I i Vor. VI, No. 361 irmnuct OF TIIF. HUNTINGDON JOURNAL The " JOURNAL" will be published every Wednesday morning, at two dollars a year, ti if paid IN AD V ANC E, and if notpaidwith in six iwinths, two dollars and a half. Every person who obtains five subscribers, and forwards price of subscription, shall be tarnished witha sixth copy gratuitously for one year. No subscription received for a less period than six months, nor any paper discontinued until all arrearages are paid. ;17.\1l communications must be addressed to the E litor, POST PAID, or they will not be attended to. Advertisements not exceeding one square, will be inserted three times for one dollar, and for every subsequent insertion, twenty live cents per square will be charged. lino definite orders are given as to the time an advertisement is to be continued, it will be kept in till ordered out, and charged accor dingly. AGENTS. FO It T:te Jaurnal, Daniel Teague, Orbisonia; David Blair. Esq. Shade Gap; Benjamin Lease. Shirleya burg; Eliel Smith, Esq. Chitcottstoson; Jas. Entriken. jr. Crffee Run; Hugh Madden, Esq. Springfield; Dr. S. S. Dewey, Bir mingham; i stnes Morrow. Union Furnace; John Sister. Warrior Mark; James Davis, Esq. West township ; D. H. Moore. Esq. Frankstown; Eph. Galbreath. Esq. Haiti dayabum Henry Neff. Alexandria; Aaron Burns, Williamsburg; A. J. Stewart. Water Street; Wm. Reed. Esq. Morris township; Solomon Hamer, .14eff's Mill; James Dysart. Muth Spruce C reek; Win. Murray, Esq. Graysville; John Crum. Manor Hill; Jas. F. Stewart. Sinking Valley; L. C. Kessler Mil Creek. SPEECH Of Ma. 1RV124, of Pennsylvania, on the Revenue Bill: delivered in the House of Representatives, July, 1841. Mr. eIIAIRmANt Although 1 rise with the greatest reluctance and diffidence, being un accustomed to public speaking, yet a sense of duty to my constituents requires me to make the attempt, and state my views on the bill now before this committee. It is one which my constituents have a deep interest in, and one which affects them as much if not more than any other district in this Un ion.• Sir, I represent two great and leading in terests of the country; and which are inti mately connected with each other, to wit:— the agricultural and manufacturing, and any thing that is calculated to injure or affect the one, bears in an equal proportion upon the other. From the best information I hove been able to collect, I believe that near one fourth of all the wheat and flour exported from the State which I have the honor in part to represent, is sent from my district: and from the statistics furnished by the re turns of the late census i it appears by a state knent which I have prepared from the pa pers now in the State Department, that fully one-fourth of the whole amount of iron man ufactured in Pennsylvania is produced from the ore in the four counties I have the honor to represent on this floor; and I pi esume there is no other district in Pennsylvania, with the same amount of population, which consumes a greater amount of those necessa ries of lite which this bill proposes to lay a duty upon. Sir, I agree with the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means that it is necessary to raw: additional revenue; that the finances of the country require it; and I am as much in favor of providing ways and means to meet the current expen ses of the Government, and also to provide for whatever eeficiency now exists, as the honorable chairman or any other member now on this floor. But, sir, I differ in opinion from the committee who reported this bill, respecting the propriety, at this time, of levying a duty or tax on some of the articles contained in this bill. Sir, I believe the true and correct policy of this Government is, to raise sufficient revenne by import taxes, as being the least onerous and burdensome to the people: but in doing so, we should select such articles in the first place as come in competition with those produced by our o an citizens, and if we cannot raise sufficient from them, then take articles of luxury or such as do not come into general use, and are not required or consumed by the great portion of the peo ple ; but it would only be in the last resort' that I would consent to levy an onerous or burdensome tax upon articles that have come into general use in almost every family, whether rich or poor, throughout our whole country. Sir, I consider such a species of taxation impolitic, unwise, and unjust.— Why, sir, is it not impolitic in an adminis tration just coining into power, after profes sions of relieving the people from their dif ficulties, topropose a burdensome tax upon them, ss one of their best measures? Why, sir, is it not derision to bring this measure upon the people at the present !ime? Why pot wait until the regular session, when there would be tithe for a fain investigation into the tariff system, and such regulation made as might be satisfactoi y . ? It cannot be pos sible that the Treasury is in such a wretched situation that an able financier could not carry on the operations of government for a Rely m onths without this tax on cc Wee and tea. 'And is it hot iinjuSt to tax th poor man wino labors for the support of his family, and earns from fifty to seventy-five cents per day, as much as the Plan who owns thou, l ands? And I feel satisfied, if this bill shall become a law, that hundreds of poor families in my district will have to p4y more of this tax than those who are comparatively rich. fir, the articles of coffee and tea have be co* among all classess, but especially among those whd live in towns, and at man .:‘IIE JOURNAL. HUNTINGDON, PENNSYLVANIA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1841. ufacturing establishments, necessary article s of life, and substituted by a great many in pace of milk, as being more easily obtain ed, and even cheaver. Then why should we oppress this class of people more than they are at present? Why increase their burdens? Does this bill hold out any relief to the laboring class of the community? None—none whatever. _ Sir, it is well known to you and other honorable gentlemen on this floor, that, ow ing to the embarrassed and crippled condi tion of business, for the last two or three years particularli , it has been with great difficulty the manufacturing interests of the country have sustained themselves, and if it had not been fur the bountiful crops with which our country ha's been blessed, and the cheapness of living, many that are yet strug gling alon7, must have ceased to exist. but now, sir, just on the eve of another reduc tion of duties, which takes place at the close of this year. and which even now is opera ' ting in anticipation on the whole business of the country, you propose a tax to be levied on this suffering people of from one and a halt' to two millions of dollars. Sir, for one, I cannot give it my supp9rt- I came here expecting to assist in carrying cut measures calculated to relieve my con• stitueuts, not to hurthen them, and if I can not accomplish the former, I will not lend my aid to procure the latter. Mri Chairman, I believe I could prop3se a measure to this committee, (and have an amendment I may possibly offer) that, if adopted, would do as much, if not more, to relieve the country from its present embar rassment, than any of the measures that as yet have been proposed. You may char , ter a bank, you May restore a sound curren cy, both of which are very essential to out prosperity; but unless you adopt measures that will give employment at fair prices to the farmer, the Mechanic and laborer, you will not relieve the difficulties we now labor under. The measure, in my opinion, at this time, that would contribute most to relieve our Wants, and replenish our Treasury, wodid be to arrest the compromise act at once; so far as it affects the reduction of du • ties on articles that come in competition with the labor or production of our own citizens. Fcur reductions, or four-tenths of the excess over twenty per cent. have already taken place. They have reduced the prices of our own productions to a point that, to proceed any further, must prove inevita ble destruction to three•tourths of all those concerned in four great interests of the country, the woollen, the cotton, the iron, and the coal. if you would arrest the law now in force at the present time, you would bring into your Treasury in the course of (lie present year at least 5500, 000 more than will otherwise be received, and, besides, would infuse life and vigor into all branches of industry. What is the effect of the present law on the gene ral business of the country? Are nut the minds of all filled with doubt and uncer • tainty; not only the manufacturer, but al so the importer and retail merchant?— Who is there so wise as to know how to calculate? Will any person import goods now, on which a reduction of duties takes place on the first of January next; or will there be any importations made in the lace of a reduction of from ten to twenty per cent. until after the first of June next, that can possibly be avoided? Sir, I be, lieve the Secretary of the treasury will he mistaken in realizing his estimates for the balance of this year, and the two first quarters of the next, unless he has made very liberal allowances, if the present compromise bill is continued until June, 1842, without amendment; but, if arrested in its operation previous to the first of January next, and we lay a duty on wines, silks, and some other articles of luxury, a sullicient amount would be pro duced to meet the demands on your Tree. sury. Sir, I may possibly be censured by seine for saving any thing that would ap pear to interfere with the compromise act; but have we not been told by honorable gentlemen on both sides of the House, that they did not consider it as binding on this Congress. The honorable gentleman from the city of New York, the other day, in his free trade and direct taxation speech, which upon sober second thoughts, he conclu -1 dad had better not be published in the Globe, (for fear of its committing the par• ty I presume,) told us, if I do not mistake, that he did not consider it binding on him, and that he would have no hesitation in reducing protected articles below twenty per cent. it he had the power; and, cer tainly, gentlemen on tilt opposite side have as good a right to arrest it in its in juricus effects it they can: and if they do not they are not acting in good faith tow ards their constituents. Sir, what was the history of that com promise act? Who that heard the de scription given by the honorable and ven• enable member from Massachusetts the other day of its concoction and execution, can consider it for one moment as binding on the representatives of the people of thi; Union? What was the language used by one of the high contracting parties, in a speech made in the other end of this buil• ding previous to the passage the bill ? I allude to Mr. Clay. This was his lan guage ; "he hoped that the manufactu rers would go on and prosper, confident the abandonment of protection was never intended, and looking to more 'favorable means for a man considered the question "ONE COUNTRY, ONE CONSTITUTION, ONE DESTINY." A. W. BENZ DICT PUBLISIIRR AND PROPRIETOR. settled forever', or rather did he not con Bider it as a mere temporary arrangement, necessary to avert what appeared to be the secession of one of the States from this Union; and that long before the time expired, the good sense of the people mould see the error that had been commit ted, and repair it? I well recollect with what indignation it was received by many in my district, and the denunciations heaped upon the authors of it; but, being rather a peaceable and well disposed kind of people, we thought it was better not to nullity, but to make the best of it, as it gave us a few years of grace, believing that it never will reach its final consum mation—which I hope and pray it never will. We have tried it now for eight years. Ilas it been productive of any good to the country? I think it was shown clearly by the gentleman from Massachusetts that it has not, but has been the source of great evil. Why, then, per persevere in it, when its conclusion must bring ruin and destruction to thousands of American citizens? It is an old saying, and I believe a true one, that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." If this be true in physic, as I believe it is, it will also hold good in political economy. Then why not adopt it; administer to your suffering constituents at once what would save them from utter ruin and destruction? It has been said by some, that with home valuation and cash duties, manufacturers could get along under the compromise act. So far as the iron manufacture is concerned, I ain satisfied that they cannot; that it will prostrate every manufacturer of that kind, except sonic few whose lo cality gives them a home demand. This home valuation and cash duties, in my opinion will not turn out what 'may hon orable gentlemen ou this floor think it will. Why, sir, what is home valuation? Is it any thing more than the fair cost in Eu rope—insurance, freight, and exchange, and the twenty per cent. added? This constitutes the value of the article; and I know it is so understood by both import ers and manufacturers that I have conver sed with in Philadelphia and New York. And what is there in cash duties that is to work such wonders in favor of the home manufacturer? Is the difference of a six months' credit on $lO or 812, which would probably be the duty on a ton of iron, or paying that amount in cash, going to be much advantage? Why, sir, at the very extent, it svould not amount to more than forty or fifty cents per ton. And is this amount sufficient to have any effect upon importations? For my part, I am satisfied that the anticipations of advan tage to be derived from this clause in the bill by some gentlemen will bo far from being realized. Sir, we have been told by honorable members on this floor that the encourage ment of our own industry by legislative enactments is taxing the many for the benefit of the few, and of course an impo sition on the people. Now, I deny this to ue the case, and will endeavor to illustrate my position by a few plain, practical facts. I insist that a tariff or duty on foreign manufactures, au flicient to reasonbly pro tect and encourage our own citizens en gaged in that kind of business, is not merely calculated to benefit the few cap• italists who are owners, as has been as serted, but diffuses its advantages through out the whole population of the country in a proportionate degree ; and to state my case, I will endeavor to show the practical results in my own district. The principal manufacture that is carried on there is the manufacture of iron; there are many others of different kinds, but of rather minor importance, arid I will at this time confine myself to the iron trade alone. According to the return of the census now in the State Department, that branch of industry is put down as follows, to wit : The number of furnaces now in operation is 33, producing 24,981 tons pig metal ; number of forges and rolling mills 42, producing according to returns 25,- 466 tons blooms, and bar iron ; but in this latter article there is evidently a mistake in the returns, and I set the quantity down from the best calculation I can make at about 20,000 tons, worth about $1,300,- 000. The number of workmen employed is 3,072, mostly men with families, and according to an estimate I have made, and which I believe is very near correct, probably rather under than over the actu al amount. There is annually consumed by those works, of the production of the farmer, 200,000 bushels of wheat, 400,- 000 bushels rye and corn, three millions pounds beef and pork, and other articles, such as potatoes, vegetables, butter, cheese, hay, straw, &c., to the amount of $150,000, making in all, the sum of $7OO, 000 of the production of the farmer : then there is the necessary articles for wear, which are generally of northern and eas tern manufacture, amounting to at least $350,000, and for groceries, salt, tobac. co, &c.„ a further sum of 8150,000—ma king, in all, the actual amount of $1,200, 000, which sum has been scattered all over the country. Nuw does it appear from this that only a few capitalists were benefited, or does it not show that the many have been the gainers? In the first place, there are upwards of 5,000 work men, who are employed at better wages than they could have received at otheria bor ; then there is the $lOO,OOO paid for agricultural articles, some of which are the produce of other States, as a great portion of our beef and pork comes from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana; and 1 would say to the honorable gentleman front Kentucky, that we have furnished a pretty good market for the mules of his State for several years past ; then add the 5350,000 paid to the North for their man ufactures, (one half at least are cotton I goods, the raw material of course from ' the Southern States,) and the $150,000 for groceries and other articles paid to the merchant and foreign importer, and ' you find the advantages spread over the whole land, and a very small balance left to be divided among the hundred capital• ists, as they are called. The truth is, that for the last year or two the receipts have scarcely met the expenditures.— There is one fact I would call the atten tion of the committee 4o—that we con sume nearly, if not all, the coarser kinds of grain produced in the district, and gen erally at prices equal to the market in Baltimore, although two hundred miles in the interior, and I have known corn pur chased in Philadelphia and boated up the Pennsylvania canal, and consumed by a manufacturer in Huntingdon county.—, Sir, to carry it out farther, I will give you the statistics of the iron trade of Penn sylvania; they are as follows: 210 fur naces in operation, producing 98,350 tons pig metal, and forges and rolling mills, producing about 70,000 tons bar iron an nually, employing 15,000 workmen, using one million cords of wood, and consuming annually upwards of one million bushels wheat, two millions of rye and corn, and twelve million pounds of beef and pork and other articles, the production of the farmer, the whcle amounting to upwards of three millions, and mer two millions of merchandise. The coal trade of Penn sylvania has been rapidly increasing and in 1840 is set down at 845,000 tons, which in value is probably Suite equal to that of iron, and employs quite as many laborers, and the consumption of agricultural and other productions about the same, and will be equally and injuriously affected bI the operations of the compromise act, o show the importance and value of the manufacturing interest throughout the United Slates, and the intimate and valu able influence they exert on the agricultu ral productions of the country, I would call the attention of the committee to the commercial statistics of the exports of, wheat and flour from the United States, from 1790 up to 1840. They will there find in 1793, with a population under five millions, we exported about seven mil lions bushels of wheat and flour, at an av erage price of $5 90 per barrel; but for the last ten years, with a population from 12 to 17' millions, our exports only aver age between 4 and 5 million bushels,'' plainly showing that our increased pro duction has been required by the manu facturing and other interests of the coun• try. Now, sir, I would ask gentlemen of the grain-growing states of Virginia, Ohio, and Indians, if they consider it of no on portance to them, that Pennsylvania, that produced last year upwards of 13,000,- 000 bushels of wheat, and 40,000,000 bu shels of coarser grain, consumes nearly all of it within her own borders? Are not they fully compensated for the small ad vance they have to pay on protected arti cies by the increased price they obtain for their wheat and other grain? But what is the consequence if you change the 50,000 manufacturers and miners, (I be lieve there tire that many,) who are now consumers of produce, to become a great many of them producers? Would it not most seriously affect the value of your whole property, real and personal? Sir, I insist that it is to the advantage of the grain growing States that they encourage Penn sylvania to go on with her manufactures, her boundless and inexhaustible amount of mineral coal, her millions of tons of iron ore, her vast and unimproved water power. The industry and enterprise of her citizens are a sure guaranty that, if wise and judicious legislation is pursued, in a few years she would require touch more provisions of all kinds than she would produce. I might say the same to the gentlemen of the South. Is it to your advantage to destroy and breajt down the manufacturers of the North and Middle ' States? Would it not re-act upon your selves? If you make us so poor that we cannot buy, does it not affect your mar ket? But is there no danger that you drive many that are now otherwise em ployed to become cotton growers, and produce niore titan there will be a demand 'for? But there is yet a more important and vita! way in which your interests may be affected. Destroy the manufacturing establishments of the country, reduce the thousands that are now earning a comfor• table living to penury and want, and let once the fact be understood by them, that it is all brought on them by the slavehold ers of the South, and that they are even on this floor called, by honorable mem bers of the South, the white slaves of the North—let this idea once take possession of the minds of the laboring classes of the North and Middle States, and you bring down upon you the indignation of thous ands that are now your friends. Sir, my ',pinion is, that the more we can diversify labor in this country, the more we increase the prosperity and wel fare of our citizens. Our soil. our cli mate, our population, and our free inati. tutions—all conspire to make us a great and powerful people, unless we ourselves, by unwise legislation, produce a contrary effect. For this view of the subject 1 have the authority of Gov. McDutfie. In an address delivered at Columbia, on the 26th November, 1840, he said "The greatest, most prevailing, and most per ' nicious of all the practices which distills guish and deform the agriculture of this and the other cotton-planting States, is the almost exclusive direction of the whole ' available labor of the plantation to the production of our greatest market staple, ar.d the consequent neglect of all the other commodities which the soil is caps- We of producing or sustaining, and which are essential to supply the wants of the establishment. No scheme of reform or improvement can produce any great and salutary results, which does not lay the axe to the root of this radical vice in ourl husbandry. If I could now reveal a pro cess by which nor common soil could be made to produce two bales of cotton to the acre, I should have great doubts whe ther the revolution would be a blessing or a curse to. that great interest;" and he most strenously urges upon the planters of the South the necessity of growing their own corn, and making their own pork or bacon ; of raising their own horses, hogs, and mules; and points out the way in which, in his opinion, and from his own experience, this may be done. Sir, I hope that the honorable gentleman over the way, [Mr. DAwsox,) in his first annual address to the people of Georgia, which, if l live, I hope to have the pleasure of reading next winter, will not only recom mend the above views of Gov. McDuffie to be carried out, but will improve on them by urging their surplus waterpower anti labor to be used in spinning and weaving their own cotton, and supplying not only themselves but other States; and as I un derstand they have plenty of iron ore,' build iron works, make their own iron, and then, if we lay a duty upon foreign man• ufactures, their own citizens will receive the benefit of it. But, sir, it would ap pear, from Gov: McDuffie's remarks, they intend raising their own horses, hogs, and mules. This would be likely to interfere with this Western trade, that has been spoken of in those articles. I would then say to the honorable member from Ken. tucky that he must turn his attention to the iron establishments of Pennsylvania, as they will furnish an outlet for a part at least of their surplus. . Sir, the gentleman from the city of New York, who addressed the Ilouse a few (lays since, talked obout the enormous a mount that had been collected by indirect taxation within the last fifty years, up wards of $600,000,000, and made a great flourish about extravagance in expendi tures from this mode of taxation, and that it our taxes were levied and collected di rectly, a much mare economical adminis• tration of the Government would be the consequence. Now, sir, would this be the fact ? I, for one, very much doubt it. Are not our county and city taxes levied in that way ? And is there more econo.. my made use of in most of our cities and counties than there has been in the Gener al Government, at least some years ago? I appeal to my honorable colleague from Philadelphia [Mr. leiozasou , ] whether, fron, his experience, he believed it to be the case. [Here Mr. INGensoLl. rose and said One thing he knew, that their taxes in Philadelphia were very heavy.] Yes, sir, I have no doubt of it ; from informa tion I have had at different times I have understood that to be the fact ; but even admit that there was a difference in favor of the former mode, would it make up for the difference in the mariner of collection? Sir, what does Professor George Tucker, of the University of Virginia, who, I pre sume, is perfectly orthodox, say on this subject P It is this : 1. But if direct taxes could be more cheaply collected, they would be less eligible than taxes on con sumption. The last compel the prodigal, the ostentatious, the luxurious, the un thrifty of every description, who lessen the amount of the national wealth by wast ing Their own, to pay a part of what they spend into the public Treasury, and they leave to the prudent and industrious their capital unimpaired. Thus every man pays his public contributions in the easiest way and at the most convenient time. He pays it when it suits him, and as it suits him—a little this month and a little [WiroLz No. 296 next. But a direct tax must be collected all at once, and may be called for when the taxed party is least prepared to pay it. If any adverse change has taken place in his circumstances since the assessment he cannot, by any voluntary retrenchment of his expenses, as in the case of indirect taxes, make any proportional abatement of his contribution to the Government." It is on account of these and the like con siderations that Adam Smith and °thee writers on political economy have been in favor of taxes on consumption, and that one of the latest of them, Mr. McCul• loch, says : 'Direct taxes on property have been the curse of every country into which they have been introdueed.'—lle adds: Much taxes are, besides, most un popular as well from their requiring an odious, though ineffectual, inquisition into the affairs of individuals, as from their be ing direct. So much is this case, that we are well convinced that the raising of eighteen or twenty millions by direct tax es would be felt to be a much greater bur. den, and would really be far more injuri ous, than the raising of fifty or sixty mil. lions by our present taxes.'" So much for what Mr. McCulloch says. But Pro tessor Tucker says further : "Nor does there seem to be inure force in the politi cal reason which supposes that indirect taxes are favorable to a lavish expendi. ture of the public money. Without . doubt the greater facility with which money is raised by indirect tiles, and the smaller discount they cause among the people, en able Governments to raise a much lager revenue than would be practicable by di rect taxation. But this is an evil or a good, according to the use that is made of the money. It the quicker sensibility of the people to direct taxation would some times prove a salutary check on waste and extravagance, it might, on the other hand, with equalpropriety, be insisted that it would yet oftener prove a mischie vous restriction on expenditures that ought to be incurred. The people, thus render ed sore by the tax-gatherer, may object to preparaing for the national defence; to give adequate salaries to their public ser vants; to requite past services by pen sions ; to discharge just claims ; to say nothing of those national establishments whose benefits are remote, or not obvious to the mass of the people. If, even now, same of these items of proper expense ti ford plausible topics to the popular syco phant, and tempt him to sacrifice the claims of justice and sound policy to a false economy, how much more would it bu the case under the pressure of direct taxation I On this supposition, too, the evil would greatly exceed the good--for every liberal minded man will admit that it is far better fur a nation to spend some money uselessly than to refuse to spend that which the justice or the interests of the nation requires that it would be less evil to have some superfluous pensioners than to have none at all ; to pay some un founded claims than t 3 refuse to pay hon est debts; and to have several fortifica tions too many than one too few." "But the.advocates of direct taxation object that "taxes on consumption are so disguised by being mixed up with the price, that the people pay them without knowing it," as if that was not one of their recommenda tions, and we were not always endeavor ing to cheat life of some of its disagreea bleness by semblances and disguises from, the gilded pill to the illusions of hope and the courtisies of politeness. The feelings of a people will always be regarded by a wise legislature as their interests; and in imposing taxes, which are an evil at best, though a neacssary one, it will make them as little unpalatable as they can. If it can prevent the people from feeling the burden at all, so much the better. Surely where knowledge would make us more unhappy, "tis fully to be wise.'" "On all these accounts, I should he disposed to go yet farther than Mr. McCulloch, and say, that in this country it would be easier to raise twenty millions by direct taxes." Now, sir, this is what Professor Tucker and Mr. McCulloch, both, I believe, state rights and to some extent free trade men say, on the object of direct taxation. Whether shall we agree with their views on the subject, or the very learned and wise legislators, and political economists, Mr. McKeon of New York, and his coad jutor, or rather his portotype Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina. For my part 1 agree with Messrs. Tucker and McCulloch, and l am perfectly willing to have it submitted to the people. But, sir, the honorable member from Nen? York, not satisfied with direct tax ation, as though that was not tar enough (or any reasonable man to go in this coon. try, must have free trade with it, and equality and all that sort of thing, anik talk about Switzerland and Germany, and how prosperous they were, and that there was no protection there ; bet ho did net tell us about mechanics and laborers work ing for sixpence per day, and living upon black broth and rye-bread, and eatlng meat once or twice a month, probably lest. No, sir, he forgot that part of the story,
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