The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-11-13
AID vALOREM DUTIES.
fpror- Inn plchmopa vybys1


Previously TO the tariff law Of ls46, passed
atthe earnest suggestion Of this same Rob
ert J. Walker, who hns succeeded SO com.
plsisly in aboliionising Kansas, andwho was
then Mr.. Polk's Secretary Of The Treasury,
ttH whole experience of shis country, ana VI
every other 10 The world, which pretended to
be commercial, had been opposed to ad pdlo.
nsduaes. The proposition met with warm
and vehement opposition from the Wing
party, but Congress was overwhelmingly To-
cof0co, and IL was carried through by tri-
umpbant majority. Ad valorem duties were
adopted, aud the whole reduced to 20 per
cent We need not remind our renders Of
Che disastrous effects Of this, system. They
Bee itin the PROSTATE condition OF the ccup-
tty they feel Il 10 tlei. own strai,eaed re-
soufess; they hear l. in the criss Of distress
tlssss hxnt ffsn sllauaesn Of stbs = ION,
The system which Mr.. Walker established,
suPplnnted one which had been in practice
since the formation Of our government II
had stood through every administration, from
that of Gen. Washington to that of Mr..
Polk. 1t was adopted at time Of high
prosperity, precisely on the, principle of n
qaack, who attempts to maksa man better,
while he is in The enjoyment 81 perfect health;
and Il has resulted us all such experiments
must result. II was adopted on the idea
that it was the point nt which the largest
revenue could be raised, ata time when the
revenue was ample for every purpose TINT
could be conceived necessary. 1t was adopt.
ed at time WHEN the people were perfectly
satisfied with their condition, and did not, in
the least, complain of the tariff then exist
ing. The resources of the country were de.
veloping themselves with unexampled rapid.
ty, and its population was increasing at the
rate of 100000 year; lis wealth was grow.
ing with the speed Of its railroads and canals,
pari passu with its population; there had
been a vast augmentation Of the shipping
engaged in its domestic commerce, not only
by sen, but upon its rivers and lakes, its ma
nufactures had become formidable even to
England, and its agriculture had kept pace
With all its other industries. This state of
prosperity had succeeded to the prostration
Of 1887, and the universal stagnation that
followed. 1t had been owing to the tariff of
lS42. During the three years that that tariff
had been in operation, the productive power
Of the country had been greater than it had
ever been during any equal spuce of time in
our national history. Nothing but that spe-
cies of boldness-which has its origin in en-
tire ignoranse-distinctiye always of the
quack and the demagogue-eould have in
duced any Secretary of the Treasury to lay
a hand upon that tariff. A statesman would
not have ventured to Go it. But "foos rush
in where angels fear TO tread"
There have been three periods of unver-
was adopted, previously to this. They were,
1888 to 1889, 1915 to 1924, 1887 to 1912.
They were all low tariff periods, just as the
present is. If Walker had examined the
records of the Department over which, to
the shame of this nation, he was called to
preside, he would have seen that these were
facts, and il he had possessed auy patriotism,
he might have drawn from them ample mate.
rial for reflection, before he took the rash
step Of reducing n tariff which had been so
beneficial to the country. The good Of the
country, however, seems 10 have been con-
sideration Of secondary importance, If, indeed
he ever thought about it. Like all other
Locofocos, he seems to have thought his of.
| flee a mere job, out of which he WINS bound
10 make all he could. In this respect he can.
not be charged with any failures. He came
into office bankrupt; he left it millionaire.
He probably found it answered his main pur
pose to disturb the fnances of the country,
better than it did to let them remain in a
sound condition. He might have known il
he had thought proper to enquire, that at
each of the periods in question, the evil had
been produced by low tariff, MS is evident
from the fact that as soon as higher ore was
imposed, it was instantly removed. The f.
nancial embarrassments occasioned by the
revolution. which left the country in a very
distressed condition in 1888. were enormous
ly enhanced by the circumstance that there
was no tariff Of general binding power, and,
under the old articles of confederation, no
power competent to establish one. This was
one Of the necessities that led to the adop.
tion of the Constitution of the United States.
As soon ms Congress. under the Constitution,
passed tariff, the country began to revive.
II was the same during the second period.
The war Of 1912, terminating in 1915, left
the country In great embarrassments, and
from these embarrassments, it did not recover
until Mr.. Clay's tariff Of 1894. Much ss
that tariff has since been abused, its influence
upon all the interests of the country was i'm.
mediate and decisive. Unfortunately, the
principle was extended too far in 1898 and
1882, and the consequence well nigh was the
dissolution Of the Union. Next came the
compromise measures of 1888, which, com.
hiped with Jackson's war upon the Bank of
the United States, produced the expansion
and contraction resulting in the explosion of
1887. After all this, Walker proposed the
tariff Of i846, and it was adopted! If q
Minister In England were 10 tamper In suoh
a way with the prosperity of the nation, he
would lose his head, and lose it justly too.
What is Mr.. Buchanan going to do in the
clrcumstancesi ls he patriot enough TO for.
get that the great man whom he slandered To