Des Arc citizen., 1859-03-18
A NEW ARGUMENT ON THE TAR
 IFF QUESTION.

IFF QUESTION:.
 We call the particular attention ef our readers to the following paragraph in the speech of Hon. J F. Dowdell, Of Ala bama delivered in the House of Repre- senlalives, on the 2d ut.
 MT. Chairman: do not intend to dis cuss, at this time, the suhiect of the tariff; nor to reply atIenglh to the ingenious and able argument, of.tbe gentleman from l Pennsylvania, MT. Morrls] who has just taken his seat. deny the constitu- tiona power of this Government to i'm l pose any duty for protection. He takes the power for granted, and endeavors to- show, by an able review of the past poli-6 cy of this and other countries, that ,a tariff for protection is highly expedlent; and tba, it not only benefits the manufacturer. but after series of years vii! cheapen the price of the protected articles to the consumers. In the course of hisremarks, l he says:
 "I challenge the advocates of free trade to produce single article winch has had the benefit of protection for a series of years, that has no. fallen greatly in price. Instead of protective duties enhancing the cost of the fabrics they have everywhere. in the United States and in Europe been the certain and only reliable means of in-s suring it's ahatempnl.'
 l Now, MT. Chairman, IS it not q litle strange that the .greatagricultufal and la boring classes ol this country, who con sume the greater part of these protected articles have not before this tune discov- cred the truth of this proposition, and been before Congress with petitions for 1 higher duties Is lt notslil more strange that the protected classes, whose manu- faclures are thus reduced in price, have. beenthe only people who clamor for high tariffs !? But, in answer to the chalIengv to the friends of free trade, I can give l him class of property Of no little value. which has for q !" series of years''-yes, sir, for fifty years been protected against foreign conpetitionto the point of probi-s biuon, and has all the time, aside from temporary fluctuations caused by derange- menls in the currency, steadily increased in price hundreds per cent. l aIude to the slave property of heSouth, now worth S2, ,000, 100000 Is not this case in poln, 2 s This IS what we call palpable hit-- and center shot at that IL is no ad capfanduns stroke It bears full nvesti- ga,ion and elaborate discussion More over, the argument is even stronger than would appear son the first glance. III there Is any reason, whatever, for the doctrine that protection operates 10 cheap len prices, II would apply, practically and theoretically, with much greater force 10 slave property than to manufactured arti- cles, a
 There is. no important nuctualion in the supply of slaves. Nor is there the rapid recurrence of demand necessarily incident to articles of consumption. There is nothing precarious in the possession of this property. A slave once purchased lasts for lifetime. And there IS no necessity, in cases of sale, to make a mar gin of price sufficient to cover losses on other sales, past or prospective.
 Finally, slave property has an inherent power of perpetuation and multipIicalion, and the expense of the nurture and main tenance of a slave is the mere offset to the gross value of slave property, the de- daction of which ascertains the net value in each instance. Thus the entire ex- pense attached to slave property must be 1regarded as mere incident of possession, land reproduction and multiplication may be regarded as involving no cost whatever. And this constantly recurring increase, secured without expense, makes an item of supply much greater lhanthat fprnish- ed by any one species of nanulacluring Establishments of the whole country.
 e the comparison by figures. MT.
 Fl estimates the present value ot
 ee.spropetty at & 100000 000 Sup
 yyslng this to be renewed every thirty i years, and allowing for rate of increase somewhat inferior to that oi preceding years, we must have an average yearly l supply. during the next thiry years, 10 be valued a, about Sl40, 1000 000
 Now the statistics for the year ending June 30 1859, place the value of product fof all our manufactures for that year, al Isl ,0l9 l06.6l6. When we consider the immense number of variods manufactures arlong which this IS divided, we find that the amount of supply yielded by any par ticular species of manufacturing establish ments, viii fail far below the annual sup ply of slave property.
 Moreover. manufactures are not, as slave property is, seif-produclbg Their production requires the permanent invest rnent of large oapilal, aud immense out Hays for raw material and labor. as Certainly. if the protective system will operate 10 cheapen prleesot manufactured articles valued a Sl,0l9,l06 6l6 and pro- daced atan outlay of nearly SS30, ,000,00 the same system ought to operate much more strikingly in chearenipg the price ot