SPEECH 
 
 JOHN G. CHAPMAN, OF MARYLAND, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 REVENUE SYSTEM, AND IN DEFENCE 'OF THE 
 
 TARIFF OF 1842. 
 
 Delivered in the House of Representatives of the U. S., Aug. 1,1S46. 
 
 The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union upon the Warehouse hill, Mr. 
 Hopkiss, of Virginia, in the chair— 
 
 Mr. CHAPMAN, of Maryland, said: 
 
 I will endeavor, Mr. Chairman. to repay the kindness of the committee in ad¬ 
 journing over for me, by consuming as small a portion of their time as will enable 
 me to submit my views upon the revenue system of the Government, a material 
 part of which is now under the consideration of the committee. This bill,-sir, is 
 part and parcel of the system which was projected by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 met the approbation of the President, and is digested and submitted to the House 
 by the constituted organ. It is said that the system requires all its parts to be put 
 in operation, and that the bill, which is now a law, to reduce duties upon imports, 
 must have this along with it. To every part of this system am I opposed, and I 
 shall give some of the reasons which have influenced my opinions. We can judge 
 of the future only by the past, and we may anticipate the effect of this scheme of 
 finance by looking to the influences of a similar system that has once been tried. 
 
 I was desirous, sir, when the bill to reduce the duties upon imports was under 
 the consideration of the committee, to have given my views upon this system, and 
 I had intended to confine my remarks to one single point, the subject of prices; 
 and 1 had proposed to endeavor to demonstrate the falsity of the principle that the 
 duty adds so much to the price of the foreign article, and, what seems to me to be 
 a still greater absurdity, that the duty adds so much to the price of the home pro¬ 
 duced article. But, sir, the opportunity was not afforded me. As some of die 
 views which I had intended to present to the consideration of the House have been 
 given by others, and not wishing to travel overground which others have occupied, 
 I shall vary my argument, and my remarks upon the system may now be more 
 desultory than I wished or intended they should be. 
 
 Permit me, sir, to take a glance at the condition of die country and the finan¬ 
 ces of die Government in 1842, when the tariff was enacted. The cuirency of 
 the country was deranged, its labor depressed, every branch of business was em¬ 
 barrassed, all its pursuits of industry had been impeded or interrupted.- With a 
 foreign debt of near three hundred millions of dollars, produced by die immense 
 importation of foreign goods and fabrics, the country was reduced to a state bor¬ 
 dering on bankruptcy and ruin. The state of the national treasury was no better; 
 
 J. & 6. S, Gideou, primtra. 
 
2 
 
 the balances of appropriations outstanding on the 4th of March, 1841, were 
 633,429,616.50, as appears from the Treasury report of the 2d June, 1^41. 
 
 " By the act of 21stJuly, lS41,a loan of $12,000,000 was authorized, and the 
 act of 15th April, 1842, extended the period for the redemption of that loan, and 
 authorized an additional loan of $5,000,000. I need not remind the commit¬ 
 tee, sir, that that loan cotdd not be negotiated. After unsuccessful efforts at home, 
 agents were sent to Europe, where money was abundant at three or four per cent., 
 but they returned without borrowing a dollar. The credit of your Government was 
 gone; no one was willing to trust it. There was no system of revenue upon which 
 capitalists could base a reasonable expectation of payment, and the Government 
 was unable to meet any of its liabilities. In that state of things the tariff was pas¬ 
 sed in August, 1S42. A change immediately ensued; trade revived; business was 
 resumed; labor found employment, and the joyous sound of industry was heard 
 throughout the country; your Government loans were taken by your,own citizens, 
 the act imposing duties upon imports pledging those duties for the payment of the 
 loans. The credit of your Government was restored; faith in the energies of the 
 people and the resources of the country justified capitalists to loan their money to 
 the Government, when they looked for payment from the system of revenue then 
 enact.d ; the credit of the Government was restored, and the-cotm'ry and its busi¬ 
 ness has from that lime been pursuing a course of rapid and unparalleled prosperi¬ 
 ty. Sir, up to the meeting of the present Congress the revenues have been ade- 
 quale to the expenses. The demands upon the Treasury for the current year, in¬ 
 cluding the Mexican war debt, which I shall not speak of at this time, will be some 
 sixty millions of dollars. I cannot stop to inquire lmw much this new system will 
 produce, but I take leave to predict that in one year from this time the Government 
 will be in debt more than forty millions of dollars. . 
 
 Now. Mr. Chairman, this whole system of finance is to be overthrown ; this 
 bill, now under consideration,is the finishing blow to the tariff of 1842; and why, 
 sir, is that system to be abandoned which has produced such beneficial effects upon 
 the revenues of the Government, and the industry and labor of the country ? Has 
 the country asked if? Have the people applied, by memorial or petition.for its re¬ 
 peal ? Is there any evidence that any portion of this country requires it ? No, sir; 
 although no one claims that the tariff of 1S42 is perfect in all its details, yet it has 
 answered the purposes for which it was enacted, and the expectations of those who 
 passed it have been more than realized by its effects upon the country. Why then, 
 sir, is it to be repealed ? Is it because the decree went forth from the Baltimore 
 Convention ? Hid the Democratic parly expect that the election of Mr. Polk 
 would determine the existence of that system, deemed by a portion of that parly 
 so vitally important to the best interests of the country? "Did the elevation of the 
 present party depend, in Pennsylvania, or New Jersey, or New York, on the des¬ 
 truction of the tariff? No, sir; throughout those States every party banner bore the 
 names of “Polk, Dallas, and the Tariff of 1S42.” 
 
 Sir, I do not mean to dwell upon the means of delusion practised in those States 
 to secure their votes for the present Executive. But, sir, let me call your atten¬ 
 tion to a few incidents, now matters of party history. Sir, I hold in my hand a 
 democratic paper, published in Pennsylvania during the canvass of 1S44, with a 
 standing paragraph, declaring in large capitals, “that Mr. Polk was the warm 
 friend of a tariff to protect the farmer and mechanic.” The same paper 
 contains an account of a large meeting of the Democracy of Pennsylvania, when 
 
 atlag, full eighteen feet in length, floated in the breeze, with the names of Polk, 
 Dallas , and the Tariff of 1842.” At that meeting two distinguished gentle¬ 
 men of the party from my own State were conspicuous; and one of them,in 
 
3 
 
 bis address to the Pennsylvania democracy, is reported to have contrasted Mr. 
 Polk’s views with those of Henry Clay, and proved conclusively that Janies K. 
 Polk was the better tariff mail of the two.” What powerful eloquence, or what 
 perfect delusion, must have been used on that occasion !! 
 
 The Harrisburg Union contained this paragraph: 
 
 “He, (Jas. K. Polk,) is the especial friend and advocate of the coal and iron interest, those two ~rvat 
 objects of solicitude with Pennsylvania; and believing i'Ermakenck in our laws tube of incalculable taluc, 
 IS OPPOSED TO THE DISTURBANCE OF THE EXISTING TARIFF. TlleSC facts WC State upon the CRM' authority, 
 and caution the Democracy of this great State against-listening to the rqiresenLUions of the coons.'’ 
 
 What says the Democracy of Pennsylvania now? Is the President ihe especial 
 friend and advocate of the coal and iron interest? Does he believe that ir muui 
 in our system is of incalculable value? Has lie opposed the disturbance of the exis¬ 
 ting tariff? Truth, indeed, is more strange than fiction. What does die coal 
 andiron interest of Pennsylvania think now? Are their works to be abandoned; 
 the forges to stop; the fires to be put out in her furnaces, and her work shops to be 
 closed? Truly the especial friend and advocate of those great interests, the great 
 objects of solicitude with Pennsylvanians, has defended those inieresls with hut 
 poor success. What was the language used by the leaders of the party in New Jer¬ 
 sey? 
 
 Mr. Lucius Elmer, a member of the last Congress, a Democrat. thus wrote to a 
 friend: “Happily, the continuance of die present, tariff in no wise depend? upon 
 the success or defeat of any party, or of any candidate for the Presidency.” 
 
 Sir, we have, as yet, no account of Mr. Elmer’s opinions since the attack upon 
 the tariff. Wc are not informed whether he still labors under die smile delusion 
 or not. Time, perhaps, may teach him that his opinions about men are not al¬ 
 ways sound and correct. Hear what another Jersey Democrat said. James S. 
 Green, esq., who is now,I believe, U. S. District Attorney, thus wrote to the Dem¬ 
 ocratic Committee of Trenton : 
 
 “It is manifest from these and other signs of the times, that there is a settled and 
 well founded conviction in the public mind, that it is the determination of die 
 Whig party, should they succeed in the next Presidential election, to change the 
 present Democratic tariff of 1842.” 
 
 Another specimen is afforded by one of the associations at Morristown, N. J., 
 viz: “Resolved, that we agree with our candidates for die Presidency and Vice 
 Presidency, that the -present tariff ought not to he repeated." 
 
 Another extract, and I will pass from this subject. The Plebeian, a leading par¬ 
 ty paper in New York, in noticing the proceedings of a Democratic meeting, has 
 this paragraph: 
 
 “Gov. Silas Wright refuted, in his masterly manner, llie base and infamous 
 charge, that Gov. Polk is opposed to a-protective tariff." 
 
 Now, sir, I cannot take the time to characterize these sentiments and these pro¬ 
 ceedings in the terms that they deserve. Let me only remark, that such fraud up¬ 
 on public credulity is unparalleled; and no language of opprobrium is too harsh to 
 be dealt out upon those who would be guilty of such falsehood and misrepresen¬ 
 tation. The public mind, I have no doubt, sir, is justly informed how far “the 
 change of the tariff of 1S42” depends upon the Whig party. 
 
 It has been the policy, sir, of all nations, whose example is worthy of imitation, 
 to protect their own labor and industry—to develop their own resources, and to 
 strengthen their own institutions, so as to be fortified against the course and policy 
 of others!. This policy we are about to abandon, and it would seem, from the re¬ 
 commendation of the Secretary of the Treasury, that the benefits of supplying our 
 wants may inure to the foreign manufacturer and capitalist. On the bill page of 
 
4 
 
 the annual report, the Secretary says: “At present prices our cotton crop will yield) 
 an annual product of $72,000,f'00, and the manufactured fabrics $f>04,000j00Q ? 
 furnishing profits abroad to thousands of capitalists, and wages to hundreds of thou¬ 
 sands of the working classes.” It. seems that the capitalist and working classes 
 abroad are the peculiar objects of the Secretary’s care and consideration. The ben¬ 
 efit of converting the raw material into fabrics for our own consumption must be 
 given to them ; our citizens are to be deprived of those advantages for the exclu¬ 
 sive benefit of capitalists and laborers abroad. Sir, is this sound political economy? 
 Is this the true policy of this country? Is it consistent with out interest to be depen¬ 
 dant upon foreign governments for our supplies, or to transfer the profits of conver¬ 
 ting the raw material into the fabric out of the country? It is the Secretary’s doc¬ 
 trine; it is the doctrine of free trade. If it be true in regard to cotton fabrics, itmust 
 he more so as it respects all other commodities of manufacture. To what would 
 such a system lead? To employ foreign labor instead of our own. and to have 
 that labor fed by foreign agriculturists, while it is employed in manufacturing- 
 articles of our own consumption. Such a system would lead to a stale of depen- 
 dance more abject and degrading than a state of vassalage. It would deprive 
 your own labor of employment, and give to the farmer abroad the privilege of 
 feeding the laborers who were working for the farmer at home, while the produc¬ 
 tions of our farmers would be left to rot on our hands. Such is not the policy 
 of Great Britain. Her policy has been to protect her own labor and industry ; to 
 stretch out the strong arm of her power to every interest which required it ; to throw 
 the broad mantle of her wise system over every institution which could increase 
 her resources at home, or give her additional power among the great family of na¬ 
 tions. And well does her present position, and that which she has long occupied, 
 repay her care and sagacity. In looking at the causes of national wealth and na¬ 
 tional influence, and to the effects and operations of these influences upon the 
 commercial and political relations of the world, we are struck by the power and 
 position of England, and the policy which has given her that imposing attitude ; 
 and the incidents connected with her course, even during the present century, 
 dearly illustrate the wisdom of that, policy which has made her resources with¬ 
 out limit—which has enabled her to subsidize continental Europe at her pleas¬ 
 ure, and made the commercial world tributary to her power. And let me ask, sir, 
 to what does she owe this position? How have those immense resources hem 
 acquired? By the protection afforded to her own labor and industry ; by taking 
 from abroad no commodity which she could supply within her own domain, and 
 by supplying the rest of the world with every production which she could induce 
 others to take from her. 
 
 Much lias been said,and large expectations have been built up, upon the free 
 trade system—the leading measure of the late administration of Sir Robert Teel'; 
 but, sir, is the change of her system intended to benefit us, or to protect her own 
 interests? Look at the causes which have produced the change, and the results 
 which it is intended to effect, and you will see that the change has been made by 
 a new state of things which has arisen—by a new commercial system which is 
 springing up and gaining strength, and which her policy cannot countervail. It 
 is no departure from a uniform adherence to a course which looks to her own in¬ 
 terests ; it is in accordance with the same principle of protection which has ever- 
 characterized her policy. Rivals have grown up to her great manufacturing es¬ 
 tablishments, and it is necessary that those rivals should be broken down or de¬ 
 feated, or, at least, that her main interests should not be destroyed by the com¬ 
 petition. We have entered into the markets with her, our fabrics arc placed along; 
 aide and in competition with those of her workshops, and one of the two must 
 
6 
 
 give way. Sir, already we are exporting about thirteen millions worth of pro¬ 
 tected articles a year, of which, about five millions was of cotton goods, which 
 necessarily displace British goods to that amount fiotn the markets of the world. 
 The Zoll-Verein treaty of the Germanic States, to protect their own interests, has 
 also brought many articles into competition with the fabrics of Great Britain. She 
 must make her fabrics cheaper, at less cost, or lose the markets heretofore open to 
 her. She has foreseen this ; her statesmen have discovered that a reduced mar¬ 
 ket for her agricultural products is better than no market; her protective policy 
 must be adhered to, as far as circumstances will permit; her agriculturists are the 
 objects of her especial bounty and protection ; she has been exporting near one 
 hundred millions of dollars worth of agricultural products a year, not in the raw 
 state, but worked up—manipulated into cloths, cutlery, and other fabrics and arti¬ 
 cles. This can no longer be the case, if the markets of the world are supplied by 
 ourselves. If her workshops are closed, or Iter manufactures are driven from 
 the market, her agriculturist finds no market, for his breadstufis or other products, 
 and, foreseeing this, she may well open her ports; she does it for her own preser¬ 
 vation. Well does she know in what her power consists, and she has not been 
 known to change the principle upon which that power depends. 
 
 Let me now ask what is to be (he effect upon the finances and the wealth of the 
 country by abandoning the system of 1S42. and adopting a system akin to free 
 trade. Ilow is the necessary amount of revenue to be raised? The expenses of 
 the Government have not been less than from twenty-five to thirty millions a year; 
 and I need not say that our expenses are likely to increase with the growth and 
 population of the country. If some twenty-five millions were required when the 
 population did not exceed seventeen millions, and the territory was much more 
 limited than it now is, how much more will be required when the limits and juris¬ 
 diction shall extend to the Pacific ocean? And I doubt not, sir, that some chart 
 or map may be found, with a “red line” drawn from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
 Pacific, designating the limits and jurisdiction of this Government, to which we 
 are hastening by progressive Democracy,or by inevitable destiny. How, sir, is 
 the revenue to meet the expenses of this Government to be raised ? The Secretary 
 tells us, by low duties—that low duties will induce a larger amount of importations, 
 and that will yield the adequate amount of revenue. Time will not allow me to 
 examine the soundness of this theory; and, for the sake of the argument, I will admit 
 that the necessary amount will be raised. But by what means, and what will be 
 the effect upon the wealth of the country? Our exports have amounted to about 
 one hundred millions of dollars’worth a year; the imports to near one hundred 
 and twenty millions. If one hundred and twenty millions, at an average rate of 
 duty of about 110 per cent., which has been about the average duty, under the 
 present tariff, have yielded but twenty-six millions of revenue, what amount of 
 imports will be required, at an average of 20 per cent., to yield the same amount? 
 One-third more, sir. And if our exports have not been equal to our imports, how 
 is the excess of imports, one third more, to be paid for? Sir, the debt of the coun¬ 
 try will again accumulate at the rate of fifty millions a year; and how long can 
 this continue? For a year or two von may get revenue enough ; hut soon you 
 will find tire credit of the country destroyed, and your Treasury without a dollar. 
 How, then, will you replenish it? Will you resort to an income tax, or direct 
 taxation ? Which of the many interests of the country wiil best bear the necessa¬ 
 ry exactions for the requisite revenue? Your manufacturing establishments will 
 have been broken up, and the capital now employed in (Item will have sought new 
 channels of enterprise, and most, of it may have been placed beyond the taxing 
 power of the Government. Sir, there is but one interest>on which your system will 
 
6 
 
 be brought to bear; it is the landed interest—the planters and farmers of the coun¬ 
 try. Upon them will the system of free trade—beautiful, visionary , and Uto¬ 
 pian as it is—fasten its deadly influence, and, vampire like, draw from it the vital 
 fluid of its existence. But, sir, what is to be the effect of your system upon the 
 wealth of the country? And here I am brought to examine an opinion expressed 
 by my friend from Virginia, [Mr. Hunter,] whom I do not see in his seat. Sir, 
 that gentleman’s opinions, as a statesman, are entitled to great consideration and 
 respect; but the statistics of the commerce and the revenues of the country lead 
 me to conclusions different from the opinions here expressed by him. I find, in 
 the speech of my honorable friend, the following sentences: “ Nothing can be 
 clearer than the proofs adduced by Sir Robert Peel, ft'orn experience, that the 
 result of every removal or mitigation of the restrictions upon commerce had been 
 to increase the production and wealth, and to enlarge the sources of taxation of the 
 country. From which proposition there mentally flows the corollary, that every 
 increase of duty beyond the revenue standard for protection diminishes not only the 
 wealth,but the revenue of a nation.” I take issue,sir, with the learned gentleman, 
 my honorable friend from Virginia, upon the truth of his corollary; and from the 
 tables of the Treasury, the revenue statistics of the Government will show that 
 a contrary corollary is true. Now, sir, let us look to the effect of the tariff for rev¬ 
 enue, of 1S33, upon the imports and exports of the country, and see how it af¬ 
 fected the revenue and wealth of the nation. Take the last three years of the 
 compromise tariff, and we find the imports to have been, viz : 
 
 Of which was specie— 
 
 For 1839 - - §162,092,132 For 1S39 - - - $5,595,176 
 
 1840 - - 107,141,519 1S40 - - - S,8S2,S13 
 
 1841 - - 127,946,177 1841 - - - 4,988,633 
 
 $397,179,82S 
 And the exports were : 
 
 Of which was specie 
 
 For 1839 - - $121,028,416 For 1839 - 
 
 1840 - - 132,085,946 1840 - 
 
 1S41 - - 121,SSL,803 1841 - 
 
 $374,966,165 $27,228,0S9 
 
 Deduct $27,22S,0S9, the amount of specie exported, and we have $347,73S,- 
 076 of domestic and foreign productions exported in those three years, and leaving 
 a balance of $59,441,752 against the trade and wealth of the country in that pe¬ 
 riod. Now, sir, let us look to the imports and exports of the country for the three 
 years next after the passage of the tariff of 1842, or rather, sir, for two years and a 
 half, the commencement of the fiscal year of 1843 having been changed ; and we- 
 shall see, for two and a half years after the tariff of 1S42, how the beneficial effect 
 of that system was felt, in relieving the indebtedness of the country produced by 
 the operation of the act of 1833. For the two years and a half, the imports were- 
 viz : 
 
 Of which was specie— 
 
 For 1843 - - $64,753,799 For 1843 - - $22,320,335 
 
 1844 - - 108,435,035 1844- - - 5,830,429 
 
 1845 - - 117,254,564 1S45- - - 4,070,242 
 
 $19,466,622 
 
 $8,776,743 
 S,417,014 
 10,034,332 
 
 $290,443,39S 
 
 $32,221,006 
 
And the exports were: 
 
 Of which was specie— 
 
 For 1843 - - $84,346,480 For 1843- - - $1,520,791 
 
 1844 - - 111,200,114 1814- - - 5,454,214 
 
 1845 - - 114,646,606 1845 - - - 8,606,495 
 
 $310,193,200 §15,58 1,500 
 
9 
 
 to be, the more certain will be the competition which will be created, and the supply which that compe¬ 
 tition will produce. 
 
 I will nol, Mr. Chairman, fatigue the committee by a particular analysis of the prices of the necessary 
 tommodities, by exhibiting comparative tables of the prices of different articles at such periods as would 
 show the operation of a protective policy. That prices of all articles which have received adequate pro¬ 
 tection have declined, no one denies. That it can be attributed to any other cause than the operation of 
 lhat system which gives the preference to our own citizens and their labor, I think experience has fully 
 demonstrated, and that It has resulted from the working of those principles of political economy which I 
 have slated. Permit me to ask your attention to a few of the articles most familiar to the country, and the 
 knowledge of every man will corroborate the statements which I make, as to the comparative prices of 
 hose articles. To give to the country a synopsis of the different varieties of cotton fabrics would be su¬ 
 perfluous. The first protective duty levied upon cotton fabrics by the tariff of 1824, was equivalent to 
 ibout thirty-three per cent, of its then value. The price very soon came down to the amount of the duty, 
 lie quality of tile article greatly improved, and the duty upon coarse cotton fabrics has been almost pro- 
 libitory, because our manufactures, in a short time after the prohibition was afforded, were enabled to 
 nake and to sell them at about one-third of the cost of the foreign article. The effect of the tariff upon 
 coarse woollens has been as favorable, in proportion to the time it has been afforded. Upon that article 
 jailed satinetts, or as it is more commonly called cassinetts in the country; before the first protective du- 
 y was laid upon this article, it sold at from seventy-five cents to a dollar a yard for the commonest arti- 
 ;le. The same can now be bought fifty per cent. less. The same has been the case with all coarse cloths. 
 Hie public mind, sir, is familiar with these facts. 
 
 Upon no article of domestic production has protection operated more favorably than upon glass. 
 
 In 1824, the duty upon window glass was $3 per 100 feet, and the price was $10 50. In 182S, the 
 lame duty, and the price was $G 50. By the tariff of 1842, the duty is $2 per 100 feet for die same kind, 
 
 1 by 10; on glass 10 by 12, it is $2 50; on glass 14 by 16, it is $3 50, and so on up to $6 per hundred 
 or glass above 18 by 20 inches; on crown glass it is from 33 to 50 per cent. more. jN t ow, sir, glass, and 
 larticularly the plain 8 by 10, which is in more general use, can be bought for a little more than the duty, 
 ;2 25, and all other kinds in proportion. 
 
 On all the varieties of the manufacture of glass, protection has operated with the same results. Upon 
 dain, pressed, cut, and colored—tumblers, vials, bottles, and demijohns, it is all the same. The price 
 tas come down by the domestic supply, and it is now furnished at the mere cost of production, simplified 
 nd reduced by skill, experience, and science. Let me give you an extract from a certificate from the 
 nanufacturers of Wheeling, Virginia. They say: 
 
 “ During the years ’41 and part of ’42, our flint glass manufactory was idle, owing to the want of busi- 
 tess resulting from the reduction of the tariff under the compromise act, so that our hands were idle 
 or some eighteen or twenty months. After the passage of the tariff of ’42, we again put our works in 
 iperation, and have been since making all the glass our factory is capable of producing; and we are now 
 i elling our glass at twenty-five per cent, less than we did at the adoption of the tariff of ’42, and we believe 
 the deduction has been general over the country.” 
 
 | I learn that in 1S32 them were seventeen flint glass factories in the United States. As the tariff was 
 leduced the number of factories was reduced, and in 1842 there were but five. Since the tariff of 1842, 
 the number has increased.to.nineteen, which.consume annually $800,000 worth of coal, wood, timber, iron, 
 |traw, &c., besides the provisions necessary for the operatives, and afford employment to 5,393 tons of 
 shipping. An intelligent writer on this subject says: 
 
 ij “ Since 1842 the price of glass has been reduced 25 per cent., while the wages of the laborers have 
 tjeen increased in about Ihe same proportion. In this case it is evident that protection has cheapened glass 
 to the consumers, while it has increased the wages of the makers—apparently a paradox; yet such arc 
 fhe fiicts. And why should it not be so? When foreign manufactures have killed off 12 out of our 17 
 factories, the way is prepared to increase the price of their glass; and at the same time when glass-ma¬ 
 kers, enough to supply our 17 factories, are forced to rely for work upon only 5, and these five doing 
 a precarious business, it is certainly reasonable to suppose that they cannot command full wages—rea¬ 
 sonable, because they cannot have full work. The foreign glass dealers are now flattering themselves 
 with again prostrating American glass-makers by means of Walker’s tariff. Said one of them recently 
 fo a Yankee glass-maker: ■ ‘Give us that bill, and we will soon stop your fires for you 1’ ” 
 ft Every man, Mr. Chairman, knows how greatly reduced are Ihe prices of the various articles of the manu¬ 
 facture of iron, from a cut nail to the most highly finished piece of cutlery. It would consume more time 
 Btan is left to me to specify the articles, and the country is too familiar with the prices to make it ncccs- 
 Bary. There are few who hear me that do not know, 'that iron chains of every kind have been reduced 
 fifty per cent., and that as soon as protection to nails of five cents per pound was afforded, it amounted 
 jut prohibition against the foreign article, and the price came down below the duty. Axes and anvils, 
 mallow ware, nay, every article, has been reduced since the tariff of 1842, and none more than that spe- 
 f 0jcs of iron which is protected at $56 a ton, and is now selling at from 80 to 85 dollars. Sir, if there was 
 liny semblancc.of truth or plausibility in the assertion that the duty on the foreign article was added to 
 fte home manufactured article, that species of iron upon which die duty is 25 cents a pound, or $56 a ton, 
 wit, iron of ^ of an inch and less, would sell for $31 more than hammered bar iron, the duty upon 
 'which is $25 per ton; whereas it does not sell for any more, or if it does, but a dollar or two. I am crcd- 
 |U)ly informed that both kinds can be had at $85 per ton. Here is 
 
10 
 
 “A list of ticket prices of Jlmtrican made merchant in 
 From 0 to No. 6 9 cents per pound. j 
 
 i-toire in 1846, which has been famished, to me . 
 From 15 and 16 14 cents per pound. 
 
 19 
 
 19 
 
 w selling at from forty to forty-fivi 
 
 “ 13 and 14 12] “ “ ] 
 
 Fine wire one cent more per number up to No. 30. Wit 
 per cent, less than the above prices, from the manufacturers. 
 
 In 1828, the ticket prices of wire were from one to two cents per pound higher than the above licke 
 prices of 1846. At that time there was no discount, from the ticket prices. At that time there was bu 
 a single wire factory of any consequence. 
 
 Now it is believed by those best informed, that wire enough t6 supply this country, at the above price! 
 of 1846, is manufactured in the United States. That the weight of the wire made in one day is probably 
 twenty tons, of which about six tons per day is made into wood screws. This screw manufacture haj 
 nearly all come into existence since the tariff of 1842. | 
 
 The manufacture of sheet iron commenced in this country about the year 1831. None of any conse 1 
 quence was made before that time. Now, (with the exception of Russia sheet iron,) the manufacturers 
 of this country can supply the whole demand of the United States. ; 
 
 The Russia sheet iron has been more uniform in price, for the last twenty-five years, than any other ironfa\ 
 brie, owing to there being no competition." i 
 
 An intelligent correspondent thus writes to me: “ I have not the least doubt, that if the tariff of Secrei 
 tary Walker should pass, the wire and the sheet iron trade would be ruined, and many thousands of pen 
 sons, such as miners, furnace-men, and mechanics, engaged in the business, will be out of employ. An| 
 the doubt on this subject has suspended the investment of several hundred thousand dollars in the Amen 
 ican iron business. This capital is waiting the result, and will not be employed in the iron business il 
 Mr. Walker’s bill should be passed. 
 
 I have been engaged in the manufacture of iron wire since 1824, in the United States.” 
 
 American Institute, Mw York, May 1st, 1846. 
 
 Now, sir, we will pass from iron to sugar, and I will only stop to 
 ply of Louisiana sugar has increased almost one h undrecl per cent. 
 
 1842, while the price has diminished, and particularly for the inferii , 
 fined sugars (loaf and clarified) that protection is most felt. Such sugars t 
 at $10 j; and the quality of those sugars has been greatly improved, as well as a large 
 sugar, being made from the molasses by a process which was invented by Professor Mapes, of N( , 
 York, a gentleman of great science and intelligence. Sugars, which sold for 18 to 20 cents a pound beforj 
 
 nnd the committee that the sup 
 tier the operation of the tariff tj 
 [italities. But, sir, it is upon rtj 
 s as sold in 1842 at $13, now sej 
 well as a large amount of brow! 
 
 any protection 
 
 1838, July 1... 
 
 1839, Jan. 1... 
 
 1839, July 1... 
 
 1840, Jan. 1... 
 
 1840, July 1... 
 
 1841, Jan'. 1... 
 
 1841, July 1... 
 
 1842, Jail. 1.., 
 1842, July 1... 
 
 is afforded to refined or lo 
 s of bagging and bale rope in Louisville, fro 
 
 ...18 a 20.. 
 ..17 it 19.. 
 ...19 a 21.. 
 ..22 it 24.. 
 ...22 a 24... 
 ..22 a 24... 
 ...22 a 24.. 
 
 t from 101 to 11 ce 
 n January 1,1838, lo January 1,1846. 
 
 Bale rope, per pound. 
 
 1844, Jan. 1.11 n 12.3i a 44 
 
 1844, July 1.11 a 12. il a 5] 
 
 1845, .Tan. 1. 3 a 10.3' n 44 
 
 1845, July 1.91 a 10;.3 a 4'i 
 
 1846, Jan. 1.81 « 91.3 a 4 
 
 |C3t™ The variation in prices at the same period is produced by a difference in the quality of the articles, 
 
 and the length of the credit. Thus, on the first January, 1846, a medium quality bagging could be bougie 
 at 81 cents cash, whilst a superior fabric would command 91 cents cash. The first would be sold at? 
 cents on a credit of nine months, and the latter at 10 cents oh the same credit. 
 
 In 1841, the compromise tariff had nearly reached the lowest point of declension. During that yea’, 
 the Louisville Manufacturing Company contracted with some Louisiana planters to furnish them wie 
 bagging for five years, at 20 cents. This price was at the time considered so low, that the gentlemen wlr. 
 contracted to be supplied thought they had made a very excellent bargain. In less than six months afi'j 
 the tariff was laid, bagging was sold at but a little more than half that sum, and in three years after at 1ft? 
 than half.” | 
 
 Why enumerate leather, the prices of which have also declined by the competition and other cause 
 produced by the tariff of 1842, or boots, or shoes, or hats. The same is true as to them, and “many otli? 
 articles too tedious to be mentioned.” 
 
nost implicit confidence, because of the respectability of 
 ■.’ill sustain the assertion which I have made, that the pr 
 Auction in the prices of protected articles, which the Sec 
 irithin the last year, to ail amount sufficient to raise more 
 examples: In the Starke mills, at Manchester, New Han: 
 .1 imployed, (over and above their board,) was, in Februar 
 nontli, in 1846, <tl 93 per week—an increase of 32 per ce 
 i The annexed table of comparative wag 
 ^ “ Average wages paid the operatives in the JImosheag net 
 
 1 Mill No. 1, January, 1842 - 
 
 i,j “ In the mills of tile Lawrence Manufacturing Company, between the second Saturday in November, 
 ilS42, and the second Saturday of February, 1843, the female job-help received at the rate of 481 cents a 
 jjlay, or §1 G3 per week clear of board. Ill the mills of the said company, between the second Saturday 
 pf’Novemoer, 1845, and the second Saturday of February, 1846, the same hands received at the rate of 
 £5 three-tenths cents a day, or §2 05 per week, clear of board. This is certified by John Aiken, agent 
 bf the company.” He also states that, in 1342, old hands were abundant at §1 50 per week and board; 
 whereas now, in March, 1846, it is extremely difficult to get them at $2 per week and board. 
 
 The books of the Merrimack Company, at Lowell, exhibit the following average rate of wages, viz: 
 ‘Males, per week, in 1340, $4 80; in 1341, <S4 92; in 1842, §5 04; in 1843, S4 76; in 1844, §5 23; ir. 
 1845, $5 40. Females, per week, in 1840, $1 92; in 1841, §1 93; in 1842, §2 30, in 1843, £2 1G; ir. 
 
 1845, $5 40. Females, per week, in 184 
 s a844, §2 34; in 1845, §2 38. 
 
 In the month of February, 1843, the a 
 '5846, the average rate, per weelt, was §2 
 r ” Wages paid by the Delaware Coal Coi 
 
 r " Wages paid by the Delaware Coal Company, viz: Miners’ wages, per day, in 1832, §1; in 1842, 821 
 .cents; in 1845, $1 13; in 1846, §1 25 to $1 50. Laborers, per day, in 1832, SO cents; in 1842, 70 cents": 
 in 1845, 80 cents; in 1846, 83 cents to SI. 
 
 , The prices are now higher than under the tariff of 1S28. Under the compromise act, wages declined 
 20 to 25 per cent.; under the act of 1842, they are steadily and firmly advancing. Miners, in many in¬ 
 stances, make at the rate of §1 50 to §1 75 a day, and some of them §2 a day. 
 
 , At the Jackson Manufacturing Company, New Hampshire, May 12, 1843. 
 
 Average wages of (he Female Operatives for the four weeks ending April loth, 1843. 
 
 6,403 i 680 06 
 461 ; 64 47 
 625 ! 85 41 
 325 j 39 23 
 
 1 39 j 
 
 1 40 ! U 
 
 2 30 I 3 looms 
 
 2 10 ! 4 do - 
 
 1 77 | Others pr. v 
 
 JAMES A. DUPRE, lor EDMUND PARKER, 
 
12 
 
 •Average wages of the Female Operatives for the four weeks ending February 21sf, 184G. 
 
 Employment. 
 Mill, No. 1. 
 
 •orked. 
 
 No. of girls [Amount paid, 
 all the 
 
 £ a . rdil .'S. 
 
 Weavin®’ 
 
 Karpin?. 
 
 Dressing. 
 
 Drawing in.... 
 
 Mill, No. 2. 
 Carding. 
 
 feft::::: 
 
 Warping. 
 
 Dressing.. 
 
 65,000 
 
 111,900 
 
 174,625 
 
 15,425 
 
 26,550 
 
 10,075 
 
 45,800 
 
 110,825 
 
 161,525 
 
 14,650 
 
 20,725 
 
 11,325 
 
 1,050 50 
 87 33 
 147 43 
 63 26 
 
 233 92 ! 
 513 41 ! 
 968 03 
 
 GEORGE F. BECK, for E. PARKER, Jlgent. 
 tcitsoN County, New Hampshire, Feb. 29/fi, 1S46. 
 
 The price of wages per day for masons ami laborers ill the month of May, in the following years : 
 
 s, 13 shillings—Laborer 
 
 , j After the great fire in the e : ty of New York. 
 ‘ Great expansion of the currency. 
 
 1844, 
 
 1845, 
 
 In additioi 
 
 s, from 1842 to 1845, there ha 
 
 “ 13 “ 
 
 “ 14 
 
 o the rise in til 
 
 l than there were from 1838 to 1S42. 
 
 JOSEPH TUCKER, 
 WILLIAM TUCKER, 
 JAMES HARRIOT, [. 
 AMOS WOODRUFF, ' 
 JAMES WEBB, 
 SAMUEL OLIVER, 
 
 m 50 to 75 pej 
 
 Mechanics of the city of New York. 
 
 Proofs could bo multiplied to an endless extent, but why do 
 and the truth of my theorems depends upon well established 
 And now, sir, 1 assert, without the fear of sue 
 while the demand for it has also increased in more than a 
 calculated to advance the labor of the country, and to p 
 only consistent with the well-being, blit necessary for tl 
 lion of protection is a question of labor. It is a questii 
 portion of the necessaries and comforts of life by Amei 
 them. Upon that question can any man liesitat 
 
 r The fact is known ti 
 dished principles of political economy, 
 contradiction, that the price of labor has im 
 
 atio; that the protective sj.... 
 dependent attitude which is 
 
 people—I will not further di 
 and in the different countries of Europe, w 
 our population enjoy. Here that class is respected ac 
 brts and conveniences of life at-- 
 
 hether’we are to be furnished with a 
 
 t question I submit to the consideration r-:l 
 ting at the comparative prices of labor ii’i 
 e forcibly struck by the advantages whiclit 
 id according to their merit and deportment.! 
 ch, the door of honor and advancement is) 
 dike open to them as to the wealthy and high born, and the cottage of the laborer may be decorated anil 
 embellished with as bright flowers as those which cluster around the portals of the great. The smile o:V 
 innocence and beauty may there be as captivating, and his home be the centre of as many attractions! 
 and the sanctuary of the purest and holiest feelings of our nature. Sir, your anti-protective system! 
 would close the door to advancement against all those who are dependant upon their labor and exertions,* 
 and doom them to remain in that state in which they commence life. I 
 
 I think now, sir, I have shown that the duty upon any foreign article does not increase the price iff 
 the similar domestic production—that the -price will be regulated by the demand and supply—that tw 
 supply will be in the ratio of the protection and encouragement to the manufacturer, and the stability ofl 
 the protection, and the competition which the stability of the system will produce. This is also true a# 
 to the wages of labor. The price of labor depends upon the demaud for the products of that laborjj 
 
nd the certainty of its employment not being; interrupted. Capital must find employment. Ifitdoe3 
 at meet with it in one channel, it will seek it in another. If it cannot be employed profitably by the 
 nployment of n large amount of labor, it can find other investments where labor is not needed. The 
 amand for labor must vary with the profits which are afforded to the investments of capital, and 
 Se remuneration of labor must consequently depend upon the corresponding demand. The duty, thcre- 
 ire, which is imposed upon the foreign article is not a bounty to the home manufacturer, even if it 
 inded to increase the price of the article pro lanto, which it does not. If it is a bounty to any class, it 
 I to the laborer—labor, like every other commodity, being regulated by the law of demand and supply, 
 [he stability which fixed and uniform prices by a protective tariff affords, induces the investment of 
 Lpital. High duties create competition, and that competition gives employment to labor, creating the 
 bmand for iabor: and in a country like this, where the field is so wide, and the prospects of wealth 
 bid out by the fertile prairies of the West so sure and flattering, there is no necessity for our laborers to 
 eg employment in factories, or to enter them without remunerating wages—thus, is the protection to the 
 abor and industry of the country more than to its capital. 
 
 As one cause for the reduction of prices upon protected articles, the Secretary states in his report 
 [at wages have generally diminished under the tariff. This is not so. It is impossible that it should 
 p. There has been an increase in the demand for labor, and its employment has been uniform and pro- 
 [essive; and it is true, that the more it is wanted the more wages it will command. Wages cannot di- 
 [inish under an increased demand, and when there is so much competition in the various pursuits of in- 
 ustry. No, sir, tile reduction of the prices of protected articles is resolvable in the axiom that the supply 
 1 fully equal to the demand'; and the producers must be content with receiving for the articles so auun- 
 Intly supplied the mere co3t of their production. I may be asked, sir, since labor in this country corn- 
 lands so much higher prices than in Europe, why is it that our products, the fruits of that labor, can be 
 forded at less cost than the foreign article? Or why do the fabrics of our country undersell those o?. 
 rarope ? And if they do, where the necessity of protection ? Although this does not strictly belong to 
 
 he costand charges of all these are to be entered as a part of the cost of the article, 
 labor employed. I need not say that the difference in the amount of taxes in this coi 
 e, is one cause why our manufacturers can undersell those of Europe. There, and p 
 md, every thing is taxed—the land, houses, doors, windows, the very air that is breath 
 :eds her half-starved population is taxed; and all those taxes must be paid by addi 
 ist of the. production of those articles with which we compete, free of all those ta> 
 ich are there so oppressive. The capitalist, or the landlord who pays the taxes, mi 
 rice of the article. Sir, there is another reason : here machinery has superceded hum 
 - extent than it has in those countries possessing a redundant population. In Fran 
 an labor, which is cheaper than in England, is relied upon much in the place of hor 
 
 Profils on the investments in Manufactories. 
 
 t, say they, who oppose protection, the profits of the manufacturer are inordinate and enormous, 
 hose large profits are paid by the consumer, by the farmer and planter, amounting to at least 20 pet 
 upon the investment; while the investment of the agriculturist, particularly in other States where 
 labor is employed, does not pay more than two or three per cent. Now, sir, I take leave to say, 
 here is, there must be, a mistake in such statements, and that those opinions, honestly entertained^ 
 bt not by many persons who are too ingenuous to make statements which they do not confide in, 
 mnded in error, and are based upon the results of the skill and enterprise, and industry, embarked 
 ise manufacturing operations, and upon the profits derived from that combination, and not the profits 
 the article manufactured. Let me illustrate this point by a case of ordinary occurrence. A man has a 
 d of §20,000; this he invests in some manufacturing establishment. He builds his mill, erects his 
 or fixtures for his motive power, and constructs his machinery adapted to the purpose and mami. 
 
15 
 
 -jiat work cannot progress to completion, if your market is to be closed to her coal and iron productions, 
 ‘■(rid a preference is to be given to the foreign article, as designed by your new revenue system.* 
 
 J I shall devote the few minutes left to me to the subject of coal. Sir, in this mineral our country is rich 
 “[-richer than any other; and if the protection afforded by the act of 1S42 is continued a few years 
 ger, we shall be able to supply the whole demand of the country at less prices than were paid before 
 B ._ protection was afforded. The coal field of Allegany is computed at about 300 square miles, and 
 bme of the principal si" 1 '- ’■. :| '" J ‘ 
 
 re thus described: 
 
 Near the level of the Potomac is a stratum of coal 8 feet thick. Immediately above it is a rich bed 
 iron ore, 20 feet thick. At a height of 100 feet is a coal bed of 5 feet thickness; and immediately 
 ve it is a stratum of fire clay. At a height of about 250 feet is a coal bed of 6 feet thick, and above, 
 roll ore of 5 feet. From 300 to 400 feet is a space unexplored. At 500 feet height is a coal vein of 7 
 ‘; at 600 feet, iron and coal. In the next 200 feet are several layers of coal and iron, but partially 
 litplored. At the height of 800 feet is the great vein of coal before described, here 17 feet in thick- 
 ess ; and shortly below it are balls of iron ore, and at 900 feet a coal vein of 4 feet in thickness. Mr. 
 hepherd estimates the quantity of coal within the limits of the estates of the above-named company, 
 'hich embraces a tract of 20,000 acres, at about 100,000 tons an acre, making 2,000,000,000 tons, or, 
 jjecting one-half for waste and to be reserved as pillars to support the roof in milling, an available quail- 
 
 I ty for use of a thousand millions of tons. He computes thatfwithin the same limits, there arc 1,930 
 lillions of cubic yards of iron ore, which, when smelted, trill' produce as many tons of metallic iron. 
 “There are within the same space large quantities of limestone, hydraulic lime, and fire clav. This 
 itimate embraces the possessions of a single company, occupying not more than a sixth part of the 
 area of the coal field. All this is situated above the level of the principal tributaries of that 
 The supply of coal and iron, therefore, may be safely assumed to be inexhaustible.” 
 
 Professor Duchatel, by a different mode of calculation, after deducting about a fifth part of the area 
 J lf the coal basin for those portions of it which are carried away in the formation of the valleys along the 
 'purse of the various streams, and making a much larger allowance for unavailable portions of the strata, 
 ‘Imputes the remaining portion to he 86,847 acres, the average thickness of the available beds of coal at 
 > feet, and that of the strata of iron ore at 15 feet. These data give the quantity of coal 6,305,000,000 
 tbic yards, amounting to about that number of tons; and the quantity of iron ore 3,237,000,000 tons, or 
 Lfficicnt to ptoduce 1,079,000,000 tons of crude iron. 
 m 'iis is a quantity more than equal to the present produce of the kingdom of Great Britain, continued 
 Period of five hundred years, without penetrating below the level of the Potomac river. Here is 
 i part of the mineral wealth of Maryland, being not less than six thousand three hundred and Jin mil- 
 one hundred and thirty-seven thousand two hundred and eighty-seven tons of coal; and one thousand and 
 renly-nine millions one hundred and ninety-one thousand seven hundred aiul fourteen tons of crude iron— an 
 Imount inexhaustible in quantity and. incalculable in amount of wealth. 
 
 "And, sir, you are about to close up .all those avenues .of immense wealth. Will Maryland remain 
 “•d to her true interests, or yield to your destructive policy ? 
 
 te of the principal articles upon which the .wealth of England depends, has been coal. It is true, 
 in this article she has heretofore had no rival.who could, to any extent, .compete with her. Coal 
 3een to England what steam power is to mechanics; it enters into all her operations. It warms her 
 —tljplrivcs her spindles, keeps in motion her vast machinery, and gives life and activity to all her en- 
 [gies, great and momentous as they are. And where is her coal, and what arc her facilities of supply- 
 compared to ours : 
 
 ; coal of England lies deep in the bowels of the earth, and it is dug out by men who have made 
 themselves the little dark world they live in ; where they have been born and bred, and where their 
 res and their children live in total and interminable darkness ; where there is neither sun, nor moon, 
 r stars, nor flowers of the field, nor breeze of summer, to gladden orlchcer them. The coal beds of 
 J ngland are, as 1 have said, buried deep under the earth; they are far out of sight, and their extent is a 
 ' troblem and a mystery; and yet the sturdy Briton treads the surface with as high a head, and as 
 roud a step, as if her glory and her coal were to last forever. 
 
 Turn your eyes to your country—to Pennsylvania, to my own State—where nature lias piled up in the 
 tountains of Alleghany wealth in uncounted millions; it lies there all above the surface, inviting you to 
 ime and carry it away; and yet, sir, you would deny that protection to your own citizens which, so 
 r, since it has been extended to them,has enabled them to supply so large a portion of the demand of this 
 | dneral at less cost than the foreign article of lesser value commanded before this protection was afforded, 
 ’the true and beneficial operation of the protective policy is in no article better exemplified and illustrated 
 ' |an by the effect upon the coal trade of the country, and the supplies which our own country have yielded. 
 PRICES OF COAL. 
 
 Under the compromise act, when the lower duties consequent upon the graduating scale, of reduction 
 "gan-to be felt, the importation of foreign coal ran up in 1837 to 153,006 tons, from about 50,000 in 
 15,.and in 1839 to 181,000 tons, while the consumption of the domestic article in the same period di- 
 
 'Since this.speech was delivered, I have been informed that the Lonaconing iron works, in Allegany 
 ,8>unty, Maryand, have suspended operations! The hands who were employed there will seek employ¬ 
 ment no doubt at the Mount Savage works, in the same county. This must reduce the wages of those 
 iere employed. . L .i - 
 
 I have also learned that the worthy and intelligent proprietors of the Patuxent forges have been com¬ 
 piled to reduce the wages of their hands fifty cents a day since the passage of the Secretary’s tariff bill. 
 
 fee'