The Tariff As It Is

The Substitute Proposed by its Adversaries. pletion of Business which had been the work of years. Fewer Goods than usual were bought in the Spring of 1843, and Manufactures, no more than other interests, were, aroused to decided activity that season. ‘Where is your better price for Wool?’ was the taunting inquiry of adversaries of Protection. ‘ It is coming,’ was the firm assurance of its friends.' A year has since passed, and every interest of the Country has felt the beneficent change. See how the present prices of Wool compare with those a year ago : . PRICES OF WOOL IN THE NEW-YORK MARKET. ; American. Jan. 1843. Jan. 1844. Full blood Saxony..............33 a 35c. 45 a 47{c. Mixed Merino and Saxony-.29 a 32 38 a 40 , 4 to full-blood Merino...........28 a 30 36 a 38 i blood do.............. 24 a 26 30 a 32 Native to {blood do............. .22 a 24 30 a 32 Pulled Wool, super............. 22 a 24 36 a 38 No. 1..............18 a 20 31 a 33 No. 2.................8 a 10 18 a 20 Western tub-washed.............20 a 22 30 a 34 Average........... -.............. 23{c. 35{c. Or over 50 per cent, advance. Imported Wool has- advanced in equal measure, averaging 50 per cent. None but the poor, coarse, dirty South American Wool is imported to any extent. Such has been the effect of the Tariff on the interests of the Wool-growers. VI. How the .Tariff affects Prices. ‘ But,’ says a Free Trader, you say a Protective Tariff reduces the cost of such articles as we buy; and here you say it increases the price of Wool. Which do you stand to ?’ I answer, Both. It is true that enlightened, persistent Protection of our Home Industry will secure our Farmers a better price for their products, and at the same time cheapen the cost of such fabrics as they must buy. I cannot in this essay elucidate this truth so fully as I have done elsewhere, but must be content to indicate the heads of the argument. ' They are as follows : 1. Protection does this by equalizing prices.— While the Farmers of this Country exchange their Grain for British Cloth, the American Farmer will in the average (apart from all duties) give fully twice as much Grain for his Cloih as the British Cloth-maker gets for it. But build up Manufactures by the side of the Farmers, and the two classes of producers will exchange their products at a cost of not ten instead of fifty to two hundred per cent, on their value. The cloth- maker and grain-grower will both receive more of what they want for what they have to spare than they did before—the enormous cost of transportation back and forth being saved. 2. The Products of Industry are naturally divided,in respect to the subject under consideration, into two classes—one consisting of articles whereof the cost of production is proportionate to the amount of the product; the other not subject to this rule. For instance, Wool, Grain, Boots, Shoes, &c come under the first law; you must double the outlay of Capital and Labor if you require a double product, and the price of the articles would probably be increased rather than reduced by the increased demand. But if twice as many Newspapers, for instance, were required, the cost of producing the requisite supply wbuld not nearly be doubled, and the price would surely be reduced. It is easy to prove this by noticing the prices of newspapers in different sections of our own Country. In New- England, and wherever else the population is dense and reading universal, Newspapers are far cheaper than in sections where few are required. The same truth may be observed by contrasting the cost of Newspapers in despotic and ignorant Countries, where few read, with that in free and enlightened* Countries, where nearly all read.—• The larger steady demand every where ensures the cheaper supply. * Take another example: Few can be ignorant* that Piano Fortes, for which there is a limited and capricious demand, are sold higher, in proportion to their absolute cost, for labor and material, than Bureaux or Tables, for which there is a large and constant demand. The maker argues, ‘ If I produce Piano Fortes, the demand forthem, * the public taste with regard to them, is capri- ‘ cious; I may keep them long unsold, or may be ‘ deprived, by some new improvement or instru- ‘ ment, of a sale at all; while Bureaux or Tables ‘ will be sure to sell, and are not likely to depre- ‘ ciate materially if they remain on my hands.— ‘ I must charge a profit accordingly on what I do ‘sell.’ This is prudent and just. Now if the demand for Piano Fortes were increased until they should become as common and uniformly salable as wooden clocks, the price of them would inevitably be reduced, because they would be afforded cheaper than now. A man who now makes and sells ten to a hundred a year could and would make cheaper and sell cheaper, if he could be sure to sell ten thousand a year regularly. Here is seen the operation of a principle which ensures cheaper production and lower pricesin proportion as the Elome Market is widened, steadied and made secure. VII. Cotton and Cotton Goods. The Second Section of the present Tariff is as follows: First. On cotton unmanuf <ctured, a duty of three cents per pound. S eond On all manufactures of cotton, or of which cotton shall be a component p tri, not otherwise specified, a duty of tbi tj perceUum a> valorem, excepting .uch cotton twist, yarn, and thread, a d such ot er articles as are herein provided tor: Provided, That al1 manufactures of cotton, or of which c tton shall b- a component pari, not dyed, colored, printed or st ined, uot exceeding in value t reaty cents p r square yard, shall be valued ar twewy cents per square yard ; and if dy. d, coior d printed or stained, in whole, or in p-rt not ex- ce-dingin value thi.ty cents the square yard, shall be valued at thirty cents per squue yard, excepting velvets, cords, moleskins, fus.iaus, buffalo cloths, oi goods manufactured by napping oi raising, cutting or shearing, not exceeding in value thirty-five cento thesqu re yaid, which sha J be valued at thirty five cents pen qua e yard, and duty be paid thereon accordingly. Third All cotton twist, yarn and thread, unbleached and uncolored the true value of which at the place whence tm ported shall he less than sixty cents per pound, shall be valued . at sixty Cen's per pound a.>d shall be charged with a duty of twenty five per cutum ad valorem; all bleached or colored coitou tw:-st, yarn and thread, the true value of which at the place whence import-d shall be less thm seventy-five cents per poun i, shall be vslue'l at s venty-uve cents per pound, sad pay t duty of t • mt -five per centum ad valorem ; all other cotton twist, yarn, and thread on spools or otherwise, shall pay amityuf hirty percentumad valorem. The corresponding section of the bill proposed as a substitute by Gen. McKay, reads thus: First. On all manuf4cture» of cotton, or of which cotton sha'l be a component par1, not otherwise specified, and except ing such cottou-tn ist. yarn and thread, anil such other articles as are here n otherwise provided for, there shall be levied a duty of twenty -five per centum ad valorem; and the proviso to the second subdivision o; the second section of the said act shall be, and the son is hereby, repealed Seccnd . u co ton-twist, yarn and thread, bleached orun pleached, co'oitd or I'ncolo’erl, and on spools or otherwise, here shall be levied a datv of twenty-five per centum ad valorem, <nstead of the various duties imposed by the said act.

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