Congressman William Hubard of Virginia delivers a sweeping congressional address defending a major tariff reduction bill before the House Committee of the Whole on June 25, 1846. The legislation, reported by the Ways and Means Committee, proposes slashing import duties from their present protective rates down to a "revenue standard." Hubard's lengthy oration—which dominates the front page—takes direct aim at the Tariff of 1842, the protective barrier erected by Whig manufacturers. He demolishes the logic of "minimum" pricing schemes (like valuing cheap six-cent-per-yard white cotton as if it cost twenty cents, then taxing it at 90 percent) as legislative "hocus pocus" designed to deceive the people. The crux of his argument: high duties protect factory owners' profits at the expense of ordinary workers and consumers. The new ad valorem system being proposed would be simpler, fairer, and finally allow America to embrace free-trade principles the Democratic Party has championed for years.

This moment captures America at a critical turning point in its economic philosophy. The 1846 tariff debate pitted industrial protectionists (mostly Whigs) against free-trade Democrats who believed cheap imports benefited workers and farmers. Hubard's speech reflects the Democratic surge that had just swept James K. Polk into the presidency in 1844 on a free-trade platform. The resulting Walker Tariff (passed this very summer of 1846) would dramatically lower duties and become a defining moment: it proved that reducing tariffs actually *increased* import volume and government revenue, vindicating free-trade theory. Yet this victory was fragile—the Civil War would bring protective tariffs roaring back, and America's relationship with free trade would remain contested for generations.

• The subscription rates reveal the economics of 1840s newspapers: $10 per year for daily delivery in Washington D.C., but only $5 for country papers published 'tri-weekly during the sessions of Congress and semi-weekly' otherwise—showing how Congress's calendar literally shaped the news cycle.
• Hubard invokes the 'honorable member from Massachusetts, (Mr. Antis)' and cites his 'Report No. 481' as authoritative proof that duties raise prices—yet the OCR has mangled the name. This is likely John Quincy Adams, the former president who served in Congress and was a fierce opponent of protective tariffs.
• The bill's central grievance is stated plainly: manufacturers complained about 'pauper labor of Europe' undercutting American prices. Hubard's rebuttal is cutting—he notes manufacturers now brag they *can* produce goods as cheaply as foreigners, proving the 'remedy' they sought has actually forced wages down rather than protecting workers.
• The debate hinges on whether capital and labor costs in America (admittedly higher than Europe) can compete without tariff walls. Hubard identifies the dilemma starkly: either the protective policy has *ruined* American capitalists, or it has *degraded* American workers to European poverty levels—either way, protection is a failure.
• The ad valorem system championed here is presented as revolutionary: 'For the first time in the history of our federal legislation, we now propose to introduce entirely in a tariff bill the ad valorem system of taxation.' A percentage-based duty seemed cutting-edge in 1846.

• Hubard speaks on June 25, 1846, and the Walker Tariff passed Congress just weeks later (July 30, 1846). The Democratic argument he articulates—that lower duties boost rather than cut revenue—would be *immediately* vindicated: imports surged, and government receipts climbed, settling the economic debate for a generation.
• John Quincy Adams, whom Hubard cites as his authoritative source, was then 79 years old and serving his ninth term in the House (having served as president from 1825–1829). He would die just two years later in 1848, leaving one final legacy as the intellectual architect of the anti-protectionist position.
• The 'pauper labor of Europe' rhetoric Hubard ridicules was *real and visceral* in 1840s America—manufacturers genuinely feared European workers (often paid a fraction of American wages) would flood U.S. markets. Yet by 1846, the fastest-growing industrial power wasn't Britain or Europe but America itself, poised to eclipse them by 1890.
• Hubard's defense of 'even-handed justice' and the principle that the wealthy should pay most tax burden sounds progressive, but remember: this is 1846, slavery is legal in the South (Hubard is from Virginia), and this 'democratic' vision applies only to commerce, not human rights.
• The Daily Union, the paper carrying this speech, was the *official organ of the Democratic Party* in Washington, edited by Thomas Ritchie—a powerful political journalist. Running Hubard's entire address on the front page was an act of party discipline, ensuring the anti-tariff argument reached every Democratic operative in the capital.