The North-Carolinian., 1859-03-12
TIE NORTH CAKOLINIAN.
FAYETTEVILLE. N. G..
Extracts from the Speech of the Hon
Alfred NJ Scales, of N. G.


if has been with diminution of our trade, the /
of business, and the falling on In
thr revenues. added to the increased expendi-
tures of a great and rapidly expanding coun-
trv have become so many pretexts for again
raising the old clamor for high protective tal'As
and specifc duties. The friends OF TINS system
have depicted in tie most gloomy and dlsmat
ooIors The nresent condition Of the country 8
They point us to the exhausted state OF the
Treasury the insuffciency OF the revenues 20
meet the demands of the Government tneat91i
crease of the public debt the bankruptcy "
merchants. the suspension of the manufactures;
the sad and destitute condition OF thousands OF
operatives, without means, without work, and /
without bread in fne to the death-like torpor
which has settled upon every class OF business
and with an air of triumph hproclalm-these are
the fruits of ad ra!nrem duties and tarlH fer
revenue.
The President, in his annual message, and
the Secretary of the Treasury, in his annual
renor:s both for 1851 and 1883, have ably
reviewed the whole subject, from which 1t VIII
be seen that whatever causes may oe ass'g"eu,
it certainly caunot be found eithar in the tariff
of 1916, or that of 1851. The Secretary has
gone more into detail in this matter, and as It
is sufficient for my purpose to show that tnere
is no connection between the present tarf ana
the revulson, | will content myself by giving
a few extracts from the report on this partIcu-
lar head which demonstrate beyo yond controversy
the truth of my position. l quote from his
| last report on page D:
The revulsion not confined to the United
States or even this continent 1t swept over the
world and was felt with equa, perhaps greater Sc
verify in other countries than our own These re-
sults have been universal to have been brought
about bv a reduction of about twenty per cent upon
the rates of duty in the United States: being re-
duc:ion about five per cent upon our importatons
The foreign producer and manufacturer
have not been benefited by the reduction At all
events they have been preserved from the general
calamity which ma; GGme upon m ' R @ eonnrv
The impor rtations for the l>ca! year eudInS June
30 1888, the first and only fiscal year OF me present
than the of the last year OF the tariff OF
lS46."
Now. sir, the friends of protection alledge
that the low duties OF the tariff OF 1891 III
crease our importations, bring the foreign IN
competition with the domestic article, diminish
it's value, and thus initiate against the interest
of our home manufactures. This IS their argu-
ment IT. then, shown concIusively from
these facts aud ssares, it be true that our in
iportations -. greatly fallen OF If This IS soy
even in tile importation of iron if there has
been decline in price of articles, ndifferently,
whether imported in large small quantities
and lastly. if this financial distress has swept
over all nations surely all will admit, that the
e tariff is in no way responsible, and that the
where else.
The first tariff bill was passed in 1889. II
will be remembered that had just passed
, through the glorious yet long and bloody wal
of our Independence that heavy debt had
: accumulated upon our hands that our resour-
IS ces had been crippled our credit exhausted
g and our manufactures just i'll their Infancy
e Here, then, were circumstances, if ever the,
a can occur which called loudly for protection
5 as the boasted panacea Of all financial ills, an(
= the only hope of the manufactures Yet, sir
by that act the wise men OF that day, anma
Z ted by an equal and sincere regard Tor ever,
morton of the country, refused to build up on
interest at the expense of another; and hence
laid tariff solely for the purpose of raising
revenue They saw that The prosperity OF tn
country depended upon increasing our trad
and building up our commerce, aud to this en
they endeavored, SO far as practicable, to Gu
off all restraints and checks upon 1t, and vel
did the result prove the wisdom OF their policy
The highest rate of ad ralofem duty impose
by this tariff was only fifteen per cent, and tha
ouIv on one article With this exception, tn
average rate ad raLorem did not exceed ten pc
I, centum.
~ ~ Bva reference to the debates on this tari
ID act, it Will be seen that the leading and prim,
f. rv object of the statesmen Of that day was re1
enue and not protection for protection SAKE
Northern and southern alike declared
that such duties, and no more, should
levied as would raise suficency OF revenue
and that these duties ought 10 be so levied {
to bear as nearly equal as was practicable upO
n all classes aud to effect them in proportion
a. their amount of property. 1t is. refreshing t
compare the sentiments thus expressed by me
IS, whose patriotism was broad enough to take
S.. the entire Union and all of its interests, wit
st the views and opinions of latter-day statesmen
tn whose political vision is hemmed in by til
boundaries of their own State. and whose p
triotisnl seems to be confined to the same Da
row limits This tariff continued in exlstene
for
notifications and l believe it was not unit
near the close of Mr. Madison's administratic
that any ad ralorem duty higher than :wenl
per cent was levied. In the year 1916, "
may be said to have inaugurated, for the fir
time, the policy of protection for protecto
sake and here let me call the special atte
tion of those gentlemen who look upon prote
ton as IA sort of SIZE qua NON IN government,
the sad condition Of the country during tf
L operation Of that tariff. Nor can L better q
'n this than by quoting the language OF Mr. Cla
" in his great speech for protection in the ye;
1888. After stating the prosperity OF u
country up to that time, which l will DO ni d,
the Justice to say he did not attribute to u
low rates of duty, he proceeds to describe u
ne condition Of the country during the eight yea
of the tariff of 1916, and concludes as follows
In short, if to select any term OF sevt
~ years since the adoption of the
IS. which exhibited scene of the most widespread Ill
may and desolation it would be exactly the term
seven years which Immediately preceded the esta
IL lshment of the tariff of S24.''
Having once ingrafted the protective syste