Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1854-03-08

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this time twenty per cent ON many articles
of foreign manufacture may afford a rev.
enue In ten years the cheapening of pro
duction may make twenty per cent. operate
as prohibitory duty. This great pfinci.
pie works in spite of our laws, and will con-
stantly tend to graduate the tariff lower,
and extract from it the protective principle
Another fact is the progressive increase in
the class of consumers The population OF
the country is increasing in geometrical
ratio, and revenue duties must be at the low.
est point, or we will have periodical over
fowings Of the Treasury against which every
wise Government would guard In twenty
five years appropriation will be fifty millions
and tariff so low as only toproduce fifty
cents to each in1iyidual will furnish S25,-
100000 Ehis fact is operating every day,
and we would be blind indeed to shut our
eyes to its necessary results.
The principle dedncible from these two
facts, the reduction of the cost Of home man.
ufactures, and the increase of the class OF
consumers, is that we must abandon protec.
tive duties, or have no revenue: and that
revenue duties must be low, or we will have
too much revenue.
The difficulty from a revenue tariff is not
that we will have too little revenue, but too
much. As an evidence of this, | would re-
fer to the results Of the present tariff
Messrs. Webster, Evens,. Winthrop, and
others, strongly insisted that the tariff Of '46
~ hnv
estimated the receipts from twenty-five to
twenty.six millions, and yet for 1853 the re.
ceipts from this tariff were SIS, ,93l ,S65,52,
nearly three times.mor than the smallest
estimate. have no doubt tbat'it..we aban.
don the protective policy any reduction of
the duties, whicb.T Tm#y be foundtRrnctica:
hle to make at this time, ,.!will. be followed in
less than TN years by aabfher surplus in the
Treasury; for the RESOURCES of the country
are in an extraordinarysttr Of development.
Our commerce OH ohe Of. our oceans, the
Pacific, is yet in its infancy, excluded as it
is from the Eastern Archipelago by the Gu
pidity of the Dutch, and from Japan by a
fierce conservatism. When it bursts these
barriers, and glitters with the treasures of
the gorgeous East, the.most sanguine will
be astounded.
TO prevent these future surplus accumna.
tions, would authorize the Secretary OF the
Treasury to reduce the duties regular per
centage every six months, after a surplus be.
gan to accumulate, until the receipts only
equalled the wants Of the Government. 1t
may be objected that this isa dangerous
power to intrust to an executive officer; but
do not apprehend the people can ever be
seriously injured by reduction of taxation.
From such tariff as have recommended
the material advantages would be incalcula-
Bile. We would approximate as near as
possible to free trade-the great privilege of
selling where you can sell dearest, and buy.
ing where you can buy cheapest-the richest
boon which, under pod Government, eau
be extended to the industry of any country.
Agriculture and commerce would feel the
touch of Il magic wand. Manufactures
would rest on n more natural, and consequent
ly more permanently prosperous basis Oi
all interests, however, the commercial would
he the most benefited. or all parts Of the
Confedrracy, no sput wonld be so electrified
as the imperial city of New York. The
golden streams which free trade would pour
into her lap would he richer than the sands
of the Pactolus. Her merchant princes
would light up their marble halls with Alad-
din's lamp. Horace Walpole once said, with
foresight in advance Of his age, make
London free port, and by consequence the
market of the world" Make New York a
free port, and London aud Amsterdam will
be at the mouth of the Hudson. Indeed tho
advantages which would result from this ad.
vance to free trade bcggar description
American industry would spring to her feet,
and, breaking the chains which have hither.
to mpeded her progress, her giant tread
would shake the continent.
me who will dissent from this picture, and
consider any departure from the protective
policy as great calamity. To all slch, |
recall to mind the notes of woe which were
sounded In 1916, on the passage of the tariff
Of that year, modifying, to some extent. tine
more protective tariff of 1912. Mr.. Niles,
of Connecticut, said I" that if the bill passed,
it would be equivalent to a general confsca.
ton; in describing the disastrous conse-
quences 10 result from the repeal Of the act
Of 1912, growing eloquent, he said, the
only parallel to it was to be found in The re-
peal of the edct Of Nantz" Mr.. Simmons
said: "This bill (tariff of lS46) was to
take the daily bread from the orphan, and
from millions whose employment would be
swept away" Mr.. Huntington protested
against the bill in the name of his people,
"who were about to he thrown upon the
world without bread or the means OF obtain
ing it." MIR. Webster, in his peculiarly fell
citous manner, said, "all the industry of the
Iand is'against it; the manufacturers are
against it; the importers are against it; the
ship.owners are against it; no man cries,
God suve it; it is against the sentiment OF
the land.". Such were the melancholy fore.
bodncs with which the modified tariff of
1876 was ushered into being.
appeal to the signal progress Of the
country since then, though we are far from
having free trade yet, as the best commentary
on these protective prophecies. | would,
however, particularly refer to the increase
of imports and tonnage, the best possible
thermometers of the prosperity of the coun-
try. In 1874, the imports were Sl0S, 1885,:
O33, against slOs, in 1888 showing
that under the protective policy, while the
population had increased .ope-half, imports
remained stationary. In 1858, under the
less protective tariff of 1916, imports had
run M to s267,977,647. In 1888, the ton