Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-05-05

| 4O,OUO,OOO rancs to and IN the purchase of
new machinery. twenty-five per cent. three
years hence Even the average rate upon our
dutiable goods alone, after admitting SS0,000,-
| 600 free for the past year, was only nineteen
and one tenth per cent The French and Eng
lish treaty merely shows that England cen beat
France in the trade of jackkni,cs, and is will
| ing to risk beer against wine.
1 1t is not strange that England Seeks freedom
of trade. Her people must sell their labor
abroad, or 90 abroad themselves. They must
sell or emigrate. The condition Of remaining
at home is, that they secure market else
where. They are the universal tradesmen of
the world, and would tear down all barriers to
their free ingress and cgrcss. They "buy of
the stranger the skin of the fox for groat and
sell him the tail for a shilling" 1t is the ru-
ling idea Of her statesmen to give their people
employment. Mr.. Gladstone, in his late mas
terly speech, pointedly said: "if you want to
do them 1.-THE people] the maximum of good,
you must operate upon trade, which will give
them the maximum of employment" Free
trade would let other people find employment
at the expense of our own.
Mr. Chairman, part of the expenses of the
war with America, as laid before the British
Parliament, were for "ive gross of see ping
knives We could endure malice, but how
shall we resist unrestricted commercial love p
The most insidous scalpng-knives we have to
encounter are British free trade and British re-
ciprocity. Great Britain, happy in her position
and the absolute supremacy of her trade, can
carry weight and challenge race with the
strongest Power in Europe. 1t is too much to
ask that we, whose years and training have not
yet fitted us for the contest shall profier equal
terms. AS vel match colt against an ac-
knowlcdged champion of the turf
II should hp noto1 that tho colov;,l Jonor
dencies of Great Britain are all provided with
tariffs adapted to their circumstances, and diff
ferng from each other even as the tariffs for
Scotland and Ireland have differed until very
recently. Why does not England apply her
free-trade catholicon to India, Australia, Jamai-
ca, and the Canadas?
! In adjusting the details of tariff, would
treat agriculture manufactures, mining, and
commerce, as | would our whole people-as
members Of one family, all entitled to equal fa-
vor, and no one to be made the beast of burden
to carry the packs of others. The precise point
at which to adjust the weight Of taxation so as
to do no injustice, is at all times difficult to de-
termine, and especially so when all branches Of
industry are unusually depressed, as is the fact
at the present time If mining Yields but
small return, agriculture yields no more. If
/ factories can be purchased at half price. so can
ships
| The great vice Of our system has been, that
we make business legislation subservient to party
success. We need stability, and get caseless
change. The French merchants did not mean
free trade when they said, "lct us alone" but a
protest against instability.
/ The principles upon which the present tariff
bill are founded do not necessarily raise the
question of protection per SC. Our manufac-
turers have mace such advances that a revenue
tariff, with proper determinations, will be found,
in most instances, all that may be required for
a fair share Of prosperity. No prohibitory du-
ties have been aimed at but 10 place our peo-
pie upon level of fair competition with the
rest Of the world, is thought to be no more
than reasonable. Most of the highest duties
fixed upon. have been so fixed more with view
to revenue than protection. This applies to
high-priced glass and Chna-ware, wool cloths.
silks, and linens, especially. These will be i'm
ported under any system, and they are consum-
ed by those who are most wealthy. and who
ought to contribute most literally to the sup
port of Government. To compensate for this,
wherever it has been practicable. all medium or
low priced articles. those enumerated and
cottons, crockery, and glass, have lower r ties of
duty attached. The objection has been that the
cheap shirt and the inferior coat paid the same
duty Is the superfne article; but this is here
. tllibNNN. A. - IbSSlutt tilul llt
Of broadcloths, Of which we now make none,
and some other articles, may spring into life
under the provisions of this bill; but if they
/ should, it will be some time ere they will di-
minish the consumption of the foreign article,
and when they do, it will be cause for gratula-
ton.
Our mineral wealth is unsurpassed in extent.
Our coal fields have an extent Of one hundred
and ninety-six thousand square miles, and all
Europe contains but eighty thousand five hun
dred and fifty four square miles, though our
fields produced only nine million tons to sixty
eight million tons produced last year by Great
Britain alone. In iron, Steel copper, lead zinc,
and quicksilver, we ought to supply the world,
and ourselves at least. Yet our importations
of each are upon a scale of great magnitude
Nothing would more contribute TO our real in
dependence than to become sei-reliant upon
our own country for metals; and they have,
therefore, been treated liberally. But it will
be seen that the specific rates, even upon iron,
are only equivalents for the tariff of 1916, on
the average values Of the last six years, or a
change of form rather than of substance
| wide Appendix D and F.) The policy of de-
veloping mineral wealth is illustrated by the
fact that ore, dug out in New Jersey, and with
out value in the mines, is converted into mate.
rial worth $4,000 per ton.
1t is extremely venturesome TO make predic-
tions as to the future operations of laws con-
cerning commerce. Slight causes produce a
variation in the current, as pebble thrown in
to the Atlantic is said to send wave to the op-
posite shore. 1t is to be expected that the bill
we propose would slightly check the consump-
ton of some articles, and increase the consump-
ton of others. If we purchase less of extrava-
gancies we shall be able, however, to pay for a
larger amount of the more bulky necessities of