Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1867-01-16

was in excess, and men were everywhere
searching for employment. Mills and
furnaces were abandoned. Domestic in
tercourse was so trifiing that the stocks of
a number of the most important railroads
in the country fell to, and remained at, an
average price of less than fifty per cent.
But the moment danger to the Union be-
came imminent, and the necessity of self
reliance was plainly presented as the on
ly means of securing protection and the
gradual dispersion of our mercantile ma-
rine by the apprehension of the armed
vessels of the rebels, the American people
began to practice upon the maXims of
self-defence and self-dependence. From
having been, if not absolutely impoVer-
ished and almost without remunerative
enterprise, depressed by unemployed Ia
bor and idle capital, all their great mate
rial agencies were brought into motion
with promptitude, and keptin operation
with rapidity and regularity, which re-
Eeved them from want their country
from danger, and excited the amaZcment
of civilized nations.
Protection to the manufactures of the
country, when rightly viewed, is merely
the defence of labor against competition
from abroad. The wages of labor in the
United States is higher than those i'll any
other country, consequently our laborers
are the more elevated Labor is the foun-
dation of both individual and national
wealth; and those nations that have best
protected it from foreign competition, have
been the most prosperous. 1t is clearly,
therefore, the interest of the nation to fos-
ter and protect domestic industry, by re-
leVing from internal taxation every sort
of labor, and imposing such heavy duties
upon all impOrtations of foreign manu-
facturcd articles, as to prevent the possi-
bilitS of competition from abroad.
Not only should individual en-
terprise and industry he thus encour-
aged, hut all public works, liberal and
properly restricted general railroad sys-
tenn, and internal improvements of every
kind, receive the fostering care and most
liberal aid of the government. We are
rich in every thing necessary TO meet our
wants, and render us independent OfeVery
other country, and we have only to avail
ourselves of our own resources and capa-
blities, to progress continually onward to
degree Of greatness never yet attained
by any nation. Our agricultural, mineral
and manufacturing resources are unc-
qualled, and it should be our constant
study to devise and prosecute means tend
ing to their highest development.
Why, then, should not the wisdom of
government make available the teachings
Va anu flI blitt 1OA IiiS
manifest good of the people? Why per-
NIT our manufactures to beg that they
may live?
The government of Great Britain has,
by her protective system, "piled duty up
on duty for more than one hundred and
fifty years, and hence upon protection is
founded her manufacturing supremacy.
Yet her emisSaries come to this country,
and for sinister purposes, eXtol free
trade" speak scof1ingly of "protection,"
ard endeaVOr to persuade our people to
believe and adopt the absurd theory, that
''tariffs hinder the development of indus
try and the growth of Wealth.
The great Republican party. in the Convention
which nominated Abraham Lincoln IN Chicago, IN
1850. if preparing tor the very which most of
our statesmen were at that period anxious to post
pOne adopted resolution. (which" to use the Ian
guage Of an eminent Pcuusylvanan. declared that
the produce of the Girm should no longer be COM
pelled to remain inert and losing interest while wait
ing demand IN distant markets; that the capital
winch daily took the form Of labor power should no
longer he allowed to go to waste: that the fuel which
underlies soil should longer there remain to
be mere support for foreign rails that the power
which lay then PeurIfed in the form Of coal should
everywhere be brought to aid the human arm; that
our vast deposits of IRON ore should br made to take
the form of engines and other machinery to be used
substitutes for mere muscular force and that all
oar wonderful resources material AMI moral must
and should he at once develope,l Such was the in
tent and meaning of the brief resolution then and
there adopted, to be at the earliest practicable m
when tn" Morrill, tariff. the memorable 2d ut March,
1851, made the law Of the land To that law. aid
ed Was 10y the admirable action of the Treasury
IN supplying machinery OF circulation, we stand now
indebted tor the fact that have the short space
Of five years. produced more food built mnrc houses
and mills. opened more mines, constructed more
roads than ever before. and greatly added to the
wealth Of the country that the properly of the loyal
states would TINS day exchange Tor twice the quant-
ty Of gold that could five years since have been Oh
taued for all the real and personal property. south
chatte~ excepted, Of the whole Of the States and
territories OF which the StstiIIS composed
Ii the principle OF protection proved to he such
taisnln in the time of war shall we reject it in time
OF pcacet II an needed to this question:
reference could be had TO the repeated concessions
to TINS principle 10y the recent tree-traders OF the
South. Scarcely one Of the ambitious men who led
their unfortunate people into rebellion but now iree-
~ admits that If the South had manufactured their
own Abncs, on their own plantations ami cultivated
skilled labor in their great cities, they wonld have
been able to prulong their conflict with the govern
mcnt aId to enjoy substantial. instead of arth-
rEu prosperity they must inF"hc the very aegHcISs
they had so long and SO fatally dlSregarded Words
need not be multiplied upon tins important theme,
either to make my own poSiloh stronger or 70 ihl-
press upon the people the value of adhcrng to Sys
TEN which has proved itself worthy of our continued
support and Of the imitation of its former opponents
FINANCES.
The exhibit Of the finances of the Commonwealth,
as presented the late annual message nf nay prede-
ccs~or and the report OF the State Treasurer GER
tany very gratifying: and the iatterIng prospect OF
The speedy extinguish hrnent of the debt which has
been hanging for many years, like a dark cloud
over the prospects of our State. combined with the
hone that reasonable reduction will be made in our
haiiusl annual expenditures. will cheer the people
onward in the pathway Of duty.
Among the most delicate and important obligations
required of those official positions, is strict and
faithful management of the public revenues aud
penditnTes Of the Commonwealth. Taxation should
be applied where It's burdens may be least felt. and
where is most just that it should be borne. Every
resource should he carefully husbanded. and the
strctest economy practsed, that the credit of the
State shal' be maintained on firm and enduring ba-
sis. and the debt surely and steadily diminished,
I'll its final eXtnguishment. Unnecessary delay in
this would. ia my opinion, be incompatible with our
true Interests.
That these expectations are capable of speedy and
certain consummaton. has already been demonstra
ted. The public improvements the cause four heavy
debt, which seemed to be an incubus upon the pros
perity of the State so long they managed by
her agents. have been sold the ON real estate has
been abolished, and considerable reductions have al
! ready been made on the State debt.
This important branch Of the administration shall
/ receive my constant and Jealous attention.
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