The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-02-28
Anlitiral.
Speech of Mr. Boyce Oh the Tariff.

riff. 1t appears, from the report Oh tue Htc'e
tary of the Treasury, that the surplus haianre
on hand, September 80, 1853, was S2S2lI'
SS7 rs. Moved by such vast and lncreaS-
ing surplus, the Secretary very property rec jn''
mends modification of the tariff. His pro-
posed modification may he summed mp IN three
ideas. Duties of one hundred per cent on
brandies and cordials, Il greater extension OF the
free list, and an uniform duty OF twenty-five
per cent. on all remaining imports. Though l
have the very highest respect tor the secretary
of the Treasury, [ am compelled to differ tro'u
him on this subject. AS regards the one hun
dred perceut duties, they are utterly indetenSl
BILE as II financial measure; they are five times
highpr than the revenue standard, and must III
minish the revenne aud imjuronsly atec' our
commercial relations with France. | can See
no possible reason for such ex"rbitant duties,
but desire to legislate indirectly "n great
social question, with WHICH, c"''re'1e, We
have nothing to do. Passing by these one
hundred per cent. duties, which are IN no tar,
monv With the Secrrtary's general ta'ltt poll
CIV. appro,ch the two leading principles urged
by him the free >t, and tm Uniform duty oi
% per cent.
II is importarlt to observe what the tree list
does not contain AMI what it does contain. 1t
does not contain articles o foreign manutc
ture, which NAV COME III ronl"titlon Win
home manufactures. 1t does not contain The
RAW materials of domestic manufactures. and
certain exports from which our manufactures
are eychauued a~ tea and cuITee inr Iristanre--
II is al>o iiulnrt,n, t. consider what articles
will pay the duty oftwen,> fv' per cent, con-
H., ii, Il t,,ty al, he 4.
ard five p,.r cent higher lhan thr III Nim I'M
dut;.s uudyr the British revised tariff nj 1912
II will be found that among these articles are
all foreign products which may come III com
petition with ,lonr>tic manufactures. fr"n
these facts. the jrri o the Srs'rrtars ia''li
hecomrs luminous 1t is rvhlcnliy designed
to- give domestic manufactures the most p'actl-
cal protectors; aud it nrccmplishcs his pur'
nose most thoroughly for the effect "f ad
mit,inu the raw material dntv free, and taxing
the manf clurcd article twrnt, five per cent
iS To- extend prutrriiuu. IN som" u1.ia"'es L"
the extrnt of forty aud forty five prrc'n -
This free lis, is Il great invention; Tor whI!e Ii
cunfers AL exclusive privilege on the maI''iac
turrrS, that of im.,"rtimg the r"in""1l' IS they
need free of ,ntv, it creates an apparent iirc"S'
sitv, aud alTnnls pr.'lrXt tor hgr in'irs IN
their rival IMPORTS. N.,at Il :. stem! ih">r
cummoditis which the manufacturers need
pav nn daty. rh,>r which the re"pc need
nav duty amounting practically, t'a'ou' one
third If their value.
As regards the Uniform dntl "i iNenIy h'r
Der cent, it rests rn the radical error iIit All
impOltS can pay the same rat' t" d"fl, "herr'
as tn fact is exactly the reverse. Some COZ"
modities cannot pay more tnar five per cent
and others more than tea per cent, and henre
every tariff we ever had has proceeded on
grada,inn rf duties Tn apply uniform rate
of twenty five per cent, is to prohibit many ar
ticles and dimiuis. the revenue. lac l. one
article to which the Secretary proposes to ex
tend even more than an ordinary share OF pr"
lection that is iron of all mag yinlbi. things
that which the universal indu>,r, ut the cnnn
trv. in every form and section, is most inter
estrd to obtain cheap. Yet under the rupI".
NOUS term srecitic duties, this atl,le is to re-
ceive the lions share of pr"'ection. entire!y
dissent from the Srcretarys recommendations.
Ioh-ct to ever, one If thrm-his lree list, his
horizontal tariff of % per cent hi> Specific
duties on iron His prnjrc'ed tariff is prot,c-
ton and monopoly in their worst, because their
most covert forms. will not dwell longer on
this report, satisfied TO call attention t" It's i'ro
tecive features. | pass on to the general con
81 erati''n of the subject.
tfter brief history IF tn" revenue s. stem.
prior to the adoption "i the protective pulley III
lSl6-of the protective policy and its nrrcs
sary tendency TO its logical result OF prohibit
tion ON the one hand and bnurties the 9th
er, he states thpt the objects of taxation vary
in different governments. That in some it is
IN drprrs> the masses and secure the dom na
,on Of the few that this government is IL mre
trustee for the people. Taxat n is Il mcauS
70 execute the trust and in this view it should
take AS little as possible from the l'coplr--it
should bear equally upon all, and should Inter.
fere rs ltl.. as possible with private lniu>try.
That II Protective Tariff is Inconsistent with
these conditions, and for reasons is follows j
"'rhis protective policy is 'manIie>tly une
DUAL to classes, but its Inequality to sections Is
still more Obvious The manufacturing inter
csrs are in ii grea, degree confined t" the nor
them section of the Union. 1t benefits por
iion of that section at the expense OF al other
sections. To illustrate this, we will suppose
that the Southern planter wishes to exchange
his cotton for cotton cloth, nr WOODEN. or iron.
Under the operation Of protective tariff he
mn,t change his cotton for less quantity o!
tho.. ar1i. les Ifhe buys the foreign commod-
itv he must paw Government ut least one
fourth Of its valne for the privilege of bringing
il within the country 10 escape this tax, he
must buy the homo made commodity at price