ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 71 



year, when the Institute offered 68 prizes or premiums, among 

 which were 48 medals of silver and two of gold, and it has since 

 given man}'^ exhibitions of the'^kind. In two years the Institute had 

 1000 members. It established a course of free lectures upon sci- 

 ence as applied to the useful arts, in connection with a practical 

 course upon mechanics, and one upon natural history, founded a 

 library, erected a public hall, instituted a monthly publication, 

 which is still in existence, and from the time of its organization it 

 has continued to be a most useful and valuable institution. 



In 1827 the woolen manufacture of this State and of New England 

 became clamorous for more effectual protection, as they called it, 

 against foreign competitors. Conventions were held in most of the 

 grain growing States, which resulted in a general convention of 

 the friends of a protective tariff at Harrisburgh in Pennsylvania, 

 at which resolutions were passed urging upon Congress the passage 

 of the necessary law. 



In the following year the American Institute came into existence. 

 On the 19th of February, 1828, a small number of gentlemen met 

 at Tamman}^ Hall, and after adopting a constitution and by-laws 

 they put forth an address to the public, disclosing their' views and 

 objects. They adopted a course exactly opposite to that of the 

 Franklin Institute, and determined to co-operate by every legitimate 

 means in their power to obtain a tariff of duties for the protection of 

 domestic manufactures. And with the exception of the occasional 

 reading of papers upon the rearing of silk- worms, the culture of the 

 vine and other kindred subjects, the efforts of the society were 

 at first wholly directed towards influencing public sentiment in 

 favor of a protective policy. The society certainly exercised a 

 powerful influence both upon the public mind and upon the action 

 of Congress in securing the enactment of the tariff of 1828, but 

 whether its efforts in this respect have been productive of benefit 

 to the nation is a point upon which, at the present day, there is a' 

 wide difference of opinion, the greatest political economists main- 

 taining that prohibitory laws are in their ultimate effects more 

 injurious than beneficial to the nation that adopts them. 



If the American Institute had done nothing more than to labor 

 for what was then designated as the American system, the society 

 would in all probability have ceased to exist after the passage 

 of the tariff of 1828, and I would not now have the honor of de- 

 livering its 35th annual address; but following the example of 

 the Franklin Institute, it entered upon a more practical field, and 

 by doing so, in my judgment, laid the foundation of its subsequent 

 continuance and prosperity. It instituted a fair or exhibition of 



