American goods

“ Resolved, That a tariff of duties on imported goods, producing sufficient revenue for the payment of the necessary expenditures of the National Government, and so adjusted as to protect American industry, is indispensably necessary to the prosperity of the American people. ”

“ Every woman who goes into a shop and asks for American goods renders an appreciable aid to our cause. She expresses her opinion and her patriotism, and her voice forms a part of that demand which shall arouse and develop 111 the resources of her country. We shall learn to know our own country. We shall learn to respect our own powers, and every branch of useful labor will spring and flourish under our well-directed efforts. We shall come out of our great contest, not bedraggled, ragged, and poverty-stricken, but developed, instructed, and rich. ”

“ And he would offer inducements for foreigners to settle in the country, by the sale of public lands at a nominal sum,--men who had a little money, and not absolute paupers; men who could part with their superfluities for either goods manufactured or imported, and especially for some things they must have, on which light duties would be imposed, like tea and coffee ”

“ The truth is, it is the joint effect of both principles, the domestic industry nourishing the foreign trade, and the foreign commerce in turn nourishing the domestic industry. Nowhere more than in New York is the combination of both principles so completely developed. In the progress of my argument, I will consider the effect upon the price of commodities produced by the American system, and show that the very reverse of the prediction of its foes, in 1824, actually happened. ”

“ My countrymen, it is not alone the volume of money which the people want, but they demand its activity in trade and commerce. If you ask me how this can best be accomplished, I will answer by saying, protect American industries and universal confidence will surely follow. ”

“ It was maintained that, where gold and silver abounded, there would be found no lack of the necessaries of life; 2. Therefore governments should do all in their power to secure an abundance of money. Noting that commerce and political power seemed to be in the hands of the states having the greatest quantity of money, men wished mainly to create such a relation of exports and imports of goods as would bring about an importation of money. ”

“ Searles, whenever America can command, as Great Britain does to-day, cheap capital, cheap labor, and cheap raw materials, she too may vociferously advocate free trade, and that other nations shall open wide their markets for the sale of American products. ”

“ As already stated, the American occupation brought about a rapid rise in the price of everything, not of necessity or in obedience to the law of supply and demand, but because it was the pleasure of the Americans voluntarily to enhance established values. ”

“ America has the needful capital, material, pluck and energy, and enjoys certain decisive advantages, as, for example—1. In distance, which of itself would in this case decide the matter; 2. In the local production of certain staple articles which will be in great demand, and which England cannot supply so cheaply, if at all, such as lumber, meats, flour, canned goods, cheap cottons, and agricultural and other machinery, which, if not cheaper, can be more readily adapted to the wants of the market ”

“ Abundant natural resources from farm, forest, mine and waters; cheapness and plentifulness of fuel; fine water-power, with steam and electricity; inventive genius in the people; intelligence, industry and thrift; exceptional facilities for transportation; millions of immigrants; unhindered commerce between the states; and unequaled advantages for labor as well as for capital from the laws of the land, the national and state constitutions and the democratic nature of American society—have all combined to make the United States the source of a third of the world's manufactures. ”

“ Possessed of abundant natural resources, and having through a long period of peace developed a large working capital with which these resources might be exploited, the United States, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was in a position to export, to trade and to invest in foreign enterprises. ”

“ The advantages, which your Majesty’s dominions would derive from the commerce of America, cannot but be very great. It would be a new market, and one always increasing with the rapid increase of population in America, for woollen and linen cloths, porcelain, and all sorts of manufactures in iron. ”

“ You owe this to America. This is the price America pays for her protection. And shall a miserable financier come with a boast, that he can bring a pepper-corn into the Exchequer, to the loss of millions to the nation ! I dare not say, how much higher these profits may be augmented. Omitting the immense increase of people by natural population, in the northern colonies, and the emigration from every part of Europe, I am convinced the commercial system of America may be altered to advantage. ”

“ But if we change terms, and rejecting this equivocal and fluctuating idea of a balance of trade, consider whether commerce has contributed to the wealth and prosperity of the United States, or has been the cause of the distress they are now enduring, the evidence will at once strike us as more intelligible, and the conclusion as more certain. Agricultural improvements, building houses and raising up cities, manufacturing improvements and ship building, are among the strongest proofs of a permanent increase of national wealth and prosperity. ”

“ The countries of the American continent and the adjacent islands are for the United States the natural marts of supply and demand. It is from them that we should obtain what we do not produce or do not produce in sufficiency, and it is to them that the surplus productions of our fields, our mills, and our workshops should flow, under conditions that will equalize or favor them in comparison with foreign competition. ”

“ Go forward, American business men, and capture the markets of the world for American trade; and know that on the wings of your commerce you carry liberty throughout the world and to every inhabitant thereof. ”

“ Tin 1 revenue necessary for current expenditures, and the obligations of the public debt, must be largely derived from duties upon importations, which, so far as possible, should be adjusted to promote the interests of American labor and advance the prosperity of the whole country. ”

“ The position taken in the United States is that protection is only needed and only asked for where American industry is placed under a disadvantage, as compared with the industry of foreign countries.... The rates of wages measured in money are higher in the United States than in Europe, and, therefore, it is argued, the cost of producing commodities is higher.... ”

“ Derived, as our public revenue is, in chief part from duties on imports, its magnitude affords gratifying evidence of the prosperity, not only of our commerce, but of the other great interests upon which that depends. ”

“ We believe that our country is stronger, safer, and more prosperous when we make more of our goods and our products right here in the USA. When we purchase products Made in America, the wealth, revenue and jobs all stay in our country – to be enjoyed by our people. ”

“ It will afford to the individuals of all the States a medium for their intercourse with each other, and for the payment of taxes more convenient than the precious metals, and equally safe. It will have a tendency to increase both the internal and external commerce of North America, and undoubtedly will be infinitely useful to all the traders of every State in the Union, provided, as I have already said, it is conducted on principles of equity, justice, prudence, and economy. ”

“ That while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as will encourage the development of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, labour, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence. ”

“ In the United States we welcome the investment of the money, the intelligence, and the industry of foreigners, and recognize them as assets added to the prosperity of the country. Because we have pursued that policy we stand to-day without a peer in national prosperity, wealth, and credit. ”

“ It is one industrial state in a great industrial empire.
Foreign resources offer opportunities to the exploiter. Foreign markets beckon. Both calls have been heeded by the American business interests that are busy building the international machinery of business organization.
9. International Business and Finance
The steel, smelting, oil, sugar, tobacco, and harvester interests are confined to relatively narrow lines. In their wake have followed general business, and above all, financial activities. ”

“ Our exportations are heavy, and would nourish a great force of our own, or be a 537 tempting price to the nation to whom we should offer a participation of it, in exchange for free access to all their possessions. ”

“ We think nowadays that the resources of a state depend upon the prosperity of the people, no matter whether this prosperity comes from agriculture or from manufactures, 167from internal trade or from foreign trade. Statesmen, however, of the period under discussion, set a peculiarly high value on foreign commerce, and regarded it as a more important branch of industry than any other. ”

“ Furthermore, the masters of the United States have an immense and growing surplus that must be invested in some paying field, such as that provided by the mines, agricultural projects, timber, oil deposits, railroad and other industrial activities of Latin-America. ”

“ Secure in the great American market for our manufactures—a market the best per capita of any in the world—we have come now to believe that we may well extend our trade and send our manufactured products to other countries across the seas and in ships carrying the American flag. ”

“ The commerce of the United States is essential, if not to their existence, at least to their comfort, their growth, prosperity, and happiness. The genius, character, and habits of the people are highly commercial. Their cities have been formed and exist upon commerce. Our agriculture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures are connected with and depend upon it. In short, commerce has made this country what it is, and it can not be destroyed or neglected without involving the people in poverty and distress. ”

“ On the other hand, the governments expected them not only to develop a profitable trade but to furnish certain advantages to the nation, such as the creation of colonies, the increase of shipping, the provision of materials for use in the navy, the humiliation of political rivals, the preservation of a favorable balance of trade, and ultimately the payment of imposts and the loan of funds. ”

“ Our country has reached a point economically where it must manufacture vast quantities of goods and create vast quantities of provisions and supplies to sell all around the world. Fifty-one per cent of our people now live in cities. ”

“ No evils are seen to exist, except such as are incident to the most wisely regulated human institutions. On all sides we behold a population harmonious and happy, pursuing their different vocations without clashing or defection, or rejoicing over the rewards of honest and judicious industry. The great sources of their thrift, and most conspicuous features of their country, are the broad, deep, and crystalline streams of agriculture, commerce, currency, and domestic manufactures, with its noble tributary, internal improvement. ”

“ And the Addition to our publick Riches, which would be required in the Advancement of the Fortunes and Estates of all these mean People, would arise from the Encrease of our foreign Trade, in supplying other Countries with those Commodities, many of which we now even buy ourselves ”

“ These are causes of increased population and of prosperity, and indirectly of commerce, peculiar to America. It requires no illustration or proof to comprehend how the increased produce of a new soil must supply increased articles for commerce. While Britain, therefore, finds increased articles for her commerce, from her improvements in the machinery applicable to manufactures, by means of which the same quantity of human labour is rendered infinitely more productive,--the United States finds materials for her increased commerce, in the increasing stock of the produce of the soil. ”

“ I am an advocate of economy in our national expenditures, but it is a misuse of terms to make this word describe a policy that withholds an expenditure for the purpose of extending our foreign commerce. The enlargement and improvement of our merchant marine, the development of a sufficient body of trained American seamen, the promotion of rapid and regular mail communication between the ports of other countries and our own, and the adaptation of large and swift American merchant steamships to naval uses in time of war are public purposes of the highest concern. ”

“ The most important interests of the United States hang upon this question. The produce of the earth is their principle source of wealth. Our home-built vessels would suffice for the transportation of a very small part of this produce to market, and even a part of these vessels will be withdrawn by high premiums to other lines of business. All the rest of our produce, then, must remain on our hands, or have its price reduced by a war insurance. ”

“ Our commerce is certainly of a character to entitle it to favor in most countries. The commodities we offer are either necessaries of life, or materials for manufacture, or convenient subjects of revenue; and we take in exchange, either manufactures, when they have received the last finish of art and industry, or mere luxuries. ”