Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-05-22
PROJECTIONS FRIENDS.
TARIFF ARGUMENTS OF TO-DAY THE
SAME AS YEARS AGO.

Thought-Presidential Messages Advo-
Gated Protection-The Interests of Man
uEacturer and Farmer Alike Consulted.
We find today, in the struggle for
Protection, reproduction of the argu-
ments for Free-trade which the Ameri-
can people debated, considered and con-
demned as unsound years ago. 1t takes
a great man like Daniel Webster to &C
knowledge that he is wrong. Mr. Web
ster, in his speech against the tariff of
1924, made as strong an argument for
Free-trade as can be urged today. This,
however, did not defeat the passage of
the bill, and as the result of mature de-
liberation Mr. Webster became lead
ing champion of the Protective tariff
system. The first great question pend
ing the adoption of any national fiscal
policy is, How we shall most surely and
fully develop the entire industrial ca
pacity of the people.
Having adopted such policy, stick to
1t and don't try experiments, unless by
comparison with some other country
which has different fiscal policy it can
be proved that the entire industrial
capacity of that people is more fully de-
veloped and employed and the people
more prosperous, better remunerated for
labor, and that nation more prosperous.
Any fiscal policy which brings to bear
disastrously upon young manufactures
the fatal competition of their older and
far stronger rivals. located In lands
where those manufactures have long ago
been located, and where they have at
tai ned, through ages of prosperous
growth, a ripe and hardy maturity, is
absurdly short sighted.
The great minds who framed, advo-
Gated and secured the adoption of the
federal constitution were not manufac-
turers, nor interested in manufactures,
and they were nearly unanimous in COM
mending the fostering of home manu-
factures by discriminating protective du-
ties on their foreign rivals. They very
correctly believed that by this measure
they were helping the American farmer
by creating larger, nearer, steadier and
better markets for their products. Gen.
Washington, in his first annual message,
declared that the safety and interest Of
the people required that manufactures
should be promoted, and In his second
annual message said: Congress has re-
peatedly, and not without success, d.
rected its attention to the encourage
ment of manufactures. The object is Of
too much consequence not to insure
continuance of It's efforts In every way
which shall appear eligible
Washington was never interested in
manufactures, but was a farmer, as was
jefferson, who in his second annual mes
sage, familiar to every one, speaks Of the
Protection of the manufactures as one
of the landmarks by which we ought to
guide ourselves, and insists upon the
necessity of continuing this as the rule
of our action to insure our national
prosperity.
Presidents Madison and Monroe also
clearly saw the necessity of protecting,
preserving and promoting our manu-
factures, and so expressed themselves in
various messages to congress. In his
seventh annual message Mr.. Madison said:
"In adjusting the duties on imports to
the object of revenue, the influence of
the tariff on manufactures will necessa-
rily present itself for consideration.
However wise the theory may be which
leaves to the sagacity and interest Of IN
dividuals the application of their indus
try and resources, there are in this, as In
all other cases, exceptions to the general
rule. Besides the condition which the
theory itself implies, of reciprocal adop-
ton by other nations, experience teaches
that SO many circumstances must concur
in introducing and maturing manufao-
turing establishments, especially of the |
more complicated kinds, that country |
may long remain without them, although |
sufficiently advanced, and in some re-
spects even peculiarly fitted for carrying |
them on with success.
''In selecting the branches more es-
pecially entitled to public patronage, a |
preference is obviously claimed by such |
as will relieve the United States from a |
dependence on foreign supplies, even
subject to casual failures, for articles |
necessary for the public defense, or con-
nected with the primary wants Of indi- |
viduals. It Will be an additional recon- |
mendation for particular manufactures |
when the materials for them are extern
sively drawn from our agriculture, and |
consequently imparts and insures to that |
great fund of national prosperity and In
dependence an encouragement which |
cannot fail to be rewarded"
Mr.. Alexander J. Dallas, the able SEC
retary of the treasury, supplemented Mr.. |
Madison's message with special report
drawn up in obedience to requirement
of the house,, embodying the draft of
tariff contemplating both revenue and |
protection, and earnestly commencing
the policy of Protection. The following
paragraph of that report bears directly
upon many points now under discussion:
although some indulgence will al
ways be required for any attempt so to
realize the national independence in the
department of manufactures, the sacri-
fee cannot be either great or lasting
The inconvenience of the day will be /
amply compensated by future advan-
tages. The agriculturist, whose produce
and whose focks depend for their value
upon the fluctuations of foreign mar
ket, will have no occasion eventually TO
regret the opportunity of a ready sale for
his wool or his cotton in hs own neigh
borhood; and it will soon be understood
that the success of the American manu-
facturer, which tends to diminish the
profit (often the excessive profit of the
importer, does not necessarily add to the
price of the article in the hands Of the
consumer"
ANOTHEP MIME IOppop