Trade Tariffs Quotes
This summary of the problem of trying to politically “sell” free trade is as good as anyone has ever said it in America. And the problem and argument has not changed since. Free trade is good for most, but really harms some in specific situations. The beneficiaries often do not realize who they are or how they have benefitted, but those who are harmed generally know exactly how and what the damages are.
The Governor went about the state telling this to citizens to illustrate what the tariff was costing them. His arithmetic however was terrible and there was no such effect. There was an effect that Southerners had to pay more for manufactured goods like finished clothing and that was approximately equal to the tariff—in this case 40 percent. However, the Governor was telling his constituents that they were losing 40% of everything they had to the Manufacturers. The reality was that the 40 percent only applied to finished dresses, suits, or tools that Southerners might buy which might only be 10 percent of all the purchases of the farmer who spent most of his money for seeds, land, mortgages, livestock, food, and labor services. So the real cost was closer to 4 percent than 40 percent. And most women did their own sewing of clothing, and thus the real cost was even less than the 4 percent. It is not known whether the Governor knew himself that his argument was all wrong arithmetically and was taking advantage of the poor education and ignorance in South Carolina or he himself was not sophisticated enough to realize that he was in error. Nonetheless, most citizens of the state and many others in the state believed him. They opposed the tariff and gave it a derogatory name. See {592185}.
