t home, and the raising of revenue. So by the duties
imposed upon foreign vessels entering her ports, the national revenue
was to some extent increased, and great advantages were secured to her
citizens engaged in the carrying trade.
Sec.5. The people of this country being nearly all employed in agriculture,
and consequently dependent upon foreign markets for the sale of the
surplus products of their labor, they were obliged to submit to the
payment of these duties. And not possessing at that time the means of
manufacturing to any considerable extent for themselves, goods in large
quantities came in from Great Britain, for which they must pay in
produce heavily burdened with duties, or with money obtained for the
produce subject to these heavy duties.
Sec.6. To remove the inequality in the trade between the two countries, it
was thought necessary to retaliate upon Great Britain by subjecting her
goods and vessels coming into our ports to the payment of duties similar
to those imposed on our produce and vessels in her ports. But the power
to lay duties was with the states; and, as we have seen, the states
could not agree upon any effectual system; for, in order to make any
system effectual, the duties must be uniform throughout the United
States.
Sec.7. It was intended, in regulating trade, to render our own country less
dependent upon foreign nations for manufactured goods, by encouraging
domestic or home manufactures by duties on goods imported. Duties laid
for this purpose are called _protective_ duties, being designed to
_protect_ our manufacturers against loss from the competition of
foreigners. The nature and operation of a protective duty may be thus
illustrated:
Sec.8. Suppose foreign broadcloth of a certain quality is sold in this
country for $2.50 a yard, and cloth of the same quality manufactured
here can not be afforded for less than $3 a yard. There would now be no
encouragement to any one to engage in the manufacture of such cloth;
because in order to sell it, he must reduce the price to that of the
foreign article, which would subject him to a loss of fifty cents a
yard. Let now a duty of $1 a yard be laid upon the foreign cloth, and
the price would be $3.50, and preference would be given to the domestic
article, unless the importer should reduce the price of his foreign
cloth to $3; in which case, it is to be presumed, about an equal
quantity of each would be consumed, and the duty of $1 a yard on
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