American Eloquence, Volume IV. (of 4) by Various

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If there be any foundation for the established law of price, supply,
and demand, ought not the fact of this great increase of the supply to
account satisfactorily for the alleged low price of cotton? * * *

Let us suppose that the home demand for cotton, which has been created
by the American system, should cease, and that the two hundred thousand
bales which the home market now absorbs were now thrown into the glutted
markets of foreign countries; would not the effect inevitably be to
produce a further and great reduction in the price of the article?
If there be any truth in the facts and principles which I have before
stated and endeavored to illustrate, it cannot be doubted that the
existence of American manufactures has tended to increase the demand
and extend the consumption of the raw material; and that, but for this
increased demand, the price of the article would have fallen possibly
one half lower than it now is. The error of the opposite argument is
in assuming one thing, which being denied, the whole fails--that is, it
assumes that the whole labor of the United States would be profitably
employed without manufactures. Now, the truth is that the system excites
and creates labor, and this labor creates wealth, and this new wealth
communicates additional ability to consume, which acts on all the
objects contributing to human comfort and enjoyment. The amount of
cotton imported into the two ports of Boston and Providence alone during
the last year (and it was imported exclusively for the home manufacture)
was 109,517 bales.

On passing from that article to others of our agricultural productions,
we shall find not less gratifying facts. The total quantity of flour
imported into Boston, during the same year, was 284,504 barrels, and
3,955 half barrels; of which, there were from Virginia, Georgetown, and
Alexandria, 114,222 barrels; of Indian corn, 681,131 bushels; of oats,
239,809 bushels; of rye, about 50,000 bushels; and of shorts, 63,489
bushels; into the port of Providence, 71,369 barrels of flour; 216,662
bushels of Indian corn, and 7,772 bushels of rye. And there were
discharged at the port of Philadelphia, 420,353 bushels of Indian corn,
201,878 bushels of wheat, and 110,557 bushels of rye and barley.
There were slaughtered in Boston during the same year, 1831, (the only
Northern city from which I have obtained returns,) 33,922 beef cattle;
15,400 calves; 84,453 sheep, and 26,871 swine. It is confidently
believed that there is not a less quantity of Southern flour consumed
at the North than eight hundred thousand barrels, a greater amount,
probably, than is shipped to all the foreign markets of the world
together.

What would be the condition of the farming country of the United
States--of all that portion which lies north, east, and west of James
River, including a large part of North Carolina--if a home market did
not exist for this immense amount of agricultural produce. Without that
market, where could it be sold? In foreign markets? If their restrictive
laws did not exist, their capacity would not enable them to purchase
and consume this vast addition to their present supplies, which must
be thrown in, or thrown away, but for the home market. But their laws
exclude us from their markets. I shall content myself by calling the
attention of the Senate to Great Britain only. The duties in the ports
of the united kingdom on bread-stuffs are prohibitory, except in times
of dearth. On rice, the duty is fifteen shillings sterling per hundred
weight, being more than one hundred per centum. On manufactured tobacco
it is nine shillings sterling per pound, or about two thousand per
centum. On leaf tobacco three shillings per pound, or one thousand two
hundred per centum. On lumber, and some other articles, they are from
four hundred to fifteen hundred per centum more than on similar articles
imported from British colonies. In the British West Indies the duty on
beef, pork, hams, and bacon, is twelve shillings sterling per hundred,
more than one hundred per centum on the first cost of beef and pork in
the Western States. And yet Great Britain is the power in whose behalf
we are called upon to legislate, so that we may enable her to purchase
our cotton. Great Britain, that thinks only of herself in her own
legislation! When have we experienced justice, much less favor, at
her hands? When did she shape her legislation with reference to the
interests of any foreign power? She is a great, opulent, and powerful
nation; but haughty, arrogant, and supercilious; not more separated
from the rest of the world by the sea that girts her island, than she
is separated in feeling, sympathy, or friendly consideration of their
welfare. Gentlemen, in supposing it impracticable that we should
successfully compete with her in manufactures, do injustice to the
skill and enterprise of their own country. Gallant as Great Britain
undoubtedly is, we have gloriously contended with her, man to man, gun
to gun, ship to ship, fleet to fleet, and army to army. And I have no
doubt we are destined to achieve equal success in the more useful, if
not nobler, contest for superiority in the arts of civil life.

I could extend and dwell on the long list of articles--the hemp, iron,
lead, coal, and other items--for which a demand is created in the home
market by the operation of the American system; but I should exhaust
the patience of the Senate. Where, where should we find a market for all
these articles, if it did not exist at home? What would be the condition
of the largest portion of our people, and of the territory, if this
home market were annihilated? How could they be supplied with objects of
prime necessity? What would not be the certain and inevitable decline in
the price of all these articles, but for the home market? And allow me,
Mr. President, to say, that of all the agricultural parts of the United
States which are benefited by the operation of this system, none are
equally so with those which border the Chesapeake Bay, the lower parts
of North Carolina, Virginia, and the two shores of Mary-land. Their
facilities of transportation, and proximity to the North, give them
decided advantages.

But if all this reasoning were totally fallacious; if the price of
manufactured articles were really higher, under the American system,
than without it, I should still argue that high or low prices were
themselves relative--relative to the ability to pay them. It is in vain
to tempt, to tantalize us with the lower prices of European fabrics than
our own, if we have nothing wherewith to purchase them. If, by the home
exchanges, we can be supplied with necessary, even if they are dearer
and worse, articles of American production than the foreign, it is
better than not to be supplied at all. And how would the large portion
of our country, which I have described, be supplied, but for the
home exchanges? A poor people, destitute of wealth or of exchangeable
commodities, have nothing to purchase foreign fabrics with. To them
they are equally beyond their reach, whether their cost be a dollar or a
guinea. It is in this view of the matter that Great Britain, by her vast
wealth, her excited and protected industry, is enabled to bear a burden
of taxation, which, when compared to that of other nations, appears
enormous; but which, when her immense riches are compared to theirs, is
light and trivial. The gentleman from South Carolina has drawn a lively
and flattering picture of our coasts, bays, rivers, and harbors; and he
argues that these proclaimed the design of Providence that we should be
a commercial people. I agree with him. We differ only as to the means.
He would cherish the foreign, and neglect the internal, trade. I would
foster both. What is navigation without ships, or ships without cargoes?
By penetrating the bosoms of our mountains, and extracting from them
their precious treasures; by cultivating the earth, and securing a home
market for its rich and abundant products; by employing the water power
with which we are blessed; by stimulating and protecting our native
industry, in all its forms; we shall but nourish and promote the
prosperity of commerce, foreign and domestic.

I have hitherto considered the question in reference only to a state of
peace; but who can tell when the storm of war shall again break forth?
Have we forgotten so soon the privations to which not merely our brave
soldiers and our gallant tars were subjected, but the whole community,
during the last war, for the want of absolute necessaries? To what an
enormous price they rose! And how inadequate the supply was, at any
price! The states-man who justly elevates his views will look behind
as well as forward, and at the existing state of things; and he will
graduate the policy which he recommends to all the probable exigencies
which may arise in the republic. Taking this comprehensive range, it
would be easy to show that the higher prices of peace, if prices were
higher in peace, were more than compensated by the lower prices of war,
during which supplies of all essential articles are indispensable to its
vigorous, effectual, and glorious prosecution. I conclude this part
of the argument with the hope that my humble exertions have not been
altogether unsuccessful in showing:

First, that the policy which we have been considering ought to continue
to be regarded as the genuine American system.

Secondly, that the free-trade system, which is proposed as its
substitute, ought really to be considered as the British colonial
system.

Thirdly, that the American system is beneficial to all parts of the
Union, and absolutely necessary to much the larger portion.

Fourthly, that the price of the great staple of cotton, and of all our
chief productions of agriculture, has been sustained and upheld, and a
decline averted, by the protective system.

Fifthly, that if the foreign demand for cotton has been at all
diminished, the diminution has been more than compensated in the
additional demand created at home.

Sixthly, that the constant tendency of the system, by creating
competition among ourselves, and between American and European industry,
reciprocally acting upon each other, is to reduce prices of manufactured
objects.

Seventhly, that, in point of fact, objects within the scope of the
policy of protection have greatly fallen in price.

Eighthly, that if, in a season of peace, these benefits are experienced,
in a season of war, when the foreign supply might be cut off, they would
be much more extensively felt.

Ninthly, and finally, that the substitution of the British colonial
system for the American system, without benefiting any section of the
Union, by subjecting us to a foreign legislation, regulated by foreign
interests, would lead to the prostration of our manufactories, general
impoverishment, and ultimate ruin. * * * The danger of our Union does
not lie on the side of persistence in the American system, but on that
of its abandonment. If, as I have supposed and believe, the inhabitants
of all north and east of James River, and all west of the mountains,
including Louisiana, are deeply interested in the preservation of that
system, would they be reconciled to its overthrow? Can it be expected
that two thirds, if not three fourths, of the people of the United
States would consent to the destruction of a policy, believed to be
indispensably necessary to their prosperity? When, too, the sacrifice
is made at the instance of a single interest, which they verily believe
will not be promoted by it? In estimating the degree of peril which may
be incident to two opposite courses of human policy, the statesman would
be short-sighted who should content himself with viewing only the evils,
real or imaginary, which belong to that course which is in practical
operation. He should lift himself up to the contemplation of those
greater and more certain dangers which might inevitably attend the
adoption of the alternative course. What would be the condition of
this Union, if Pennsylvania and New York, those mammoth members of our
Confederacy, were firmly persuaded that their industry was paralyzed,
and their prosperity blighted, by the enforcement of the British
colonial system, under the delusive name of free trade? They are now
tranquil and happy and contented, conscious of their welfare, and
feeling a salutary and rapid circulation of the products of home
manufactures and home industry, throughout all their great arteries.
But let that be checked, let them feel that a foreign system is to
predominate, and the sources of their subsistence and comfort dried up;
let New England and the West, and the Middle States, all feel that they
too are the victims of a mistaken policy, and let these vast portions
of our country despair of any favorable change, and then indeed might we
tremble for the continuance and safety of this Union!

And need I remind you, sir, that this dereliction of the duty of
protecting our domestic industry, and abandonment of it to the fate
of foreign legislation, would be directly at war with leading
considerations which prompted the adoption of the present Constitution?
The States respectively surrendered to the general government the whole
power of laying imposts on foreign goods. They stripped themselves of
all power to protect their own manufactures by the most efficacious
means of encouragement--the imposition of duties on rival foreign
fabrics. Did they create that great trust, did they voluntarily subject
themselves to this self-restriction, that the power should remain in the
Federal government inactive, unexecuted, and lifeless? Mr. Madison, at
the commencement of the government, told you otherwise. In discussing
at that early period this very subject, he declared that a failure to
exercise this power would be a "fraud" upon the Northern States, to
which may now be added the Middle and Western States.

[Governor Miller asked to what expression of Mr. Madison's opinion Mr.
Clay referred; and Mr. Clay replied, his opinion, expressed in the
House of Representatives in 1789, as reported in Lloyd's Congressional
Debates.]

Gentlemen are greatly deceived as to the hold which this system has in
the affections of the people of the United States. They represent that
it is the policy of New England, and that she is most benefited by it.
If there be any part of this Union which has been most steady, most
unanimous, and most determined in its support, it is Pennsylvania. Why
is not that powerful State attacked? Why pass her over, and aim the blow
at New England? New England came reluctantly into the policy. In 1824, a
majority of her delegation was opposed to it. From the largest State
of New England there was but a solitary vote in favor of the bill. That
interesting people can readily accommodate their industry to any policy,
provided it be settled. They supposed this was fixed, and they submitted
to the decrees of government. And the progress of public opinion has
kept pace with the developments of the benefits of the system. Now, all
New England, at least in this House (with the exception of one small
still voice), is in favor of the system. In 1824, all Maryland was
against it; now the majority is for it. Then, Louisiana, with one
exception, was opposed to it; now, without any exception, she is in
favor of it. The march of public sentiment is to the South. Virginia
will be the next convert; and in less than seven years, if there be no
obstacles from political causes, or prejudices industriously instilled,
the majority of Eastern Virginia will be, as the majority of Western
Virginia now is, in favor of the American system. North Carolina will
follow later, but not less certainly. Eastern Tennessee is now in favor
of the system. And, finally, its doctrines will pervade the whole Union,
and the wonder will be, that they ever should have been opposed.

FRANK H. HURD,

OF OHIO. (BORN 1841, DIED 1896.)

A TARIFF FOR REVENUE ONLY;

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 18, 1881.

MR. CHAIRMAN:

At the very threshold it is proper to define the terms I shall use and
state the exact propositions I purpose to maintain. A tariff is a tax
upon imported goods. Like other taxes which are levied, it should
be imposed only to raise revenue for the government. It is true that
incidental protection to some industries will occur when the duty is
placed upon articles which may enter into competition with those
of domestic manufacture. I do not propose to discuss now how this
incidental protection shall be distributed. This will be a subsequent
consideration when the preliminary question has been settled as to what
shall be the nature of the tariff itself. The present tariff imposes
duties upon nearly four thousand articles, and was levied and is
defended upon the ground that American industries should be protected.
Thus protection has been made the object; revenue the incident. Indeed,
in many cases the duty is so high that no revenue whatever is raised
for the government, and in nearly all so high that much less revenue is
collected than might be realized. So true is this that, if the present
tariff were changed so as to make it thereby a revenue tariff, one fifth
at least could be added to the receipts of the Treasury from imports.
Whenever I use the phrase free trade or free trader, I mean either a
tariff for revenue only or one who advocates it.

So far as a tariff for revenue is concerned, I do not oppose it, even
though it may contain some objectionable incidental protection. The
necessities of the government require large revenues, and it is not
proposed to interfere with a tariff so long as it is levied to produce
them; but, to a tariff levied for protection in itself and for its own
sake, I do object. I therefore oppose the present tariff, and the whole
doctrine by which it is attempted to be justified. I make war against
all its protective features, and insist that the laws which contain them
shall be amended, so that out of the importations upon which the duty is
levied the greatest possible revenue for the government may be obtained.

What, then, is the theory of protection? It is based upon the idea that
foreign produce imported into this country will enter into competition
with domestic products and undersell them in the home market, thus
crippling if not destroying domestic production. To prevent this, the
price of the foreign goods in the home market is increased so as to keep
them out of the country altogether, or to place the foreigner, in the
cost of production, upon the same footing as the American producer. This
is proposed to be done by levying a duty upon the foreign importation.
If it be so high that the importer cannot pay it and sell the goods at
a profit, the facilities of production between this and other countries
are said to be equalized, and the American producer is said to be
protected. It will be seen, therefore, that protection means the
increase of price. Without it the fabric has no foundation on which to
rest. If the foreign goods are still imported, the importer adds the
duty paid to the selling price. If he cannot import with profit, the
American producer raises his price to a point always below that at which
the foreign goods could be profitably brought into the country, and
controls the market. In either event, there is an increase of price of
the products sought to be protected. The bald proposition therefore is
that American industries can and ought to be protected by increasing the
prices of the products of such industries.

There are three popular opinions, industriously cultivated and
strengthened by adroit advocates, upon which the whole system rests,
and to which appeals are ever confidently made. These opinions are
erroneous, and lead to false conclusions, and should be first considered
in every discussion of this question.

The first is, that the balance of trade is in our favor when our
exportations exceed our importations. Upon this theory it is argued that
it cannot be unwise to put restrictions upon importations, for they say
that at one and the same time you give protection to our industries and
keep the balance of trade in our favor. But the slightest investigation
will show that this proposition cannot be maintained. A single
illustration, often repeated, but never old in this discussion, will
demonstrate it. Let a ship set sail from Portland, Maine, with a cargo
of staves registered at the port of departure as worth $5,000. They
are carried to the West India Islands, where staves are in demand, and
exchanged for sugar or molasses. The ship returns, and after duty paid
the owner sells his sugar and molasses at a profit of $5,000. Here more
has been imported than exported. Upon this transaction the protectionist
would say that the balance of trade was against us $5,000; the free
trader says that the sum represents the profit to the shipper upon his
traffic, and the true balance in our favor.

Suppose that after it has set sail the vessel with its cargo had been
lost. In such case five thousand dollars' worth of goods would have been
exported, with no importation against it. The exportation has exceeded
the importation that sum. Is not the balance of trade, according to
the protection theory, to that amount in our favor? Then let the
protectionist turn pirate and scuttle and sink all the vessels laden
with our exports, and soon the balance of trade in our favor will be
large enough to satisfy even most advocates of the American protective
system. The true theory is that in commerce the overplus of the
importation above the exportation represents the profit accruing to the
country. This overplus, deducting the expenses, is real wealth added to
the land. Push the two theories to their last position and the true one
will be clearly seen. Export every thing, import nothing, though the
balance of trade may be said to be overwhelmingly in our favor, there
is poverty, scarcity, death. Import every thing, export nothing, we
then will have in addition to our own all the wealth of the world in our
possession.

Secondly, it is said that a nation should be independent of foreign
nations, lest in time of war it might find itself helpless or
defenceless. Free trade, it is charged, makes a people dependent upon
foreigners. But traffic is exchange. Foreign products do not come into a
country unless domestic products go out. This dependence, therefore, is
mutual. By trade with foreign nations they are as dependent upon us as
we upon them, and in the event of a disturbance of peace the nation with
which we would be at war would lose just as much as we would lose, and
both as to the war would in that regard stand upon terms of equality. It
must not be forgotten that the obstruction of trade between nations
is one of the greatest occasions of war. It frequently gives rise to
misunderstandings which result in serious conflicts. By removing these
obstacles and making trade as free as possible, nations are brought
closer together, the interests of their people become intermingled,
business associations are formed between them, which go far to keep down
national dispute, and prevent the wars in which the dependent nation is
said to be so helpless. Japan and China have for centuries practised the
protective theory of independence of foreigners, and yet, in a war with
other nations, they would be the most helpless people in the world.
That nation is the most independent which knows most of, and trades most
with, the world, and by such knowledge and trade is able to avail itself
of the products of the skill, intellect, and genius of all the nations
of the earth.

A third erroneous impression sought to be made upon the public mind is
that whatever increases the amount of labor in a country is a benefit
to it. Protection, it is argued, will increase the amount of labor,
and therefore will increase a country's prosperity. The error in this
proposition lies in mistaking the true nature of labor. It regards it
as the end, not as the means to an end. Men do not labor merely for the
sake of labor, but that out of its products they may derive support
and comfort for themselves and those dependent upon them. The result,
therefore, does not depend upon the amount of labor done, but upon the
value of the product. That country, therefore, is the most prosperous
which enables the laborer to obtain the greatest possible value for the
product of his toil, not that which imposes the greatest labor upon him.
If this were not the case men were better off before the appliances of
steam as motive power were discovered, or railroads were built, or the
telegraph was invented. The man who invents a labor-saving machine is a
public enemy; and he would be a public benefactor who would restore
the good old times when the farmer never had a leisure day, and the
sun never set on the toil of the mechanic. No, Mr. Chairman, it is the
desire of every laborer to get the maximum of result from the minimum
of effort. That system, therefore, can be of no advantage to him which,
while it gives him employment, robs him of its fruits. This, it will be
seen, protection does, while free trade, giving him unrestricted control
of the product of his labor, enables him to get the fullest value for it
in markets of his own selection.

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