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 should be
specific wherever the nature of the article is such as to admit of it.
_Ad valorem_ duties fluctuate with the price and offer strong
temptations to fraud and perjury. Specific duties, on the contrary,
are equal and uniform in all ports and at all times, and offer a
strong inducement to the importer to bring the best article, as he
pays no more duty upon that than upon one of inferior quality. I
therefore strongly recommend a modification of the present tariff,
which has prostrated some of our most important and necessary
manufactures, and that specific duties be imposed sufficient to raise
the requisite revenue, making such discriminations in favor of the
industrial pursuits of our own country as to encourage home production
without excluding foreign competition. It is also important that an
unfortunate provision in the present tariff, which imposes a much
higher duty upon the raw material that enters into our manufactures