The Tariff and the South

Southerners argue that they have a disadvantage due to a lack of manufactories and try to figure out how Virginians could attract more factory workers.

We are glad to find views in the Louisville Journal upon the tariff which confirm those already expressed in these columns. Mr.Sprague, of Rhode Island, a rich manufacturer, had recently moved the Senate to increase the duty upon the goods he makes ; and as it is alleged that he is already making a hundred per centrum profit, his motion has called forth violent philippics against the manufacturers. The Louisville Journal wisely suggests that the best way to attack the manufacturers it to imitate them, and establish manufactories of our own. If they grow rich by manufacturing, we can do the same. If they have the advantage of greater population, they got them population by establishing manufactories, and the workmen cam. They would come to us of the South for a similar reason. Slavery, which formerly kept them away, exists no longer, and if we furnish them congenial occupation, and hold out to them the prospect of competence, they will come. If New England has power to keep up a tariff upon domestic manufacturers, we can get the benefit of it by establishing manufactories of the articles taxed. This is the surest kind of protection.

“The Tariff and the South,” Reconstructing Virginia, accessed March 30, 2023, https://reconstructingvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/18.