St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-08-17

| - Boston Transcript.
The COnStitUtiOnaIity Of tho
Tariff.
The attack of Senator Bayard on
! the cOnstitutiOnality of tariff eX-
cept for revenue is characterized bN
| the very weakness which he points
out as unworthy Il party dealing will
Il question of such magnitude. In
! cndeavOring to force Il construction oi
the provision of the constitution
which fOrbids the taking of private
property for public use, SO as to make
it cover tax levied upon imports,
while at the same time ignoring the
plain provision of the constitution
which gives to congress the right to
regulate commerce with foreign ma
| tiOns, he is guilty of just such tinesse
us he says should not be used in dis
cussing such a question. In the first
! place, he assumes without showing
that private property is taken without
due compensation, also, the opposite,
that public property is taken for
private use, thereby constituting
privileged classes in the United States.
1t is not easy to see how privileged
class can be established as long as
everybody else in the country is at
liberty to join the class without any
ones permission. If the senator claims
that protective tariff builds up a
manufacturing class, we admit it, but
when he claims that it does this at
the expense of all or any other Ameri-
can interests, we disagree. 1t does
build up American manufactures, but
by no means at the expense of any
other American interest. 1t builds
of foreign factories, against which
the duty is aimed and against which
its effect is measured, not alone by
the amount of tariff they pay but by
the amount of product they would
send us if there was no tariff.
But even admitting that the tariff
did build manufactures at the expense
of agriculture, for instance, how
would that constitute II privileged
class There is no limit placed upou
| the number or character of persons
who may engage i'll manufacturing
and as soon as the farmer found HIM
self burdened and his MANUFACTURED
next door being benefited, he could
easily enough turn the capital in hl'
farm into his neighbOr's factory, ol
| erect another one next to HIM ant
divide his profits. There is no priv
legr enjoyed 10y one citizen or one
class of citizens that is not freely opeI
to every citizen and every class q
citizens on exactly the same terms
just as long as that is 50 there can III
no such II thing as IL privileged class
Moreover, as IL matter of fact, th
tariff does not benefit the manutactur
crs at the expense of other industries
but actually benefits and stimulate
I'LL industries and pursuits by making
Il variety of pursuits possible and of
! fering employment to human energ
or labor which, in the absence of
tariff. it would be denied. If the FIRE
trade theory is right it is impossibl
To manufacture generally as economl
callv in this country as III the ol
world. for free trade is based upo
the assumption that the foreign mark
ct is the cheapest to buy in, and
stands to reason that if men in thi
country saw reasonable prOht I
manufacturing in this country ut tn
prices asked by British manufacturers
the natural competition would fore
, prices down, i'll spite of all combln;
tions to keep them up. This tender
cy is plainly to be seen in the histor
of all manufactured articles. Ih
being so, it is plain that if there wei
no tariff upon some articles, the mani
tacture of those articles i'll AmeriC
would cease, and that avenue clost
to labor as well as capital. BY TIN
keeping open opportunities for lab'
and capital every one is equally BEN
fitted, for it affords to every one III
VI merely an equal opportunity to folio
that particular pursuit, but by a
ke tracing some into it relieves 9th
es pursuits and thus affords better %
= portunitIes for following all pursuit
IN Ii is impossible that men should Il
OF to see and understand this, and
cd plain it is that even those in so-call'
iO unprotected vocatiOns realize that
AZ AZ makes no difference how competiti,
ire is diverted from their calling, whet
er it is by sugar coating sOmethi
otherwise less palatable or not, t
. fact that competition is diverted hel
them. The farmer knows that VIII
u Sb'il - UP II
- run it. that otherwise would not OF
n. be raising their own corn and pc
but corn and pork to sell in compe
ton with him, and that is why far
ers are satisfied that there is no pri
legged class established by protecti'
but that it increases the Opportunit
y. and privileges of all. Thus if pr
,gh lie property is taken by the tariff
Nh is not for private Use but for the g
~. eral good, and if private property
ing taken it is not without compensate
. so that there is even no apparent c'
fIict with the constitution here.
. But beyond this the power to rel
late foreign commerce is expires
us conferred on congress by the con-
tuition. and that power unquestiona
involves the authority to restrain {
air tax. 1t is power exercised by
aTs' states before the constitution '
fur adonted nv laYinp imDOsts