Page:HOUSE CR Exposition and Protest 1828-12-19.pdf/6

 tion of it they advance, as consumers of the articles, on which it is imposed, returns to them from the labour of others, with usurious interest, through an artfully contrived system. That such are the facts, the committee will proceed to demonstrate, by other arguments, than the confession of the party by its acts, conclusive as that ought to be considered.

If the duty were imposed upon exports, instead of imports, no one would doubt its partial operation. It would clearly fall on those engaged in rearing products for foreign markets, and as Rice, Tobacco and Cotton, constitute the great mass of our exports, such a duty would, of necessity, mainly fall on the Southern States, where they are exclusively cultivated; and to prove that the burthen of the Tariff also falls on them almost exclusively, it is only necessary to shew, that, as far as their interest is concerned, there is little or no difference between an export and an import duty. We export to import. The object is, an exchange of the fruits of our labour, for those of other countries. We have, from soil and climate, a facility in rearing certain great agricultural staples, while other and older countries, with a dense population, and capital greatly accumulated, have equal facility in manufacturing various articles suited to our use; and thus a foundation is laid for an exchange of the products of labour, mutually advantageous. A duty, whether it be laid on imports or exports, must fall upon this exchange, and on which ever laid in our country, must in reality be paid by the American producer of the articles exchanged. Such must be the operation of all taxes on sales or exchanges. The owner in reality pays it, whether laid on the vender or purchaser. It matters not in the sale of a tract of land, or any other article, if a tax be imposed on the sale, whether it be paid by him who sells or him who buys, the amount must, in both cases, be deducted from the price. Nor can it alter, in this particular, the operation of such a tax, if imposed on the exchanges of communities instead of individuals. Such exchanges are but the aggregate of sales of the individuals of the respective countries, and must, if taxed, be governed by the same rules. Nor is it material whether the exchange be barter or sale, direct or circuitous; in every case it must fall on the producer. To the growers of Rice, Cotton and Tobacco, it is the same whether the government takes one third of what they raise, for the liberty of sending the other two thirds abroad; or one third of the Salt, Sugar, Iron, Coffee, Cloth, and other articles they may need in exchange, for the liberty of bringing them home; in both cases he gets a third less than he ought, a third of his labour is taken, yet the one is an import and the other an export duty. It is true, that a tax on the imports, by raising the price