Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-13

IL ID thd interest Of the people, and naf been r.
peatedly determined By their votes theft settled
policy to reduce the import taxes as lev as the ae
ual wants Of the Federal Governments viii permit.
II we distribute the proceeds Of these lands among
the States the amount thus drawn from the national
treasury must be restored to it from some other
source.
There is other but to raise The tariff, and thus
increase the import taxes
IL IS therefore, clearly manifest that the measure
OF distribution, if adopted must be followed by
peshg the settled policy Of the country for the last
twenty years, and increasing the import taxes upon
the people. Stripped Of all false reasnong this
is the proposition held forth to the people for their
a4opllon IN tins feature Of the Know Nothing plat
Iofin- 10 understand the effects upon the South Of
returning % the protective policy, and imposing its
DuIuens upon these great agricultural States,
We nave but 70 glance at the condition Of the coun-
try before and when that policy IVES first adopted.
when the constitution Of the United states was
adopted the population Of the two sections was naar
y equal-each having not quite two millions. the
South including over half million of slaves The
commerce was about equal-the North ernorti,,-
S9,sO0,54O; the South So, 300 500. The taxable
property was nearly exactly equal. each having
about S4OO,OOO,O0O, agreeably to an assessment Of
1880 for direct taxation For the first quarter Of
century the South took the lead in commerce; her
exports then amounting to about $50 000 OOO which
was five millions more than that Of the North This
was the result Of the first quarter Of eent1ry's
trade under an equal and just system Of taxation
That she would have kept pace with the North in
all that constitutes national prosperity Is thus
proven by the experience Of twenty-five wears had
not system then been inaugurated which threw
nearly the whole burthens of Government in the
shape Of import taxes, upon the South That sys-
TEN was the high tariff policy. In 1916 the system
OF direct taxation was finally abandoned, and
the whole interest Of the public debt-then greatly
augmented by the war Of 1912, as well as the in
creased expenditures Of the Government-was made
ehargeaDle upon the foreign commerce Of the cOun-
try, except the small income Of the public lands
At that time the principal articles Of export, in
exchange for which we obtained our foreign goods
consisted of cotton, tobacco and rice These duties
fell almost exclusively on the South, which alone
produced those staples. Under the operations OF
this system IN 1888, in consequence Of the heavy
burthens on our commerce, we only imported about
/ S64,OOOOOO from which the Government exseted
| S32,OOOOOO as duties on foreign imports. This
enormous sum was tax upon the industry princi-
pay, OF the Southern States while it gave protec-
ton to the manufacturing interests Of nearly an
| equal amount Such a system, operating for nearly
twenty years, was enough to crush the energies Of
! any people. Its reduction has now been going on
for nearly twenty years, and the South is lust be-
| ginning to recover from its ruinous effects.
With this experience before the South, is she now
prepared to take a step backward and to revive q
system which had well nigh ruined it. by withdraw
ing from the national treasury the proceeds Of the
public lands and thus produce the necessity of rails
lngthe import duties of the tariff and furnishing the
manufacturing interests pretext for returning to
policy which IS so utterly destructive Of her pros
! perity.
To BE CONTINUED