Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1857-03-13

grudged them in the dawn Of their prosperi-
ty Why, sir, even the drunken Irish boy
has too much of honor to strike his father
when he is down. If II is a sufficient reason
for placing sugar on the free list because its
production has diminished. then should
broadcloth be placed on the free list, for the
manufacture of that has wholly ceased. |
stand on the principle of giving incidental
protection wherever it may be needed, and
the parties concerned are the best judges of
that.
If we arc to go on the principle Of throw
ing overheard a Jonah every time there comes
up a squall--now wool, now sugar, and now
iron--there will not be enough left to grapple
with the one-eyed giant of free trade and
all the favor gentlemen will have secured to
any favorite branch of industry will be that
accorded to Ulysses, of being devoured last
In 1850 there we're produced in Vermont
6,34o. .357 pounds of maple sugar and in or
binary seasons, reckoning the consumption at
thirty pounds per capita, it reaches about two
thirds of the whole amount consumed. The
quality has been greatly improved within
few years, and is mostly consumed in the
State; but whatever part is sold, on account
Of its fine and peculiar flavor for various Gu
linary purposes, commands full prices. 1t IS
not 70 be expected that the sugar-maple can
ever be made to yield great an amount OF
sugar as would be required for general use of
the country, though the trees may be very
rapidly grown for that purpose; but the in
PRODUCTION of the Chinese sugar-cane, sorghO
sUcre, holds out some encouragement to hope
that a new source Of supply has been discov
cred. If this should turn out to be another
morts multicaulis speculation, as is but too
probable. and if the sugar-cane of Louisiana
shall remain uniruitful after being spared
another year. and after being dug about. then
indeed we may be forced to place sugar
among that exotic list of articles which the
United States cannot produce. But the trial
should not be abandoned without a struggle
commensurate with its Importance and
whenever the duties upon sugar are to be en-
tirely repealed, some reciprocal advantages
should be obtained-such the relaxation of
the onerous duties now imposed upon our
produce admitted into Cuba. Besides this,
Spain takes care to regulate her export duty
| upon sugar according to the scale of the mar
ker prices in the United States and, if she
were left untrammeled by our product, she
would be able to extort still higher export
charges. If we let it come free, she should
let it 90 free.
The success of the doctrine of protection
I is clearly manifest in the history of American
| cotton goods At the close of the war, in
! lOlO, iut uOuDic duties Ctdntu DuI through
! the exertions of such men as Calhoun and
\ Lowndes. the square yard duty was retained
upon cottons and valued at twenty cents per
I square yard, although costing under, which
amounted to actual prohibition all goods
under that price The result is, that, while
we still need some protection upon fine goods,
we undersell the world on the coarse fab
rics, and require no protection upon anything
below what is known No 20 in point of
fneness. A few years since we shipped cot
ton drillings to Calcutta, lHindostan,) from
/ whence the world, at the date of our Revolu-
ton, drew its chief supplies Of cotton but
the British Government endeavored to shut
us out of the rising trade by at once levying
a duty of ten per cent. all such goods.
/ This did not prove sufficient and in two or
/ three years an additio nal duty of ten per cent
/ was put on, which successfully excluded the
American goods. Another point is to be
noted here and that is, the jealous care with
which the British watch and protect their
trade wherever it requires any such aid.
The whole philosophy of our revolutionary
fathers was both theoretical and practical in
/ dependence-absolute and eternal. If this
was the ruling idea of three millions of peo-
pie with colonial boundaries, surely the idea
cannot be less and weaker when our popula-
ton is nine times larger, with continental
/ boundaries With the vast forces of our ac-
! tive population, with the unbounded extentof
our pastures and plains, savannas and deltas,
hills and prairies, with climate that reaches
/ from tropical heat to polar cold, with all the
advantages of mineral wealth and CONNER
cial enterprise ;--if, with all these surround
ings, we cannot achieve practical independ-
ence, then will our administrative imbecility
have been proven, and the incapacity of a
great people for selfgovernment will have
been demonstrated. Without the production
and control of the primary necessities of life,
we must remain the vassals of those who are
the arbters of our supplies. All admit that
in war we should make onr own cannon and
our own gunpowder Unless war be the nat
ural state Of man, and in proportion as the
1 years of peace are greater than those of war,
/ it is quite as important that we shall be inde-
pendent in peace as in war. Food and cloth
ing are not less indispensable in peace than
in war.
Such articles, then, of primary necessity as
there is any hope of successfully producing,
should be walked into life--nursed into peren-
nial vigor-by moderate and steady discrim-
nations in their favor so long as their condi-
ton makes it proper, or SO long there is a
| probable chance of ultimate success.
| trust we shall be able TO harmonize all
interests by being just and liberal to all, and
check the Improbable accumulation going on
/ il the Treasury. With these objects in view,
/ | shall vote for such amendments as the line
of my argument would indicate, and, if they
are adopted, ! shall then vote for the bill.
TABLE A.
/ Wool produced in The
| Unitcd States
| 1870 1850.
Alabama 900 S5s 65S,iis