The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-07
"wHAr JEFFERSON TAUGHT.'

ties). and give that advantage
! to foreign over our domestic
manufacturers? On a few ar
ticles of more general than necessary
use, the suppression In due season will
doubtless be right; but the great mass
of the articles on which imposts are
laid are foreign luxuries, purchased by
those only who are rich enough to af-
! ford themselves THE use of them.
That quotation is incorrect. as the
message is found in Washington's edi-
! ton of Jefferson's works, vol. s, p. IS.
There it reads as follows:
Shall we suppress the impost and
/ give that advantage to foreign over do
mestic manufactures? On few arti-
cles of more general and necessary use,
| the suppression in due season will
] doubtless be right, but the great mass
| OF the articles on which impost is
! paid is foreign luxuries, purchased by
| those only who are rich enough to af-
! ford themselves the use of them.
1t should be noted that the word en-
ployed is 'impost" and not 'inposts,"
and that it is 'impost is paid and
| not 'imposts are laid" The important
difference, though, is in the second SEN
tenee, the Triaunt quoting the message
as ION a few art .alas az mora general
! than necessary use. while it should he
more general and necessary USE the
substitution of than for land"
changing the entire sense, and convey
| ing the idea that the articles were in
general use but were not necessary,
thus CHASING them among luxuries.
1t should also be noted that the word
manufacturers" quoted by the Tri-
bune in the message is "manufac-
lures" which also changes the sense.
In this same message, speaking of the
duties composing the Mediterranean
fund, and that they were levied chiefly
on luxuries. and that there was also an
impost on salt, "a necessary Of life
said Jefferson. and Il recommend to
your consideration the suppression Of
the duties on SALT Otherwise, place
duties upon luxuries and not upon nee
| essaries. Every Democrat holds that
as the proper theory of a tariff. And
from whom were these duties to be
collected? The common people, the
bone and sinew of the nation? No;
these lu2uries.
a further quotation is made by the
Tribune from Jefferson saying that he
who 'is now against domestic manu-
facture" must be for reducing us to a
state of dependency, and declaring he
was not one of them. But where is
there anything in the quotation to
show that this all meant prohibitive
tariff such as the Republicans of to-
day advocate? And where are those
who are for reducing us to this state?
Following this comes another quota
ton, this time from a letter to Colonel
Humphreys, dated Washington, Janu-
airy 9. 1909. Here it is:
My own idea is that we should en-
courage home manufactures to the ex-
tent of our own consumption of every
thing Of which we raise the raw ma
terials.
Then the Tribune. with an air of that
settles it." says, eve think the fore
going ought to be sufficient answer to
our free trade neighbor'' Unfortu-
nately for our neighbor and correct
understanding of the above quotation,
it is not. There was something else in
this same letter that explains this, and
which preceded it. It was this:
Amidst the pressure of evils which
the belligerent edicts have afflicted US,
some permanent good will arise; the
| spring given to manufactures will have
durable effects. Knowing most of my
] own state, [ can affirm with confidence
that were free intercourse opened
again tomorrow, she would never again
import one-half of the coarse goods
which she has done down to the date
! Of the edictS. These will be made in
our families. For finer goods we must
resort to the larger manufactures es-
! tablished in the towns
This home manufacture of which
Jefferson speaks was simply house
hold manufacture such as was es-
tablished in almost every home in
Utah in the years when Utah was
isolated from all association with the
outside world. In fact household
manufacture" is the very phrase en-
pIoyed by Jefferson himself in a
letter to NJ. Dupont de Nemours in
| 1909 This mass of household manu-
facture, unseen by the public eye,
and so much greater than what is
seen. is such at present, that let our
intercourse with England be opened
when it may. not one-half the amount
of what we have heretofore taken
from her will ever again be de-
manded.'
Writing to John Adams under date
Of January q, 1912, Jefferson said:
Every family in the country is a
manufactury within itself. 8
The economy and thriftiness result
ing from our household manufactures
are such that they will never again
be laid aside" Nor was that all he
said to Adams. In this same letter
he said that let the British restore free
commerce when they would, their
commerce with this country would
have totally changed, land the articles
we shall in future want from them
will not exceed their own consumption
of our produce" Where is the law
upon our statute books that gave any
bounties or laid any tariff to protect
thkse household manufactures?
To Kosciusko he wrote, in 1872:
Our manufacturers are now very
nearly on a footing with those of
England She has not single i'm
|