this country, and not
what they ave worth in the foreign market, and
our imports at their foreign value, it will a, once
appear that, although there seems to be balance
OF trade against us Of over 92,000,oO0 there is
in reality Zone. To make this matter still plain.
er, let Us suppose that all our exports on an ave.
rage sell, in the foreign market for l2l per cent
more than they are worth at home-a great ma.
ny sell for much more than that II then we add
l9l per cent to our exports, to arrive at their val
nc in the foreign market we will have S2ll 500.
9O6, and can buy just that amount of foreign
merchandise for importation; larger amount
than that Indicated by Mr. Corwin's report. It's
plain, then that we have not imported more, the
past year, than could have been bought with our
exports, and that the seeming excess OF the for.
mcr was simply the profits on the latter. and that
there existed no necessity for the expectation Of
specie aside from what we mentioned several
weeks ago, about which Secretary Corwn and the
wing press generally are so alarmed.
The fact is that, at no period since the organ.
cation Of our government, have all our industrial
interests stood ON irmer basis and been more
prosperou, than during the past year. But the
eastern manufacturers wan, tariff and the whig
party aud the present administration are will
ling to pettifug their cause before congress for
their service during the approaching presidential
campaign.