The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-06-16
FREE TRADE VS.. THE TARIFF.
To the Editor of the National Era.


To the Editor of the National Era:
In the Era of the 18th of March is an articl,
| headed No Reason for Strife" on which
wish to make a few remarks.
1t would occupy too much space to reply t.
all the opinions contained in that article bu
| cannot come to the conclusion that the intro
| duction of the Free Trade resolution into ou
| platform, at the Ohio Convention, was a pru
dent measure; nor can see how it could fai
to be mschievous in it's operation.
By looking back few years we cannot fai
| to see that the Free Trade party were then tn
o-Slavery party, with John c. Calhoun a
their head and that the party in favor of Pro
lection were the Anti-Slavery party; and
think that such is still the case with the ranl
and file, though the leaders have forsaken the
standard 1t is true that we ought not to MAKE
that paramount which should be subordinate
but is it not bad policy to hold out to mer
strong temptation to do the very thing they
ought notl
If the movers and supporters of that resolu
ton had not adhered to their old habit OF
going it blind" | think they would have seen
that its adoption would deter from joining us
many who are sincere foes to slavery, but whose
hatred to that institution is not strong enough
to induce them to make what they deem q
heavy sacrifice of selfinterest to accomplish its
| suppression and we also think that the Free
Trade theory, having been for many years
| favorable movement Of the Pro-Slavery party,
ought to induce us to adopt it with great eau
| ton, if at all, and not without open discussion
and a close and dispassionate examination of
its bearings on the national industry, in all its
rem0test consequences
You seem to view the subject of Protection
merely as a matter of revenue--we see it en-
trely in different light We ask to be pro-
tected from the necessity of competing with
the low priced labor of Europe and from the
enormous and useless expense of unnecessary
transportation When wo are asked to aid i'm
freeing the slaves of the South by placing our
selves in the labor market of the world, on a
level and in competition with the half-fed and
half.clad laborers of Europe, we feel that, in
so doing we would be degrading ourselves to
the level of slaves instead of elevating the
slaves to the level of freemen for we think
that Free Trade would bring upon the people
Of this country the very evil which now 80
dreadfully Expresses the people Of Europe and
which is next in magnitude to chattel slavery,
viz IoD-priCed labor The shareholders say it
is the worst evil Of the two, notwithstanding
| they have been for years doing their best to in
trOduoe it into this country and there is no
| difficulty in showing that it would greatly pro.
mote their interest to reduce the value of free
labor to the lowest possible amount as the
comparative value Of slave labor would be in
creased in exact proportion.
The great champions of Free Trade have
often told us that We must prepare ourselves to
compete with European labor, in the great la
Dor markets of the world By what means are
we to obtain seventy-tive cents day land that
is too ttle) in the same market where Euro
peln labor is selling for twenty or twenty-five
cents is a mystery that | would like to have
explained.
That the present mode of raising revenue IL
Objectionable, | admlt--not on account of its
protective principles but for the want ofthem.
II our Tariff was more protective it W IlH d.
minish importation, and thus diminish the rev.
enuc. If the duty on iron only had been fully
protective or entirely prohbtive-though do
not advocate prohibition--I believe that all the
iron consumed in this country in ten years
say from 1916 to lS56-wOuld have cost the
consumer less money than under the present
system, certainly less grain, giving lucrative
employment to many thousands of industrious
laborers, and saving from ruin hundreds of en-
barked their capital in the iron business, and
have prevented some portion of the excessive
revenue, and have afforded a home market for
millions of dollars worth of agricultural pro-
ductions saving the ruinous cost of transporta-
| ton
MIR Secretary Walker states in one or two
of his reports that the proper Tariff for this
country il that which will produce the greatest
| ampunt NJ opI tha 80
of revenue is now made q plea for attacking
| the revenue system.
Excessive or huctuating revenue il not a
necessary consequence of protection. There is
nothing wanting but the will 40 to arrange a
Tariff for protection as to reduce the amount
Of revenue to any desirable amount: and the
hope that the expenditure would be diminished
by resorting TO direct taxation, is not justified
by experience ve-sixths of the enormous
expenditure of the British Government is raised
by direct taxation and, believe has been sc
for many years. The revenue of the city and
the State of New York, also of the States OF
Pennsylvania and Ohio, are almost entirely
raised by the same means and yet they seem
to be competing with each other in extrava
gance. And we have recently had n new Con
stltutlon formed in Ohio, by Convention com
posed mainly of Frce-Trade economists, unde,
the operation of which, and of the laws framed
in conformity with it, by the same party W,
have fair prospect Of having our expenditur,
increased from twenty-five to fifty per cent
The only remedy that can see for this grea
evil of extravagant expenditure, is, to cleo
honest men to office, and to abate our cxtrem,
fondncss for honor and glory, and our desire t,
take that to which we have no right | an
sorry to say that the hands Of the Free. Soiler
are not quite clean and it is not with heart,
good will that can vote for any man who ha
pocketed the constructive mileage, or sharge,
mileage for a greater distance than no ha
travelled
J. q. Adams is reported to have said tina
there is no principle in poltics-mcaning n,
doubt, that there is no uniform principle tina
can be safely adopted, without regard TO sur
rounding circumstances, or To probable ulti
mate consequences.
We think that, if Free Trade should b.
adopted, the first effect would be, the entire do
structon Of almost all our manufactures anS
iron works or the reduction of the compensa
ton for labor to q standard approximating I,
that paid for the same kind OF labor in Europe
That our laborers would not work for twenty
five cents day, while they could get ten dol
lars month on farm, il almost certain. Gu
manufactures, then, would be closed, and on
whole labor now engaged in them would b