The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, First Congress, First Session, Volume 1 Page: 115

                                
115
OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
116
April 9, 1789 ]
Duties on Imports
[H. ofR.
, to be able to furnish some in sufficient quantity
to answer the consumption of the whole Union,
while olhei s ai e daily gi owing into nnpoi tance
Oui stock of matenals is, in many instances,
>equal to the gieatest demand, and oui aitisans
sufficient to woi k them up even foi expoi tation
In these cases, I take it to be the policy of eveiy
enlightened nation to give then manuiactuies
that degiee ot encouiagement necessaiy to per-
lect them, without oppressing the othei paits ot
the community; and under (his encouiagement,
-the industiy of the manulactuiei will be em-
ployed to add to (he wealth of the nation
Many ot the ai tides in the list piopo^ed by
my woithy colleague will ha^e this tendency
and theieloiel wish them to bi- leceived and
considered by the committee, it sufficient mfoi-
niation cannot be obtained, as to the cucum-
stances ot any paitiLulai manufactuie, so as to
enable the committee to detei mine a piopei de-
giee ol encouiagement, it may be lehnquished;
but at piesent it will, puhaps, be most advisa-
ble to leceive the whole
Mr Madison —Fi om what has been suggest
ed by the gentlemen that have spoken on the
subject beloic us, I am led to apprehend we
shall be under the necessity of tiavelling fur-
ther into an investigation ot pnnciples than
what I supposed would be necessary, oi had in
contemplation when I offeied the piopositions
beloie you
It was my view to lesliain the hist essay on
this subject pi incipally to the object ot icvenue,
and make this lathei a tempoiaiy expedient
than any thing peimanent. I see, howevu, that
theie me stiong exception^ against deciding un
mediately on a pai t ot the pi in, which 1 hid
the houoi to bung loiwaid, as well as against
an application to the lesouices mentioned in
the list of ai tides just pioposed by the gentle-
man hom Pennsylvania
I piesunie, that, however much we may be
v disposed to piomoie domestic n.anufactuies,
we ought to pay some regard (o the piesent po-
licy ot obtaining icvenue It may be lemaikcd
also, that by fixing on a tcmpoi ay expedient
foi thn puipose, we nny gnu moie than we
shall lose by suspending (he considei ation of
the olhei subject until we obtain fullei mfoi
mation of the state of oui manuiactuies Wc
have at this (une (lie stiongest motives foi turn
nig oui attention to the point I have mentioned;
eveiy gentleman sees tint the piospect of oui
harvest fioin the spnng impoi tations i, daily
vanishing; and if the committee delay levying
and collecting in impost until a system of pio
tectmg duties shall be peilected, theie will be
no imputations of any consequence on which
the law is (o opeiate, because, by that tin e, all
the spung vessels will have aiuvcd Iheie-
toie, fiom a pui'suit of this policy, we shall
suffer a loss equal to the suiplus which might
be expected from a system of highei duties
I am sensible that theie is gieat weight in the
obseivation that fell fiom the honoiable gentle-
man   fiom   South  (aiolina,   (Mi    Tuckih)
1
that it will be necessaiy, on the one hand, to
weigh and legaid the sentiments of the gentle-
men fiom the different paits of the United
States; but, on the othei hand, wc must limit
our consideration on tins head, and, notwith-
standing all the defeience and respect we pay
to those sentiments, we must considei the gen-
eial mteiest ot the Union; foi this is as much
eveiy gentleman's duty to considei as is the
local oi State mterest^and any system ot im-
post that this committee may adopt must be
lounded on the pi mciples of mutual concession.
Gentlemen will be pleased to lecollect, that
those parts of the Union which contnbute moieX*
undei one system than the other, aie also those""!
paits moie tlnnly planted, and consequently J
stand   most in need  of national   protection* tr-
theiefore they will have less leason to complain
of_unequal buithens.
Theie is anothei  constitution; the Slates
that aiemost advanced in population, and upe i
foi manufactures, ought to have then paiticular
intciests attended to in some degiee     While 1
these States letained the powei  ot making re- *
gulations of tiade, they had the powei to pro- 1
tect and chensli such institutions; by adopting 11
the piesent constitution, they have tin own the
exetcise of this powei  into other hands- they
must have done this with an expectation that
those inteiests would not be neglected heie. ^y
I am afiaid, su, on the one hand, that if we
go lully into  a discussion of the subject, we «
shall consume moie time than piudence would 4*"
dictate to spate, on the othei  hand, if we do *■
not develope it, and see the pnnoplts on which
we mutually act, we shall subject oui selves to
gieat difficulties.    I beg leave, theiefore, to
state the gtounda on which my opinion, with
respect to the mattei undei  consideiation, is
founded, namely, whether oui piesent system
should be a tempoiaiy oi a peimanent one? In
the fust place, I own myself the fnend to a veiy ,
dee system of comineice,aud hold it as atiuth, K
that commercial shackles aie geneially unjust,
oppiessive, and impolitic; lti*- also atiuth, that
if industiy and laboi aie left to take their own
couise, they will geneially bo dnected to those
objects which aie the most productive, and this     *
in a moie cei tain  and  dneet manner than the     Is
wisdom of themostenlightoned legislatuiecould
point out     Noi do I think that the national in-
teiest is more piomotcd by such lestnctions,       J
than that the mteiest of individuals would be
pi omoted by legislative inteileieiice duecting
the pu ticulat application of its industiy.    Foi
example, wc should find no ad\antagein say-
ing, that eveiy man should be obliged to furnish
himself, by his own laboi, with tho->e accommo-
dations which depend on the mechanic aits,in-
stead of employing his neighboi, who could do
it loi him on bcttei teims     It would be of no
advantage to the shocihakei  to make his own
clothes, to save the expense ot the tailoi's bill,
noi of the tailoi to make his own shoes, to save
the expense of piocuung them fiom the shoe-
makei   It would be bettei policy to suffer each