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* .13 r. .YlcaJiHl'c’s '
REPORT:
fj e Comal lies of Vfaya and Meant, in
obedience >o the order of the Jlouse, ;
hue- k id under consideration so muck i
of t 'i • m ’usage of the President of the
United S!jfr.i n’j relates to “ relieving \
the People from the burthens of unue
ce.io.tr-i taxation f after the payment of
the inibUc debt; and note beg leave to
submit the following report :
In discharging the duty thus assigned ;
to thorn, tbo committee have deemed it
irtdi ,leasable to determine tlie prehrm- <
parv question—tvhat should be the an
nual expenditure of the Government uj
tcr the extinguishment of the puohc
debt? During the last three yoarsof .Mr.
Monroe’s administration, the average
annual expenditure lor all objects, ex
clusive of the public debt, was less t.ian
ton millions of dollars. When it is con
sideted, therefore, that the annual a
mount of the disbursements for revolu
tionary' pensions is now greatly reduced
and that the expenditure for this object,
as well ns for erecting fortification* and
building ships, u iIJ ho progressively re
duced, and must reach a very low point
a the course of a few year.-, the commit
tee aro of the opinion that eleven mil
lions of dollars will be abundantly suffi
cient ior all the neco-s try disbursements
of the Government, when relieved from
the charge of the public debt. In this j
estimate, they have allowed one million j
-of dollars, and the sums which may be {
released from existing objects of appro- |
tuiation, to meet the various demands,
„fa contingent nature,to which the pub- j
‘lie Treasury may be liable, The income
from the public lauds and the dividends ,
of bank stock, to say nothing of canal ;
stock", cannot reasonably be estimated at
a less sum than two millions of dollars.
There will therefore, remain only nine
■millions of dollars U be provided by du
ties on imports ; and .the committee
have endeavored so to adjust these du
ties as to produce this sum in a manner
mart consistent with “ equal justice to
our national interests.'’
The amount of foreign merchandize,
imported for consumption during the last
vear, was nearly eighty millions of dol
lars. And though this greatly exceed
c<l fho importation ot any ycJir since
1823, yet, as a material reduction ot tlie*
duties 'would certainly augment the
quantity of merchandise imported, the
committee would deem it not extrava
gant to assume the operations of the last
vear as the basis of their calculation for
future years. To avoid, however, the
hazard of a deficit in the public, revenue,
they have estimated the annual u
jnount of the imports paying duties
at only seventy-two millions of dob
and on tins basis nave repotted a
bill imposing a'duty of 12?, per cent, ad
valorem upon all foreign merchandize,
with the exception of such articles as
J:on oi the duties on such imports es ;
come in competition with domestic ms- j
iiufiicturos.
fn adopting & general sy stem of r.d va
lorem duties, the coinmitlee have boon
governed principally by two considcra
rion3. In the tirst place, a specific du
ty is obnoxious to the strong objection
that it levies the same tax on articles of
inferior qualify,consumed by the poorer
classes, as it levies on similar articles of
the very host quality and highest price,
s'onsumed almost exclusively, liy the
mbco wealthy classes. While the poor
man, for example, who consumes low
priced French M ines, is made to pay . r >o
<>r 130 per cent, on the value, the weal
-s.iiv man pays only SJS or 50 per cent, on
the value of the high priced wines,which
gratify his taste fot luxurious indulgence.
■'The same remark is applicable to tea,
coffee, sugar, and indeed to almost evc
iy article at present subject to a specific
duty. The other ground of preference i
So: ad valorem overspeeific duties, is the
perpetual fluctuation in the price of ar- j
tides of the same denomination and;
quality. A fall in the price of an
article will increase the rate of taxation
contrary to too intention of this Legisla
ture. There is thus a silent legislation
in the course of e vents and the revolu
tions of trade, by •which we have seen
the enactments of Congress eo entirely
changed that a duty has swelled up to
one hundred per cent, which was only
2o f>r cent, when originally imposed.
it remains for the committee to state
3djc reasons which have induced them to i
.provide that thesame rate of duty shall,
be levied on all imported merchandize,!
with certain specified exceptions. As I
.•quality is universally recognised as the 1
fundamental principle of just taxation,
uniHHtmity in the duties imposed is the
*nost abv'jous rule by which that princi
ple can be preserved from violation.—
he constitution provides that “ all the
i mpost and excise duties ahull he uniform
tavougheuf the United States,” for the
•obvious purpose o( preventing unequal
-Taxation. The spirit of this clause would
require that the same rate
f<luty sholud be laid upon the same des
cription of productions, however made
cr acquired, provided they be consumed
in lire Uni red States. If a product of
industry,converted into a f,.r.
c>gn manufacture. i~ subjected to a cer
tain duty, no good reason can be assign
ed why u similar domestic manufacture!
sttniild not be subjected to Ihe same rate
o: .My. These respect : ve raanufactures
though acquired by dif!' rent processes, 1
.'Ufi equally the productions of domestic
tiidiisiry , ninl to impose a tax upon one,
can 1 • it is btained by (he interven.
* . ?i ■ gri exchange, and*exempt
■fhc ot& r. because it is menufarttm !
■The Cniti. .I fi ,tcs, i* i 0 respect Ics> T
unequal and unjust than it would be to levy j
au excise dut /upon a domestic manalacture
when made by impoited machinery, and ex
empt the very same sort of manalacture wnen
made by domestic machinery. ?he dike*
! rence would be merely formal; and t!ic prw*
ciple of equality would he as effectually vio
> luted, and the rule of uniformity as effectually
! evaded, in the one case as in the other.
In fact,the mast moderate revenue duty im
posed upon imported manufactures,while s.m
il.ir articles of domestic manufacture aro ex
empted, is a discriminating tax upon the pro
ductions of the exporting states, while the very
same productions of the manufacturing States
made by labor of a different kind, pays no tax
at nil. If these views he not utterly errone
ous; a proper regard for the principlcof equal
taxation would require that imported manu
factures, which come in competition with si
milar domestic manufactures should be admit
ted free of duty,or he suhjeat to no higher duty
than s miliar domestic manufacturers. Impor
ted manufactures are the produetionsof south-
ern labor & capital; domestic manufactures arc
the productions of northern labor and capital;
and nothing short of an equal exemption of
both from taxation, or the imposition of equal
duties upon both, can secure to these two
great rival brandies of domestic industry, a
fair and equal competition in the market.
The very lowest rate of duty imposed upon J
one of them, while the other is wholly exetnp-.
led, is an a<-t of partiality and injustice on the ;
part of the Goverenient, which destroys the ,
equality of thc.com; • t tion.
Entertaining these opinions, the committee j
feel tint they owe it to the House to explain '■
the reasons which have induced them to lay j
as high a rate of duty o.i those imports which
come in competition with untaxod domestic
manufactures, as upon any other description
of imports. While the manufacturing inte
rest demands that protecting duties should he
imposed three or four times as high as may
he necessary for the constitutional purposes
of revenue, and when justice obviously de
mands that no duty at ail should lie imposed
upon one rival interest that is no equally im
posed upon the other, the utter impossibility
of adjusting a tariffof duties upon principles
! of strict and equal just ice, will be at once per-
I ccived, when it is considered that a large ma-
I jority of both Houses of Congress are in favor
of that interest which puts forward the most
extravajpant demands. It is a contest between
power on the one side, and right on the other
and although the very cxlr tnc demand oftlie
minority is far nothing more than justice, yet
it is obvious that no compromise can be made
unless the minority will acquiesce in an ar
rangement which gives the majority more
than justice. What the minority concedes,
is a portion of its undoubted rights ; what the
majority concedes, if concession it can be
called, is a portion of its unlawfu! gains.
Though such are the terms upon which the
committee have adjusted the duties—terms
of the utmost liberaliiy to the protected bran
ches of industry—it is to be apprehended that
the manufacturers will be more opposed, than
any other class, to the bill reported. That
lllfrteW’ol bile “Hoy cm men t, as the committee
will proceed to show as briefly ns possible.
It may he assumed that at least one lialfof tiie
revenue accruing from imports, will he deri
ved from iron, salt, sugar, spirits, and manu
I futures of cotton, wool, iron, salt, sugar, spi
rits, and manufactures of cotton, wool, iron,
hemp, and flax, and from other imports which
come in competition with domestic produc
tions. As to this hall of the federal taxes,
nothing is more clear, than that the manufac
turing or protected interests bear no portion
of the burthen they impose on the communi
ty. The duty imposed upon iron, sugar, or
cotton manufactures, for example, is no burth
en at all, but a bounty, to the manufacturers
nf these respective articles, while it is an un
doubted burthen to the other classes of the j
community. If this were not so, they would j
desire a reduction instead of an increase of;
the duties. Hut this is not all. Each manu- ‘
facturer sells more of his own manufactures |
than lie consumes of all other protected arti-!
cles; perhaps five or ten times the amount.
He not only gains, therefore, more than he!
looses, by the duties imposed upon imported i
articles similar to his own manufactures, but
he gains more than he loses, by tho whole
j protecting system considered in the aggregate.
! This it is which Constitutes the indissolusiblc
j bond of that great confederacy of interests
j which has become almost too strong for the
j Government and the people united. If the
j manufacturers and other prodncersof protec-!
■ ted articles were all assembled in a common
i council, and the question were submitted, 1
j whether all the protecting duties should be
I fifty of twelve and a half per cent.; it is not
to be doubted that tho unanimous voice of the
| assembly would be in favor of the higher!
rate cf duty. This fact conclusively demon
strates that the protected manufacturers, as
an entire class, boar no portion of the bur
t ion imposed by thcprotoctingdutii c,ind,con
sequently, are entirely exempted from all par- j
ticipatiou in one half of tho federal taxes,!
j while it is not pretended that they bear more
j than their equal proportion of tho other half,
1 which is derived from articles not manufuc
i lureu in t,:o United States. Indeed it would
! tint he extravagant to say that the protecting'
j system affords a bounty to all the protected
, interests, considered in the aggregate, so
large, as to indemnify them,and inoro’tban in
jdcinmfy them, for all the taxes they pay to;
i the Government. If, in the splendid career !
jefmodern improvements,political philosophy!
j should make the blessed discovery of an art
jby which government could be carried on
j without money, anil the system of federal
j taxation were to cease entirely, can it hr
doubted, for a momrn', that the whole of the 1
protected ciassi s would regard it, in a pecu
m iry point ol view, as the heaviest calm: by
tii.t could befall them ? Mould it not spread
a much wider scene of desolation over the
manufacturing region of tho Lnion, than the
most gloomy imagination can anticipate from
the lull reported by the committee ? Yet such
IB the strange infatuation which prevails on
tins subject, and sfugh tiic magic power as
cribed to a particular form of taxation, ttia.-. r
many who are prompt to discover that one
portion of the Union would be greatly injured ;
by the repeal of the taxes, do not perceive!
that another portion of the Union would, as a
accessary consequence, bo us greatly bcnc
litted by that repeal. Can there be a more
extraordinary instance of the power of selt
intcrest to delude the human understanding
and deaden the sense of justice in the human
heart, than that which wiH be doubtless ex
hibited, of the ent ire class of manufacturers,
clamoring against a system of taxation, not
because the taxes are too high, but because
they are not high enough ! ’/’he complaint
upon the very face of it, admits that there is
j some radical vice in the system of protecting
duties, lor what right, human or divinc,can
anv class of the community have, to invoke
the power of the Government to promote the
prosperity of that class, by imposing burthens
upon another-.
Unjust and unequal in its operation, as ft
system of protecting duties must be in all
countries, and under all governments, it is
only in a country of such great extent, and
such diversity of conflicting interests ns the
United Slates,that it becomes absolutely ruin
ous to entire communities. All other objec
tions to it dwindle into absolute insignifi
cance, when compared with its unequal ac
tion upon the different clusters of States,
composing the geographical subdivisions of
tins Union. In this aspect, the subject rises
into the most solemn and eventful importance
and gives rise to a range of inquiry, inticli
higher than any investigation of mere abstract
questions efpolitical economy. In a coun
try off small extent, and with a homogenous
population —such as England—no commer
cial restrictions can long produce great ine
quality or injustice. The people have a,
certain resource -against this sort of op
pression, in the facility of abandoning one j
pursuit and taking up another, when govern- j
merit restrictions render the one less profita
ble, and the other more so. This easy trans
fer of capital and industry from one employ
ment to another, soon reduces the profits ol
1 the favored pursuit to lhe-<cominon level, and
restores the profits of the pursuit which had
been injured by the restriction, to a fa r aver-'
u >o. i'll* tv hole result of a restrictive system
in such a country, is to diminish the aggre
| gate wealth of the community,by changing the
mode of producing certain articles, and in
creasing the cost of their production. But j
no class is permanently oppressed by. any pc-,
culiar burthen, as all have the option of par
ticipating is the gains of the favored pursuit.
Widely different, however is the effect of.
commercial restrictions in such a country as j
the United States, composed of twenty-four;
political communities, many of them cl lar-:
gcr extent than England, and distinguished!
by a diversity of soil, climate, production, and
oursuip great ur than that which distinguish
es England from France. But even in the
! United States, a commercial restriction which
| affected the pursuits of a single State only,
j or which affected the pursuits of all the States
i alike, however u iwi.se it tnight.be, could not
0 - \t e t rHvit rrc-y winch are knowff
by the denomination of the protecting sys
tem, operate injuriously upon the great and
leading pursuits, which employ three-fourths
of the capilal and labor of a region of country
•ncre extrusive than any civilized empire ii-i
Europe; while, on the other hand, they ope-j
rate beneficially on the great and leading pur- j
suits of another region, not less extensive. !
The capital of the southern .Stales, too, is al- j
ready invested in a description of property, I
which is adapted only to the making of those j
productions, which it is the tendency and the j
design of the restrictive system to exclude j
from their natural market. Even if the plan- j
ters were willing to abandon their accustom- j
ed and hereditary pursuits, anti embark in the !
business of manufacture, their entire capital
would be deprived of more than half its value,
by the very act ot transferring it. When to
this wo add the consideration, that a long pro
bation of disastrous experiments would be the
only means of acquiring any thing like the
skill necessary to a successful competition
with their northern rivals, the reason will
be obvious why t e southern States have not
evaded, and why they cannot evade, the bur
fliens imposed upon the productions of their j
industry, hy abandoning their present pur-|
suits, and embarking in the favored branches j
of industry. Nothing can be more extrava- ■
gam than to suppose that the people of an im
menso extent of country, embracing eight
! 3**creign States, can transfer a thousand mil
lions of capital from agriculture to nniiufac*,
tur<s, with the same facility that a hatter or
a shoemaker can avoid a tax upon hats or
shoes, by taking up sonic other trade.
As the restrictions imposed upon the pro-!
ductions of southern industry, are eiTccted by j
flic agency of indirect taxes, the burthens im- j
posed upon the planting States, by the pro.
tecting system, are not very inaccurately
measured bv the amount of the taxes levied
upon their productions. And when the in
equality of the Government disbursements
arc added to the inequality of tho contihn
tions enacted by import duties, it may be
confidently affirmed that the bullions imposed
upon the planting States, by the taxation,
prohibition and disbursements of the Federal
Government, are more than equal to the
amount ot taxes levied upon those imports,
which are obtained in exchange for the three
great agricultural stapias of cotton, tobacco
and rice, i hat a duty upon an import fs
equivalent to the same amount of duty upon
the export which has been exchanged for it,
is but a self-evident proposition, to all who
correctly comprehend its import- The plan
ter is as injuriously affected by the one duly
j as he would be by the other, without any re".
! icrcnee whatever to his own consumption.—
Lot. it bo supposed that two planters should
I each a hundred bales of cotton to Eu
; ,0 P C —exchange them for manufactures, and
j bring tin sc into the United States, exclvsirc
! !, jf or sole, and that one of them should pay
an export duty of forty percent, on the value
of his cotton as ii went out, and tho other,
;ui import duty of flirty per cent, upon the
value of his manufactures, as they come in :
—lt is perfectly obvious, that each ot them,
would obtain the same quantity of inanulac
| lures for his cotton in Europe, the same price
I for the manufactures in the United States,
I and, ut the maturity of their bonds at ton j
custom-house, each of them would have to ;
! pay the same amount of duty to the Govern-
I ment. Each would, therelore, realize the
very same ['rice lor his hundred bales of col-,
ton, an.d consequently, the one who paid •j' o '
duty upon his export, would sustain to beat for ,
burthen than the other. What is true of the
comparative effect of import and export du
ties upon the producers of one hundred bales
of cotton, is equally true of the effect of these
duties on the produce rsof one million of hales.
Whether the duty belaid upon the export
or the impert, it is equally laid, in both cases,
upon tire production of the planter. There
j cannot ho a more palpable and delusive error,
| than the vulgar notion that imported manu-,
: factures, which have been purchased by the
i agricultural staples of this country, are for
i ciga productions. They are as strictly and
exclusively the productions of domestic in
dustry, as if they were manufactured in the
United States. Looking, therefore, at the
planting and manufacturing States, with the
eye of an enlighened philosophy, these two
jrcat divisions of the Union must be regarded
ias devoting their capital and labor to the pro
| Juction of the very same articles, for the
i very same market. ihc southern States
■ manufacture by the agency of ploughs, and
hoes, -and horses, what the northern States j
manufactures by the agency of machinery;!
and they are competitors for the market of the
United States, equally entitled to the pro
tection of the Government, by every princi
ple of constitutional liberty, and by the prin
ciples of eternal justice. Nogovenmcnt upon
the face oftlie earth can have any right—this
Government certainly has no constitutional
right—to interpose its power for the purpose
of driving one of these great competitors out
of the inaket, in order that it may be exclusive
ly enjoyed by the oth< r. Neither can it right
-1 fully "impose" the slightest burthen upon the
| one, not equally imposed on the other, with
a view to change the state of the competition,
and the .re lative condition of the contending
j parties. Yet, what has the Congress of the
! United States done, under the imposing and
! deceptive pretext of protecting domestic in-
dustry ? It has done all that the power of
discriminating taxes can do, to destroy one
great branch of domestic industry—if south
ern industry may he called domestic —and
build up a rival branch upon its ruins. It has
laid discriminating duties, averaging not less
than 40 yer cent, upon the imported produc
tions of the planting States, while it has en
tirely exempted from taxation, the rival pro-,
dnotions of the manufacturing States,consist
, ing of the very same description ol articles.
The amount of these southern productions,
j upon which this discriminating tax isannual
s Iv levied, is not less than thirty-five millions
i of dollars, upon which the tax levied, conse
: qucutlv, amounts to fourteen millions of dol-
I lars. 'Thai this is specifically a tax upon the
j productions of the south, diminishing their
I jydimtp the producers, very nearly an equal
■ nsvrYucr, rnrft-wivßo iirfny-fM-o millions ol rna
j unfucture produced by the capital and labor of
j ?I >G southern States, after paying at the ous
; tom-house, to the amount of fourteen millions
ot dollars, cannot he sold for any higher price,
|or larger sum, than the very same quantity’!
and kind, and quality of manufactures, pro-j
duccd by the capital and labor of the northern I
States, paying no taxes at all. It is, there- 1
fore, too plain to he argued, that the annual |
sum which the planting -States receive for the i
productions of their capital and labor, is four- j
teen millions of dollars less, than the sum re-1
i ceived by the manufacturing States for the
very same quantity and description of produc*
j J and it is equally plain, that this enor
mous inequality is produced by the disertm
i touting and partial taxes ot the Clovornmcnt;
i laid f#r the unrighteous, but, nevertheless,
avowed purpose of producing it. No soil
however productive, no climate however pro
pitious, no industry howevt r efficient, can
permanently maintain the competition under’
such circumstances* ihe most benignant!
dispensations of Providence, are counteract
ed by human injustice ; and what adds to the
enormity of tho outrage, the fit i rest portion of j
tb.-s great confederacy, if not tho fairest, and,!
o( Heaven, tltc most favored region of the!
whole earth,is literally undergoing a silent,
hut irresistable process of decay and desola
tion, produced by a gross perversion of the
) very power which is under the highest of
j human obligations to prevent it. The whole
j <>*'<ho southern staples, produced for expor
tatron, must utterly cease, w hen they can he
! no longer exchanged for foreign productions
j suitable to the demand of this country for
; consumption ; and how long can the planting
| States continue to supply the market with
i :my portion of the manufactures now imported
under the oppressive weight of a prosttiptive :
tax, operating upon the very spring of their:
industry? It would be worse than voluntary!
blindness in those to whom the rights, the j
interests, am! the destinies of the southern i
people, are, in an especial manner, commit-!
ted, not to perceive, and give warning of the
I inevitable doom that awaits them, if that
[ protecting- policy, which impoverishes and!
destroys one branch of industry, to enrich
and sustain another, be not utterly and ahso
lately abandoned. This Congress should
adopt no half-way measure, no temporary ex
pedients, but “reform it altogether.” 'The!
incidental protection, resulting from a men i
system of revenue duties, of the lowest rate, I
is fearful odds against the planting States! 1
and it is exceedingly doubtful whether even'!
that will not ultimately destroy the business of 1
rearing staples for exportation. A.- a sub pet
of such complicated bearings, will bo best i
; understood by plain and familiar illustrations
I *hc committee will now take leave to present
| a few hypothetical cases, showing forth tin
j true relative operation of protection- or pro
hih.tive duties, upon the different sovereign
States of this “Federal Friion.’’
We will suppose that a number of cotton
planters should form themselves into a com
pany, for the purpose of exporting their cotton
o burepc, exchanging )t f cr manufactures,
and importing those into the United Elates,:
with the view of selling them for the benefit
of the company* When these manufactures!
should be brought into the port of Charleston
or Savannah, the custom-house officer would
demand forty per cent, on their value, before
he would permit iheni to be landed and sold
j„ the United Stales ; and the company ot
planteis would probably inquire why this duty
was exacted upon iheir manufactures, while
the same articles, manufactured in the north
j ( ru States, were subject to no duty or tax of
| ar.v kind ? If the officer of customs should
I truly personate the system ef which be is th*
i minister, he would answer this inquiry by
saying: “ it is not because the revenue is
wanted to pay the debts, or provide for the
common defence of the United States, that
you aro required to pay this duty ; hot this
burthen is imposed upon you by a wise,- end
just and paternal Government, for the avow
ed purpose of excluding the productions of
your oirn honest and lair fid industry from the
market of your own native Stale, in order that
a company of Massachusetts manufacturers
may obtain possession of that market, and be
enabled to sell inferior articles at higher
prices 'The history oftlie world my he con
fidently challenged for a paralleled instance of
i outrageous injustice, perpetrated under the
! perverted forms of legislation.
It is very apparent, that, in the ease just
stated, the burthen or injury inflicted upon
the company of cotton planters, by the dis-j
criminating tax levied on their productions,!
would fail upon them exclusively, as the pro- j
ducers and vendors of imported manufactures; j
for vve have supposed that they consumed no
part of them: yet their burthen would he not
very much less, than if they consumed the
whole; for nothing can he more certain, than
that they would have to pay, out of their own
pockets, the whole amount of the tax levied
upon their productions, and yet obtain for
them no higher price than their rival produ
! cers,tlu- northern manufacturers,would obtain
for the same quantity of similar productions.
Let it be supposed that the southern plan
ters produced these manufactures, which they
now produce by the combined processes of
agriculture and exchange, by the use of
machinery, as they are produced in the north
ern States; and that, upon the assumed
grounds that their water [tower was never
suspended by tiie cold of winter, and that
they used a different and a cheaper kind of
labor, Congress sould impose an excise duty
of 40 percent.upon their manufactures, leav
ing those of the north untaxod, as they now
are—wherein would this discriminating duty
differ from that which now exists? 'The only
distinction would he. in forms and names; the
substance would bo precisely the same, with
out a shadow of difference to the producers,
respectively, oftlie taxed and the untaxed
manufactures. 'The duty would be calletPan
exercise, instead of an import duty, and it
would be levied upon articles made by south
ern machinery, instead of being laid upon
articles made by southern agriculture ; but
would a duty of 40 percent, be cither more
! burdensome to the southern producers,ormore
! beneficial to thuix. ivvrtJwfinfo uriirer another?
I l flc mcst superficial rcasoncr must perceive
| ' iat it would not. And vc.t no one would
venture to deny, that a discriminating excise
ujxm southern manufactures, such as we
have supposed, would throw a burthen upon
the southern producers, not much less than
the amount of the duty, without rogatd to their
consumption. It would not be possible for
them to obtain indemnity from the con
sumers, for the consumers, for the forty per
emit, duty they paid to the Government; for,
and they -should attempt to raise the price of
their manufactures only 20, or even 10 per!
cent, their untaxed competitors, who could !
afloro to sell as cheap ns they did before the
tux was inqxjsed, would undersell and drive I
them from the market* Tin■ result would he,
that they would be Compelled to pay the du
ty, and still sell at not much higher prices
than they did before, or abandon their busi
ness. It nearly their whole capita! were iu
vested in houses, water power, and machine
iv, adapted only to manufactures, they could
not abandon their present cniplovment, with
out first submitting to the sacrifice of nearly
their whole invested capital. The altcnm
iive* presented to them would he, either to
; make tms sacrifice, and then enter upon some
other employment, with the remnant ofcapi
tal which they might rescue from the ruins
ot that which they had abandoned, ortocem
tuiue the business of manufacture, with a re
duction in the profits oftheir capital and the w.v
I c''*" 1 11,e,r lal >or, proportioned to the discrim,
i " I ln,l T f-tx upon their productions. The latter
1 alternative m the one which would he adopted
; in the first instance, for very obvious reasons.
|he manufacturers of the South would con
tinuo to manufacture with reduced and de
clining prohtsand wages, until these descend
ed to so low a point, as to make it expedient
to sacrifice the capital invested, rather than
use it in tins way. This is almost precisely
pre : hca,npnt of the planting
‘ hey make manufactures, in n mode
jjvhich is put under the ban ofa
I a\. Jiie blessing of Heaven is blighted bv
the consuming course of federal legislation'.
| No branch of human industry' can permanent
i*m r* T ,t3e,^ ,n a competition with a ri-
I • branch, under a discnininatinw tax of
! : n "° ,CS3 nf forty per'cent.—
| Ihe business ot rearing agricultural staph s
for exportation must bo gradually and pro*
greasively abandoned in the south, and that
of making manufactures in the favored mode
must be substituted in its place, under all I
11 1'' 0 I :T CC, “'" Vtrm bo not!
utterly abandoned. Already lias this rcvolu- i
tion commenced in (he more northern ,L I
i . .. u 1,1 *ne more northern of the
j pi.iu mg, t. tes, iiiui no human power cart ar*
I; ts r,T r* ~ml< r t,<(!
I '° Jchange is produced in the pursuits
Und institutions of those States, iuvol'v.n. i„
i ci caS y 'T**"’ t! 'osserfono half of
, t< ir capital. I.ven now it is only where the
.'Oil is very productive, and the climate vm
propitious, that (he buaincssof plaS violS
a remuneratmer profit . r • - .
the labor employed iu'i V. r
• ’ at onc-fourth of tin
s Iff'Vr S ° f,iihor in ♦honerth.n
‘ taU * any wanting to confirm
the argument which maintains that i|, T*
tccting tin ties are specifically U n •’’•"B
productions of southern labor, tor j{ 10 ■ r ‘ ; 'B
of northern cudital, it would he fully
by the fact, of this vast and almost iiicmiß
difference lit the productiveness of a-f -•’ B
ral labor in two portions of tho ■
Nothing can he susceptible of clearer
than that if the soil and climate of the !‘B
ern States were as well adapted to tin-
of cotton, as those of the southern St;i< '^B
would not, and could not he cultivated 1 !!’ B
for less than twenty cents a pound. Irr'Tß
Carolina and Georgia, it is usually
that one laborer will produce three bale °B
j upland cotton averaging three huuLß
| pounds, which, ;.t 20 cents a pound,
! amount to one hundred and eighty do’ihr/B
j At fitly cents a day, the wages of this 'la£J
j would amount to at least one hundred andfß
j ty dollars, leaving only thirty dollars to B
j the interest on the capital invested in | an jß
i and the expense of management, and offlß
nisltmg botscs, agricultural implements &r B
all other necessary supplies. What, thcS
would he life fate of a northern cotton plantß
who paid fifty cents a day fur each ial;or-B
android his staple at eight cents a pound tlB
highest average now obtained for upland’cß
ton, after defray ing the expense of transoß
ing it to market! lfo Would riot realize' f f !B
his production, half enough to pay the wan J
of his laborers. When it is added, that thcrß
I is no agricultural labor in the whole UuicJ
| more etlicicnt than that which is engaged iaß
; the production of upland cotton, and tiiaij
i naturally, no staple of tho earth has so nianvJ
! advantages, tho consequence irresistably f<J
lows, that the unwise, unjust and discriminjl
ting taxes of the Federal Government, havefl
not only counteracted these advantages, tj
reduced the wages of the labor engaged in tIJ
production, to a lower rate than the
the starving operatives of Europe. I
If the duties upon imports were levied ij
kind, and the planters made their own ex
changes with the foreign manufacturers,will*
out tiie intervention either of money orcoa.
rnercial agents, the most unreflecting would
perceive that the import duties were diroi
taxes upon the productions of the planters
If, for example, forty-bales of their cotios
were taken out of every hundred, when it
passed the custom-house, going abroad, t
would be impossible for them to obtain any
larger quantity of goods for the remaining
sixty, in consequence of tiiis levy; because
the agents of tiie Government would carry
the other forty into the foreign market, ami,
of course, the supply would be undiminish
ed. In like manner, if forty bales of th
merchandise obtained for the cotton exported,
were taken out of every hundred, as it pass,
ed the custom-house, coming intolhc United
States, the remaining sixty would have no
1 greater exchangeable value in cousoquenca
! of the levy, because the agents of the Got.
j eminent would bring tire other forty into the
i domestic market, and of course the supply
| in this case also, would be undimir.isliu!.-
| No proposition in political economy is mors
i universally admitted by all the opposing
I .. —is ot that science, iimn that the price
! of an article cannot he enhanced in eonsc.
quonce of a tax or duty, unless the supply be
first diminished, or the demand increased.—
So far, therefore, as the southern producer!
are concerned, it would he better for then,
that a public enemy should capture and dts
troy on the high seas, the forty hales of cot
ton or of merchandize which rite Govern
ment levied as a tax ; for, in that case, the
supply would be diminished to the full ex*
tent ot tiie destruction, and this would ena
ble the producers to obtain some indetnuitiy
for the burthen imposed upon them, or, in
other words, for the increased cost of their
production.
Hut the use of money as the universal
measure of value, the admission of specie
tree ol duty, and the intervention of export
ing and importing merchants in effecting the
exchanges of foreign commerce, though they
niter the form, and add to the complexity of
the operation, do not, in the slightest degree,
change the permanei t effect of an import
duty upon the productive agency engaged
in supplying the exchanges of foreign com
merce. Hut as these causes have the c-flect
of involving the plainest truths in doubt and
uncertainty, they require some explanation.
All commerce, foreign and domestic, ulti
mately resolves itself into an exchange of
barter; money and merchants arc but (lie;
medium, and the agents, by vv Inch it is cine
*cd- Hearing this in mind, the committee
will proceed to consider what effect is pro
duced by admitting specie free of duty, upon
the operations of foreign commerce, under a
system of protectingduties. It is said t.’.at
these duties levied upon imports, arc net
equivalent to the same amount of duties le
vied upon the exports given in exchange for
them, because specie which pavs no duty,
may be imported instead of merefoodw
subject to high protecting duties, Bioso
who use this argument should be taught to
suspect that it contains some lurking fallacy,
bv the undeniable fact, that foreign merchan
dise burthened with protecting duties, stills
continues to be importod in preference to spe
cie which pays no duty at all. It would be it
sufficient answer to this argument tosayqtliat
there can lie no substantial relief in tin' op-
tion of importing specie, because it would
bo to import precisely what we do not want,
ns an article of consumption. Hut ns specie
is also, by univrilbal consent, the measure and
the representative oi value, and as superficial
reasoners can with difficulty understand liow~-
it is possible that a community can bo imped*-
dished while this article is nhundnnt, the
melancholy experience "of Spain to the con
trary notwithstanding, the committee v,ill tu*.
dcavor to explain more precisely, tho effect;
produced by importing specie, upon the. tig.-,
nirstic value of spech itself, nd upon the.,
relativi values of different descriptions of do*.,
niesfic productions ; allconsiScted as theeF
feet cf protecting duties.
Hct it be supposed, then, flicit under a syss,
,rm °t perfectly free trade, (lie norlhern m:w
--111 iclurcrs supplied one half of the d.-mand of
the country for manufactur h, and (he sen I h-,
'rn planter? the other half. Fulfils
tlm trade, let it be further suppe-- •. * ••••.