Thus, one-third of the
political Union exported more than two-thirds of the domestic
products. Assuming imports to equal exports, and the tariff of 1828
to average forty-five per cent., the south would pay sixteen million
six hundred and fifty thousand dollars as its share of contributions
to the national treasury. Calhoun then presented the ominous
suggestion that, if the staple section had a separate custom-house,
it would have for its own use a revenue of sixteen million six
hundred and fifty thousand dollars from foreign trade alone, not
counting the imports from the north, which would bring in millions
more.
"We are mere consumers," he declared, "the serfs of the system--out
of whose labor is raised, not only the money paid into the Treasury,
but the funds out of which are drawn the rich rewards of the
manufacturer and his associates in interest."
Taking for granted that the price at which the south could afford to
cultivate cotton was determined by the price at which it received
its supplies, he argued that, if the crop could be produced at ten
cents a pound, the removal of the duty would enable the planter to
produce it at five and one-half cents, and thus to drive out
competition and to add three or four hundred thousand bales annually
to the production, with a corresponding increase of profit.
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