A PROTECTIVE TARIFF NECESSARY-RIGHTS OF LABOR. 0S P E E C H OF HON. JAMES H. CAMPBELL, OF PENN. [Delivered in the HIouse of lRep-resontatives, April 24, 1860. The Tariff Bill reported by Atr. MoanmL, from ing. It is from their own Government-from the Committee of Ways and Mieans, being underI unwholesome legislation; from a shuffling, misconsideration in the House of Representatives, erable, temporary, and ever-changing policy on April 24, 1860 — this subject; fi'rom a want of statesmanship-that M1Ir. CAMIPBELL said: they ask you to protect them. Under equal cirMr. CHAIRMAN: I rise to advocate the rights curestances, they could defy the world without of labor, to speak to a question of bread- vour aid. Under every disadvantage connected bread for thousands of my fellow men, who with the vacillating policy of public men, they should be and would be content, prosperous, must perish. and happy, if a correct system of national policy And they have a right to demand this at our could be inaugurated, sustained, and continued hands. G(overnment was organized for their through a series of years, giving to American la- happiness, protection, and welfare. But how bor and enterprise that fair measure of protec- does it occur that this cry for help comes to us tion which is of such vital importance to the in a time of profound peace, and from the people welfare of our people. of such a land as ours? Why do they point us The question to which I ask the attention of to all these evidences of commercial ruin and the members of this House rises above the financial distress and na-tional and individual level of partisan politics; of expediency for the indebtedness? Sir, I wili undertake to point day to meet some ephemeral diificulty, or to re- out the legitimate cause Of all this, if it is not move temporary embarrassment. It has signifi- apparent to every observer of men and things in cance far above and beyond all this. It is of the country. the first importance to the statesman, as to the The bill now under consideration is one of the philanthropist. It solves the question of success first importance to the people of the whole connor failure of our experiment of self-government. try. It proposes a change-a change in many It covers the whole ground of national life-of essential particulars-in existing rates of duties a great people's prosperity or adversity. It is on imports; by which the agricultural interests, for the present, as it is for the future, of deep, trade, manufactures, commerce, industry, and wide, and vital importance. wages of labor, may be, to a considerable extent, Sir, the consideration of this question carries affected; and I believe for the better. Changes me back in contemplation to homes desolate, to in our revenue system should be made with a vast trade paralyzed, to work-shops and mines great caution. They should receive the most deserted, to labor unrewarded, to supply without critical examination of the legislative branch, demand, to the products of agriculture without and be carefully considered in all their ramificaa market, to general distress, despondency, and tions and details. ruin. The cry comes up to me from every dis- The bill reported from the House Committee trict of my State, and particularly from the great of Ways and Means, now before us, proposes, so anthracite region of Pennsylvania, which I have far as could properly be done under existing cirthe honor to represent in part on this floor, for cumstances, and with any prospect of success in adequate protection against foreign supply for both branches of Congress, to change the ad labor or the hope of labor, for just. wise, and valoremn system to one of specific duties, to repeal patriotic legislation. Like the leaves of autumn, our foreign warehouse policy, and to give indriven by the north wind, have come to me the creased and adequate protection to many, if not memorials of my people asking for protection I all, articles of domestic industry. This is wise, Day by day, for many weelks, have I poured upon and I trust it will receive the hearty support of the table of your Clerk petitions signed by thou- this House, as well as of the other branch of sands of good citizens, mnen loyal to the Union Congress. and the Government, asking to be protected- One great object to be aimed at in perfecting from what? Not alone from low wages, oppres- a measure such as we now have under considerasion, ignorance, and degradation; not alone tion, is to adopt a fixed system in the adjustment from foreign competition under adverse circum- of rates and collection of revenue —a line of stances. from the long since matured, systematic, State policy which shall endure for years to and enlightened. policy of other lands. It has come —a policy which, in its verninu princigreater breadth than this, and much more mean- pies and leading features, shali remain unchangPUBLIWStED 13Y TILE REtUTLIC.N CONGR1EtSIONAL COMMITTE. PRICE 50 CUNS12 PB:. UULNDRED. ed, although its minor details may, from time to | not only our constitutional right, but our contime, be readjusted to suit the public exigencies, stitutional duty, to do this. which years and experience may render neces- Our fathers, in originating this government of sary or expedient; a revenue law, in the pecrpc- the people, had but one object in view; and that tr.;iy of which the people will have confidence; purpo se they declared in the Constitution to be a law established upon just and equal principles, " to insure domestic tr'anquillity, to provide for bearing, so far as practicable, equally upon all the common defence, and to promote the general sections of the United States; removed finom the welfiare." And to secure these ends, they conchaos, the bitterness, and the injustice, of party ferred upon Congress the power, among other strife; a law for the prosperity of the people, enumerated powers, to lay and collect taxes, and not for the politics of parties; a law that duties, imposts, and excises, " for the purpose of will induce the merchant to trust his merchan- paying the debts " arid to provide for the common dise to the perils of the sea, knowing that the defence arid general welfare of the United States. waves will not be more perilous than the chances The power to regulate trade with foreign nations on land; that will lead the capitalist to invest is among the exzpress powers conferred upon Conhis means for the employment of labor, and in gress by that instrument. Mr. Madison, in his the development of our resources, with the hope. celebrated letter to Mr. Cabell, in speaking of at least, of remunerative profit; a law that will this clause, says: give to the husbandman a certain and domestic "The nieanino of the phrase'to regulate trade' must bh market, which shall cause the laborer and me- sought in the general use of it; in other words, in the obchanic to rejoice at the rich arid accumulating jects to which the power was generally ulderstood to bo applicable when the phrase was inserted in the Constitution. evidences of prosperity around them; in short, The power has bleeon understood and used, byall conmmLercial a law that shall inspire public confidence, with- anld Ianutcturing nations, as emnbracing the object of enout which there can be no public prosperity, and c' o nbntm; It is beliored tIlt not a silgle excptloll cal bhe nIamed.~ cause industry to exult in the establishment of a fixed system of protection to American labor. It would be strange if we were the frst enlight The duties should be reasonable; for, to beper- erred nation to give them a contrary construction. mnanent, they must be reasonable. I would have t may be asked, if our Government has no power its foundations laid in the convictions of men to protect its own people, what can it do? What based upon their necessities, rot upon the suc- is it good for? I claim that, in order to insure cess of parties. domestic tranquillity, and to provide for the comIn the grand, though peaceful struggle for mon defence against the arms or workshops of commercial supremacy and material greatness, Europe, (the last more formidable than the first,) let the American citizen know that if lie will and to promote the general welfare, as well as to enter the lists with his foreign rival, you will not regulate trade, it is the duty, as it is plainly reduce the duty the moment he has invested his within the power, of Congress to place such remeans, or secured the market, and thus place strictions on foreign fabrics as shall prove suflihim at the mercy of his antagonist. England, cient to secure the home market to our own peoFrance, and other leading Powers, have never yet ple, and to foster, encourage, and build up, every failed, by a system of protective laws, to aid the interest, whether of the soil, the mines, or the strong arms and stout hearts of those who seek workshop. to supply the markets of the world with the tri- The act of the First Congress was one essenumphs of their skill. AMost loyal has England tially protective in its leading features. -Many been to those who have established her great- tariff laws enacted since, not necessary to be ness, and made her the first commercial and specially referred to here, recognise the same manufacturing nation on the earth's surface. principle. Let us stand faithfully by those who would make The power of Congress to legislate for protecus great. Let our motto be, prolection to every- tion, and the necessity of such legislation, have thing American, against everytyiilog foreign. met with the approval of our greatest statesmen Some gentlemen seem to imagine that Con- and most patriotic men. Upon this list of great gress has no constitutional power to enact laws names will be found a Washington and Frankibr the purpose of protecting the industry and tin, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Clay, Jackson, productions of the country; no power to lay a and Webster. Thomas Jefferson, wise, patriotic, tax upon the fabrics of the foreigner, but a plen- and politic, saw at once that home industry must itude of power to place burdens upon our own be protected, to enable the country to compete people. If this be so, then we are without successfully with her rivals in the great race beremedy. But it is not so. We are not reduced fore her; and having participated more, perhaps, to the miserable and disgraceful policy of lower- than any other statesman in the formation of ing the wages of labor. We are not obliged to the Constitution, he knew and acted upon the banish meat from the tables of the industrial knowledge that Government had the power to classes, and to deny them the comforts and neces- protect the industry of the people. Hear him saries of civilized life, for the purpose of enabling upon this subject. In 1815, writing to J. B. Say, us to compete with the uneducated and half-fed he says: millions of other lands. A Mrch 2. 1815. " Experience has shown that continued peace depends,. No American statesman will pursue such a not merely on our own justice and prudence, but on that line of argument, or advocate so demoralizing of others also; that, whenl forced into a war, the intercepand degrading a policy. The true remedy is taion of exchanges which must be made across a wide ocean and degrading a policy. The true remedy is becomes a powerful weapon in the hands of an enemy simpile-protect those branches of labor which dominleering over that element, and to other distresses of require protection. In collecting duties, dis- war adds tile want of all those necessaries for which we criminate in favor of those interests which re- lhav-e pernitted ourselves to be dependent on others, even armis and clothing. This fact, therefore, solves the quesquire the fostering aid of the G overnment, It is tion, by reducing to its ultimate form, whether profit or 3 preservation is the first interest of theo State? We are, con- employed in agriculture, and that the channels for labor sequently, become manufiacturers to a degree incredible to should be multipliecd? Common ssense points out at once the tbose who do not see it, and who only consider the short remedy. Draw from agriculture the superabundant labor period of time during which we have been driven to tlem. employ it in mechanissu and manufactures, thereby creating by the suicidal policy of England. a houme nimrket folbr your breadstuffs, and distributing labor The prohibitory duties we lay on all articles of foreign to thle mcst profitable account and benefits to the country. manuuitcture, which prudence requires us to establish at Take fronm ugricuiture in the United States six hundred thouhome, with the patriotic determination of every good citizen sand men, wsomen, anid children, and you will at once give to use no foreign articles which can be made within our- ai home market for more breadstuffs than all Europe now selves, without regard to diflference of prices, secures us furnishes us. Ini short, sir, we have been too long subject againslt relapse into foreign dependency.' to the policy of the Britisl merchants. It is time that we ere we have the power to lay even proibilo should become a little more Amsnicanizedl, and instead of tiere we have the power to lay even prohibitory /, feeding the paupers and laborers of England, feed our own; duties admitted; and if necessary in war, how or else, in a short tie., by continuing our present policy, we much more necessary to save us from that which sha all be- rdenters peupurs ourselves. eferson sadows foth as more dredul than It is therefore my opinion that a careful and judicious - tarif is mnucli wanted to pay our national debt, and aifford us war, to wit: "foreign dependency — foreign the mesans of tIabt defence within ourselves on which the serfdom. safet.y of our coeuntry and liberty depends; anud last, though not!cast, give a, 1/rope)r distribution to our labor, which must Permit use, in this connection, to refer to the ted lcl", givu' a treperdotribilientooarlator which must prove beneficial to the happiness, independence, and wealth, letter of Dr. Franklin, written to Humphrey Mar- of tho c otnimunity. shall, April 22, A. D. 1?771, in which he declares "' Thi is a short outlino of mny opinions, generally, on the ti~~~hat —~~ eRll subject of your inquiry aid believing tliemn correct, and thatcalicuhated to further thie prosperity and happiness of my It scems, therefore the interest of all our farmers and country, I declare to youii I would not barter thorem for any owners of lands to encoureage our young manufactures, in oelice or situation of ia temporal clharacter that could be given prsference to foreign omes, imported among us froms distant me. countries.' I have presented you my opinions fieely, because I am Franklin sought not to sow discord between the without coticcaluteel. t id shoould indeed despise myself if I could believe snyse!' capable of desiring the confidence of farming and manufacturing interests. He placed any by meancase so ignobie. them in no antagonistical position, as the free " am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient sertraders are in the habit of doing. He knew that A REW JACSON.,, Dr. L. It. CsOLUNw:, Marrenton,.hrolgth Carolina." one leaned upon the other for support, and that, I oesa e ient na ine. without a home market, agriculture could not The vies and sentients contained in th flourish in any land. Therefore, he declared it letter nequire neither explanation nor vindicawas the interest of the farmer to encourage the tioe at my hands. The American doctrine of mnu ctrer. "Poor ichard," s auth protection is there recognised and advocated. has stillweight among the farmers of the country. The argument is wise as just; the sentiments But from FranklinI let us turn to Jackson. Read patriotic. Has not a kind Providence "filled his celebrated letter to Dr. Coleman, to be found our mountains and our plains with mineralsin Niles's Register of June 12, 1824, volume 27, with lead, iron, and copper-and given us clipage 245, in whiich he says: mate and soil for the growing of hemp and wool?" And have we not strong and willing Y'Iou,ask Div opinion on thei tariiff. I answer, that I am in favor olf a judicious exauinctie n andl revision cf it; and hands to dig the one from the earth, and cultifo far as the tarilff bill before ius embraces the desige of fos- vate the other tpon the plains, and skillful artic~_ring, protecting~ and preserving withiu ourselves the riseg, plotectiieg, and presare-isug wtite eus'e tesans to fashion them into cunning and useful neans of natiosai defence and indcpndernce, particularly ins late of war. I would advocate aid supiport it. The expe- handiwork?'incc of the late war ought to teach us a lesson, and one Lay down your imported bars on soil filled sever to be forgotten. It our liberty and republican form ith iron r ill yu bondd areoses with with iron ore; fill your bonded wvarehouses with c' Government, procured fbr us by our revolutionary fatlelrs, tre worth the blood aectd treasure at whiich they were ob- foreign fabrics, while idle thousands stroll along iined, it surely is our duty to protect and delendi tChem. your thoroughfares; send your gold to other;a e there be an American pltriot, who saw the privations, n wher gilands, where you have established your work[an!gers, and d-ifficulties, experienced for the want of the )roper means of tdfence eduriig the last wm, who would ice shops, while continually-renewing panic, and riliitg agaihto hazard the safety ofourcounty, ifc'eebroiled, periodical revulsion, spread distress and ruin,r to rest it 1or defence upoln the precarious means of Dati rest it bor defnce mspcce thee precariocs seuans or sea- over the land; import your coal and lead, while ional resources to be d'eirived from commerce in a state of ar withl a maritimse Power-, who might destroy that con- our mountains are bursting with them, but call erce to prevent us obtaining the miteans of defecee, and not this the legislation of American statesmen hereby subdue us? I hope there is not —nad if thereis, I for an American people. Let us rather call it um sure he does not deserve to enjoy the blessinlgs of free- po l tl.Heavene stsiled. cteite nudt give sit liheerly aed inde- treachery to our own land, and alliance with the lornr. H~eaven sm~iledd upon~ and g~[ve us liberty/and inde-?esdeencce ld nationael defenBce. If' we oDmit or refcse to use foreigner I e gifts which he has extended to us, we deserve not the Is it not better, in the language of the warIetinuation of his blessings. tIehas filled our amorietains rior-tatesman whose words Ihave quoted, that td our plains with minerals —with ih lead, iron, and copper- r-statesman whose words I have quoted, that ad given is climate and soil for tihe groeeing of henp and our great staples, being the "grand materials of ~ol. These-, being the grand materials of our natio a1-or a na ds-n o.'fl' beg the grd nlealse of our eiotl do- our national defence, should have extended to,ice, they ought to have extended to them adequiate and them deue rrotecon ir protecticon,,that our mcanufacturers and laborers miaty tce te a e laced in a tiir comnpetition weith those of Europe. and that Sir, it is time tlat we were becoming more -e may have — within our country a supply of those leading Americanized in this particular. No country sd imrportant articles cssentia in war. ever fourished fr any length of time that ng-'Bveyond this,I look at the taurif'with ani eye to the proper istribution of labor and. reveue, auti with. a View to dic- lected the regulation of tts impost duties. The lerge our national debt. I amc one of thiose wliho do ot be- late Emperor of Rnssia, who tried, but denounceee that a national tdebt is a national blessing, but rather a ed the system of free trade, declared thatbrss to a Retpublic, inasmuchi as it is calciiated to raise'ocind the Administration a nconeved aristocracy diangerous e1 Agriculture left withoutn markets, industry without prothe liberties of the country.'this tarilff —I eenie a judi- tretion, languisih and decline. Specie is exported, and the ous one —possesses maore fanciful than real dacnger. I wil most solid coinmercial houses are shaken. Events have sk, what is the real situation of thc agriculturist? Wiehre piroved that our agriculture andc our conmmerce, as well as as the Amesrican farmser a market for his surplus iproduct? cit nanaufhcturing industry, are not only paralyzed, but xcelpt for cottosi he has neithier a foreigsn nor heuoucac market. brought to the brink of nruin." ocs not this clearly prove, whaen. thirc is no tie aretict ther at home o' abroad, that there is too much labor The doctrine of free trade can only be sus tained, if sustained at all, on the basis of equal foreign imarket, and she has realized from it free exchange of merchandise Rmong all na- greater profits than from any other evport, but tions; and, at the same time, other advantages bas no demand for the article at home. Let us of production-capital, wages, and tranporta- pause from the general consideration of the subtion-must be equal. How can this be reduced ject, to ascertain the line of protection England to practice? Or what intel!igent Covernment adopted for the purpose of building up her iron fails to protect its own industry? Nations, both interests, in view of ultimate supremacy in the in Europe and America, have adopted, and in- protection of that article. As she succeeded in flexibly adhere to, the doctrine of protection. Isecuring the markets of the world for this branch How can we compete with others, if all tax us, of manufacture, by the course which she rmarked and we fail to visit them with dunies? out and adhered to, we may, to some extent, Take the article of iron, and we find the fol- profit by her example. lowing ipecific duties imposed upon it by the fol- The first duty England placed upon imports of lowing nations, as per the "Commercial tela-. iron was in 1679, a duty of 10s. per ton; in tions," a work published by our Government: 1710, raised to'2 10s. Gd.; in 1782, raised to o',.,g-a?. ~ 2 6Ls. 2d. All iron manufactures, 60 centu:i pr 100 lbs. In 1784, (the memorial from which these figures Copper and brass, $421.0 4 i0 are taken proceeds to state,) the rolling mill.~rainceW. as invented; and f'om this period may be Iron ore, free; manufactures O iron, with a fe exceptions, dated the commenceent of the present English prohibited. Cast steel, $22,47,/ per d20 lbs iron manufacture. The 24 years preceding this Steel tools, 37.0 31 time embrace all the inventions now in common lIt5.siL. use, and which created a new system of making Iron in bars prohipitedr lbs iron, and to which England owes the extent and Castings in bars, 60 cents per 36 lbs. i Nails, 75.i. 4 cheapness of her manufacture at the present All other nmanufactures of iron prohibited. da y. And from this time also is to be dated the;7-cpi7ymu. commencement of her present system of protechIon, manufactures of, ranging lirom $2.73 to $35.0 per 220 tion. Sihe was not satisfietd with a protective lbs. dot IBar iron, 833; cents per 220 lhRduty on foreign iron; for, in 1785, she prohibited Bar iron, 88/~ cents per 220 Ibs. the export of any tools, engines, models, or plans Nails and iron of atll knds, 4.34 per 101 lbs. of machinery, used in the manufacture of iron, aCeit?-,L Z/,hlve —Zollvtt, ci e. n under a penalty of one year's imprisonment and iron nails, $4.14, apeor 110i lb:. lb ~1200 fine, and the confiscation of the articles Cutlery, 6.90 6 shipped, or intended to be shipped. She in-'aacI States. fdicted heavy fines upon masters of vessels, cusiron castings, $15 per?741a be1csd tom-house officers, and others, who violated Ca.Nails, It these laws, as well as upon all who enticed Iron in pigs, 114.58 per 133 lbs. I workmen out of the kingdom. I do not propose Iron manufactured, 22.15"'44 to follow her example in these particulars; but Copper manufpiactured 22 1' ( 66 refer to them for the purpose of showing her deCoipper mausfacturd, 2co. itermination to build up this branch of her maManufactures of iron, $2 per 101 lbs. terial greatness, as well as to show the importB,.azil. ance which English statesmen attached to it. Manufactures of iron, nails, and spikes, elnder l inch, $1.32 In i787, she prohibited the importation of all per 323 lbs.; and other kinds in proportion. the manufactures of iron and steel. Guatenctla. In 1788, England had 77 furnaces in blast; Iron in bars and sheets, $1.68 per 101 lbs. and the production was 61,900 tons iron. Iron manufactured, from $3 to $5 per 100 lbs. In 1'795 the act of 1785, prohibiting the esSanm &s~l~vcndolr. }ports of tools and machinery used in the manun Iron manufactured, for domestic use, $6 to $10 per 101 lbs facture of iron, was made perpetual. yNailsi iron. $per aS bs. In 1796, duty on iron was raised ~3 Is. 9d. per ton. At this time, there were 121 furnaces In fact, every enlightened nation, whatever in blast; and the yearly product was 124,87E homage it may have paid to the theory of free tons, amounting to an increase yield of 28 pei trade, has pursued a widely different policy, and cent. in 8 years. relaxed the protective system only when domed.- ~. da tic manufactures have been firmly rooted. Tar- In 1797 duty was raised to - 3 4 7 ifs for revenue-raised or lowered, enlarged or In 1798 " 4 - - 3 15 5 contracted, according to exigencies-are univer- In 1800 coal was coked and fuel saved. sally pronounced just and judicious. In 1802 there were 168 furnaces in operation England, the greatest manufacturing and com- with a yield of 170,000 tons. mercial nation of modern times, has made the ~ s, d. regulation of duties on imports a political sci- In 1803 duty was raised to 4 4 4 4 A ence. Her imposts are more protective, specific, In 1804 " " - - 4 1 0 and more wisely and nicely adjusted, than the In 1805 t" 3 17 1 duties imposed by any other nation. Her great In 1806 " 5 57 5, object was to foster, and cultivate to the highest At this time the product of 227 furnaces wa: point of industrial and commercial prosperity, 258,206 tons, being 49 per cent. in 10 years. her leading interests of manufacture and trade. ~ 3. d Revenue weas Secondary to this grand object. 18-09 duty raised to.. 5 9 11 Ior cry of " free trade' is intenldid (solely fdr the 1813... 6 9 1i 5 In 1818 the product was 300000, an increase sition, secure purchasers upon their own terms. of 41,794- per annum. And, as if to assist in the work of domestic dein 1819, if iron imported in English vessels, ther struction, we have kindly built Government duty was ~6 10s. If infJreign vessels, ~7 18s. 6d; warehouses for them, in which to store their and iron slit, or hammered into iron rods, here- goods under bond, and withhold them froim a tofore prohibited, now admitted at a duty of falling market, or to push them upon a rising ~20. one, at pleasure; while the American manufacPig iron, heretofore 27t per cent., now made turer, short of capital, and always obliged to ~0 lls. Gd. realize, must throw his goods upon any market, In 1820 product was - - 400,000 tons. which either bad legislation or the superiority of In 1823 " - - - 452,000 " capital may have prepared for his ruin. In 1824 " - - 581,367 " Shall we yield to foreign advantages, and, acIn 1826 the duty was reduced on bars unwrotght knowledgiog their supremacy, become " hewvers to ~1 10s. of wood and drawers of water" to them, or, by IHIere, then, we have shown the plan adopted a wise, just, and American policy, protect our by England in laying duties in favor of a home people until we can, in turn, defy foreign cornproduction, for a period of one hundred and petition? Surely an American Congress will not forty-seven years, in fifteen different changes; long hesitate which course to adopt. and the result is, as is truly stated in the memo- Contrast this English system with the mode rial from which these statistics are derived, of treatment pursued by our Government in re"6.tencaverigpy roteclioia acalzvas sender s1eciJic deulies, lation to the same article. Observe the insuffian.d altca/s inzcreasing in amoun1t unlil they were ciency of the duties in all instances, with one no longer needed." exception, in modern times; the sudden changes The ilnports of foreign iron for consumption in legislation on this subject; the fact that, and ma.nufacture in England, for the ten years under the ad valor'en system, with foreign values previous to 1826, averaged 9,129 tons, or 101- as recognised in the bill of 1846, duties were per cent. of the export; and for the succeeding high when not required to be high, and low ten years of low duties were 14,586 tons, being when they should have been high-and you will 10-} per cent. of the exports for the same periodl; discover the secret of monetary revolutions and showing that the duty became a dead letter industrial disasters. before it was taken off, as the imports of foreign The production of American iron was, in the iron, after the duties were taken off, did not year 1810, 54,000 tons. The "war duties," as maintatain their proportion to the exports of Brit- they are generally termed, of the tariff of' 1812, ish iron. terminated with the fiscal year ending June 30, And the production of English iron, when, by 1817, and the revenue tariff of 1816, in which proper protection, she had fostered this branch the principle of protection was not recognised, of industry, went on increasing to an amazing then commenced to operate. Under its disasextent, until she secured the iron market of the trous operation, we find that a commercial crisis world. occurred in 1821; the business of the country In 1836, her production reached 1,000,000 was destroyed, and the production of iron in tons. In 1840, it was 1,39(6,400 tons. In 1845, that year did not reach 20,000 tons. 1,512,500 tons. In 1846, the duty was taken off The tariff of 1816 was succeeded by that of entirely. In 1848, the make was 1,998,568 tons; 1824, and subsequently by that of 1828, in both and in 1849, it was 2,000,000 tons. In 1855, of which the principle of protection was recogthe production of English iron may be set down nised. M:[ark the result. In 1828, the producat the enormous figure of 3,585,906 tons pig. tion of iron reached - - 130,000 tons. Why was this success attained? Let us read In 1829 -- 142,000 1; aright the lesson of experience here taught. In 1830 - - 165,000 " What element of success has England, in this In 1831 - - - 191,000 regard, which gives her an advantage over us? In 1832 _. - 200,000' Her fields of iron ore and of coal compare not In 1840 - - 315 000 " with ours. Are her sons more laborious or more At this point, the trade began to feel the enterprising than our people? The answer is disastrous influence of,the compromise tariff easy of solution. Her statesmen were more con- enacted in 1833, as, in its operation, it reached sistent and enlightened in their effbrts to foster the free-trade line. Before 1842, we had the home industry. usual commercial crisis-suspension of specie England has the advantage of contiguous coal payments and the bankrupt law-and we finds and iron fields, cheap labor, the perfection and in 1842, that a large portion of the furnaces had cost of machinery, and abundant capital. Her " blown out," and the production of iron had commercial policy has made her the great fallen to little more than 200.000 tons. centre of the financial world. Her mineral Then came the good tariff law of 1842, with resources have been developed by centuries ample protection and specific duties, and with it of skill and labor; and all the details of her came confidence and capital and industry. The business interests have been nicely adjusted, country seemed instinct with life, and the song calculated, and perfected. Foreign competition of the laboring man was heard in the land. Conhas been burdened or excluded, until, in the sult the record of the years following the enactabundance and cheapness of her manufacture of ment of' that law, and before the baneful influiron, she defies the world. HI-er vast capital en- ences of the black tariff of 1846 had made themables her manufacturers to withhold their arti- selves felt, and yous will find the record to be cles of export from market until there is a de- one of success in all branches of industry, and mand at a paying price; or to push them upon marked with commercial, nmechanical, and ina foreign market, and) breaking down all oppo- dustrial life; and, like all other departments of 6 manufacture, the iron business felt the inspira- sumer pays the dutylaid upon anyarticle-whieh tion which flowed from healthy legislation. In II deny —then I reply, that iron is a legitimate 1846, the Secretary of the Treasury estimated subject for taxation; for, if paid by the consumer the production of iron in the United States to be before protection furnishes him with a cheaper ~o5.000 tons, having trebled in four years. In article, the burden is borne equally by all classes 1347, it reached 800,000 tons. Then com- of the community. It is used in all the departmenced the injurious effect of the tariff of l ments of life. It flashes in the needle, it rives 1846; for we find, in 1848, the production was the soil, sings in the spindle, rings in the anvil, stationary, and in 1849 it fell to 650,000 tons, and clashes and clangs in and continued to fall, until, in January, 1853, Thnle battle of lever and wheel." the make did not exceed 500,000 tons. Under It builds the palaces of commerce; spans broad all the circumstances I have referred to, this streams with triumphal arches; drives the steamproduction of one-half million tons seems re- ship against baffled winds; guides the lightnings markable, when you take into consideration the of heaven with the messages of men from mart fact, that in 1806, only fifty-four years since, to mart, from extremity to extremity of the land. the total product of the world did not exceed It has bound, and will bind again, two continents that amount. Now it does not reach one-half with inter-oceanic bands. It notes the progress the annual product of the United States. of civilization, and is the record of national life. We have an abundance of iron ore and min- In the whole land, iron is king! eral coal for the cheap production of iron. Out Men of Missouri, men of Michigan, men from of 184,073 square miles of coal area, our country all the iron-bearing States, men of the whole has 133,132, or nearly three-fourths of the whole land, will you not unite with us in developing number. We have sixteen times as much as the vast resources of the country? It is amaGreat Britain and Ireland together. This coal zing that we should be indulging in party disexists in nearly every State in the Union; or putes, when these great interests, stored in Nswhere it does not exist, is quite within reach ture's mountain warehouses, require attention at of the iron-ore deposits in the now coal-bearing our hands! What a future we have before us, States. The anthracite coal trade of Pennsyl- if we will be wise! Have you ever considered vania is immense. In 1820 it reached but 365 the value of our mineral resources? A bar of iron, tons, while in 1859 it had increased to the enor- valued at $5, worked into horse-shoes, is worth mous figure of 7,780,4118 tons. Of this amotil:, $10.50; into needles, $55; into penknife blades, my own county of Schuylkill, with 113 collieries, $3,285; shirt-buttons, $29,480; and balanceproduced 3,048,615 tons, the remainder having' springs of watches, $250,000; all of which inbeen sent to market from the Lehigh, Wyoming, crease in value is imparted to it by the applicaand Susquehanna regions. Add to this lpro- tion of human labor. A pound of iron c('an be duction of anthracite the semi-bituminous coal made a hundred times more valuable than a of Pennsylvania, and it will give you an aggre- pound of gold; and we require no Potosi or Caligate of more than 12 000,000 tons of coal; and fornia, so long as we have the iron mountains of this, under low prices, depression, and universal Pennsylvanial and of Missouri. stagnation in the coal trade. It is as nothing Fourteen years since, no railroad iron was compared with that which we could produce, manu!iectured in the United States. In 1855, we with a fair demand, at remunerative prices. Ar- made 135,300 tons, and the same year imported guing from the abundance of coal and iron ore, only 127,516 tons. Our present yield cannot be as well as from the vwise distribution over the short of 250;000 tons. The cost of this article face of the country which Providence has made does not exceed the average price at which the of these gifts to His children, the United States foreign rails have been delivered in our ports, can produce 50,000,000 tons of iron with as little and the quality is far superior. In less than drain upon her natural resources as Great Britain three years, with reasonable protection, the rail can 3,250,000 tons. mills of the United States will be able to meet Why, then, should not these great natural ad- the demand of the country, supplying a better vantages be fostered and cared for? It is not a article at fair prices; and at the same time we question for Pennsylvania alone, as some gentle- can defy foreign competition. If we break this men seem to consider. It is not a question alone most important interest down, do you believe for Virginia; nor yet for Ohio. It is a question English rails will be furnished at a cheaper rate? for every State and Territory in the Union; for Experience teaches, that when England succeeds the great gifts to which I have referred are scat- in breaking down foreign production, and has tered over the whole land with endless profusion, the market under her control, she invariably sufficient unto the wants of all the generations of raises the price, to remunerate herself for former men. Tell me, iron men of Kentucky, Georgia, losses, and in the end the consumer must pay Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, New more for her fabrics. York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, will Protection will cheapen the article to the conyou construct your railroads of foreign bars, when sumer, as has been elaborately and frequently the very soil upon which you lay the inferior, shown on this floor. Take the $500,000,000 worth cinder-constructed rail, the fit representative of per annum of cotton, woollen, cut nails, tools, farm decrepid legislation, is filled with rich and supe- implements, castings, locks, &c., and we know rior ores, ready to be constructed into a sound that they are furnished at cheaper rates to the article by the thousands of unemployed and consumer than they would be if imported. Cornskillful workmen in your midst? Does not the pare themn with the prices paid for the same artihistory of this branch of labor prove it? cles abroad; and, taking quality into account, I assert, and will show, that the adequate pro- they are sold much cheaper here than in Europe. tection of an article cheapens it to the producer. Take the article of America.n stoves; and, under But if you proceed upon the idea that the con- very moderate protection- we have made a better article, at lower prices, than any could be im- the lowest depths of national bankruptcy; and ported for. We have driven out all foreign corn- the Government is as poor as the people, and petition on this article; and while we not only is obliged to issue Treasury notes to borrow import no stoves, we are sending a superior arti- money on. cle to foreign and distant markets, and compe. The public debt now amounts to upwards of ting with the foreign manufacturer on his own $58,000,000, and all must admit that the temground. This, too, is the case with some de- porary expedient of Government loans, as eviscriptions of cotton fabrics, and with Yankee denced by Treasury notes, is' but an admission clocks. There was a time when an ordinary for- of national bankruptcy. That, in a tinme of pro.. eign article of cotton prints cost the consumer found peace, a nation like ours should be forced firom 35 to 40 cents a yard, and that, too, not long to borrow money to detray the ordinary expenses since. But under p)rotection, New England has of' Government. is indeed humiliating. How long driven out foreiga competition, and supplies not do you propose to exhibit this Administrationa only the domestic, but the foreign marlket, with pauper in the loan market? Or do you ina much better fibric, at from 5 to 10 cents per | tend to resort to " direct taxation" to raise the yard. This result was mainly owing to the tariff $60,000,000 necessary to defray the governmnental of 1816, which imposed a heavy specific duty expenses? If you do, make the issue squarely, on imported cottons, and built up that branch of and the people will give you an answer through industry; and now we can defy the world, tariff the ballot-box. If you do riot, and are disgusted or no tariff, on cotton prints. To a great extent, with your begging operations, come up to the this is the case with some descriptions of filan- work boldly, and assist us in placing a duty on nels, satinets, edge-tools, cut nails, and many foreign fabrics that will not only yield the revkinds of castings. enue you require to carry on the Government, But for us, unfortunately, we have not reached but will encourage and sustain the labor of the this point with broadcloths, iron, watches, silks, country. You are not legislating for transatlanmany descriptions of cotton, woollen, linen, and tic communities, although much of the legislamixed fabrics. They still require the fostering tion ofn this subject, for many years past, would hand of Government. We are buying these from seem to indicate that you were doing so. ForEuropean workshops, and sending abroad torpay eign Governments take care of their people and for them all our surplus grain, hemp, cotton, their interests; let us take care of our people pork, as well as all the gold of California and and our interests. Pike's Peak; and when we have neither cotton, But to turn again to the argument. Every grain, nor gold, left, we send United States and farmer knows that the best market for the sale State securities, municipal and railroad bonds, of his produce is the home market, for tbere is no making our national indebtedness abroad now risk and loss on transportation; the conversion over $500,000,000; and when all these are ex- of tarm produce into cash is speedy and certain. hausted, and the balance of trade (that true ba- The foreign rmlrket is distant, prices fluctuating, rometer of a nation's prosperity) is still against risks great, and delay in return injurious. The us, then comes the panic, and we break! Is any nearer you can bring the workshop to the famrm, one surprised that it should be so? How could the better it will be for farmer and artisan. it be otherwise? What have the banks to do The prosperity of one is the prosperity of the with all this? They do not coin gold; and if other. But if our workshops are in Europe, there you drain the country of specie to pay for your canr be none in successful operation at home, and imports, the banks, like individuals, feel the our markets must be abroad also, if markets they drain, and, like individuals, suspend specie pay- may be called. We import more breadstuffs than ments, to save themselves from a worse fate; any nation on the face of the earth I When you mlnd so ends the financial experience of that pe- look abroad over our vast extent of corn-growriod, like all its predecessors. ing country-over oceans of sunlit plains, restWas this not the inevitable result? flow do less with the rolling wave of grain; when you you propose to sustain the prosperity of the reflect that we feed our own millions, and a concountry, and maintain public confidence, with tirent besides, from surplus crops, you wonder the balance of trade against us? The whole sub- I at this vast import of cereals I True, you do ject resolves itself into this: We have been buy- not find it enteied at the custom-house, by the ing more than we have been selling, and the bhal- names of' corn, wrheat, barley, or beans. Alert ance is against us. Bankrupt nations are but judgment would condemn it thus, and legislation large bankrupt families. The family which buys would exclude it; but it achieves an entrance, more than it sells grows poor. Extend this Eim- like an enemy, in disguise. Masked in iron, or ple principle to the nations of the earth, for it muffled in wool or silk, the reflective vision may with propriety be so extended. A modern sees in the warp of German cloth, in the tissue author, writing on this rule, says: of French silks, the'oreign grain; perceives, "Now, you may add acre to acre, and estate to estate, as wrought into the fibre of English iron, the red far as you like, but you will never reach a compass of wheat of the Baltic and of the Mediterranean, ground that shaill escape from the authority of these simple te pork of Ohio, and the corn of Egla laws. Th'le principles which are right ill the admiinistratio the, and the crn of ng d. of a few fields, are right also in the administration of agreat Thus it comes to us in a far more profitable country, from shorizon to horizon." shape for the foreign producer, and a much more The nations of the earth are great families; ruinousone for us. If imported directly, it would, and this Yankee family of ours is in debt, be- at best, give but a single profit to the transatcause we have, instead of making within our-!antic producer; wrought into foreign fabrics, it selves all the articles the family required, and comes with a double profit to them, a double infeeding our produce to our own hatnds, been jury to us. sending all our produce and gold and bonds The Germans, the French, the English, are too abroad to purchase goods, and we have nothing wise to adopt this ruinous policy. The home left to pay with, and we have gone down to market, the domestic consumption of raw mate rial, the double profit on the manufactured I grower sends abroad all the raw material which article, is their theory and their practice. We should be maniufactured in G-eorgia, Louisiana.7 export raw material and breadstuffs fo give em- and Alabama, on Southern loomrs, and the profit ployment to, and to feed, foreign laborers. They on the raw material and manufacured articile consumne both, and the masnufactured article is retained at home. The aNverage domestic consent back to us, and sold at a profit. So that sumption of cotton was, for the years 1857-'58 in the end, and as a necessary result of this ruin- ad 1858-59, 740,000 bales. Now, it is 900,000, ous policy, our- raw mlaterial and their raw mate- when it should be, according to the increase of rialt our grain and the r grain, come back to us, population and production, at least 1,500,000 and we purchase and repurchase, at a profit to bales. Five years ago, the consumption in them on the cwhole veratioet, and a loss to our- Geargia was 138,000 bales, or five per cent. of selves; and the balance of trade, the world's i the cotton crop; now it is but two per cent. of great lever —more powerful than embattled hosts the present crop. The same falling offt under a and mighty armaments-rematins against us, and free-trade policy, may be noticed in other quarin favor of our rivals,:,nd we go down in the ters. We have not now, or had not two years scale of power, prosperity, and happiness. since, one mill running on broadcloths in the When will we, as a nation, learn to be true to United States. Five years ago, Virginia made ourselves? In the English policy in this partic- 30,000 tons of pig iron per annum; now, if I anm ular we have a certain guide and text book. correctly intormned, but 5,000. Remember, theories are nothing as against facts, But the true policy in this regard has been figures, and experience. I have shown English shadowed forth by Virginia statesmen, who have policy in this regard. The world has observed concluded to adopt and laudably wear the proits results in commerce that covers every sea, in ductions of their own looms. The principle for crowded marts, in monetary supremacy, in vast which I contend, if carried out in fair legislation, possessions, in the march of empire and doinin- will build up the interests of Virginia, and mnake ion, and in material and intellectual power. her, in common with other States, the warm ad-!Nor is the recent treaty entered into between vocate of domestic protection. England and France any departure from the set- I shall give to the bill now before the Comtied protective policy of either. Protection is mittee nay hearty support; because it has been not given up on anything requiring protection. endorsed by the people of my State, and I beFrance proposes, at a future perio:l, to reduce lieve it to be satisfactory to the country, so far duties on some articles to figures which we have as existing treaties enabled the Committee of not yet reached. France, with industry fully Ways and Means to readjust the duties on imdeveloped, can do this. So can we, when we ports. The importation of coal fiom the British reach the same industrial vigor,'on the same provinces is guarded by the reciprocity treaty; articles. All we ask now is the measure of pro- and until that shall be abrogated, no additional tection to which. France agrees to fall to here- duty can be placed upon coal, so as to become, after-thirty per cent., made specific, instead of at this time, or for some years to come, practinineteen, and twenty-four instead of fifteen. cally important. That treaty was an injurious In a speech recently delivered to the legisla- one for the country. The New England worktive corps of France, on the subject of this treaty, shops should be supplied with produce from the Count de Mhorny said, among other things: States, not from the Canadas. " Frce trade may, itapiears to me, be considered as tic ob- The bill is reasonable, and I trust will prove ject to whicll society is tenldig; but protection mellt be the beneficial and permanent. The abrogation of ecans of arriving at it. S;ppose fI ee trade establishellc in a new anld peer