e of revenue. Aside from the permanent annual
expenditures, which have necessarily largely increased, a portion of
the public debt, amounting to $8,075,986.59, must be provided for
within the next two fiscal years. It is most desirable that these
accruing demands should be met without resorting to new loans.

All experience has demonstrated the wisdom and policy of raising a
large portion of revenue for the support of Government from duties on
goods imported. The power to lay these duties is unquestionable, and
its chief object, of course, is to replenish the Treasury. But if in
doing this an incidental advantage may be gained by encouraging the
industry of our own citizens, it is our duty to avail ourselves of
that advantage.

A duty laid upon an article which can not be produced in this country,
such as tea or coffee, adds to the cost of the article, and is chiefly
or wholly paid by the consumer. But a duty laid upon an article which
may be produced here stimulates the skill and industry of our own
country to produce the same article, which is brought into the market
in competition with the foreign article, and the importer is thus
compelled to reduce his price to that at which the domestic article
can be sold, thereby throwing a part of the duty upon the producer of
the foreign article. The continuance of this process creates the skill
and invites the capital which finally enable us to produce the article
much cheaper than it could have been procured from abroad, thereby
benefiting both the producer and the consumer at home. The consequence
of this is that the artisan and the agriculturist are brought
together, each affords a ready market for the produce of the other,
the whole country becomes prosperous, and the ability to produce every
necessary of life renders us independent in war as well as in peace.

A high tariff can never be permanent. It will cause dissatisfaction,
and will be changed. It excludes competition, and thereby invites the
investment of capital in manufactures to such excess that when changed
it brings distress, bankruptcy, and ruin upon all who have been misled
by its faithless protection. What the manufacturer wants is uniformity
and permanency, that he may feel a confidence that he is not to be
ruined by sudden changes. But to make a tariff uniform and permanent
it is not only necessary that the laws should not be altered, but that
the duty should not fluctuate. To effect this all duties shou