The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-17 00:00:00

as high as we taxed it. We discriminated in the tax upon
the manufactures of wool, imposing a higher tax upon the
finer fabrics ; whereupon Great Britain anl other manufac-
turing nations repealed their tax on wrol, and secured to
their manufacturers the ailvantnge of obtaining the raw
material free of duty. This advantage over us they will
c infinite to enjoy as long as our ta± is continued. The
reasons why they admit wool free are to be found in the fact
that they manufacture more than they produce, and it is
necessary they should be able to sell cheap in order to enter
advantageously the markets of the world, and it may be
also to secure the market of the ttnit:d States, to the sup-
pression of manufacturing in this country. We also manu-
facture more wool than we produce, and consume more
manufactures of wool than we manufacture, and continue
our tax on wool. The duty on wool was imposed to pram° e
its production in the United S.tates, and was expected to
enhance the price. It has failed to secure the object for
which it was in p ,sed.
Other articles of imported prodUce are thus
alluded to :

Iron and steel being articles of general use in all our
States and Territories, and necessary in the prosecution of
all industrial pursuits, the annual consumption and the
annual heme production and import become a matter of
solicitude with many, and of interest to all. It appears
from the census of 1840, that We pro luced and manufac.
tured iron and steel that year to the amount or 29 909,162
dols, and that we imported iron and steel, and the manufac-
tures of iron and steel, to the amount of 7,088,739 dols, and
exported iron aid steel, and the manufactures of iron and
steel, to the amount of 1,104,455 dols, leaving for c0n5ume-
ti0n.35,893,446 dols ; and from the ce is-as of 1853, that
we produced and manufactured iron and steel that year
to the amount of 60,485,653 dols, and that we imported
iron and steel, and the manufactures of iron and steel,
to the amount of 17,524,419, dots and exported iron
and steel, and the manufactures of iron atol steel,
to the amount of 1,911,320 dols; leaving for the consumpt-
tion of the year, 76,098,792 dots. The same ratio of
increase, in the production and manufacture of iron and
steel from 1850 to 1355, that is found to exist between the
years 1840 and 1850, gives he produOdon and manufactures
of iron and steel for 1855, at 78,406,538 dils. To this add
23;945,274 dols for the amount of the imports of iron and
steel, and manufactures of iron and steel. for the year 1855,
fl'st deducting the export of those articles, and there is iron
and steel, and the manufactures of iron and steel to the
amount of 98,598,340 dols for the consumption of the year.
The estimate of 78.406,538 dols for the year 1855 is, no
doubt, some ten or fifteen millions less than the production,
A comparison of the population of 1810, with the produc-
' tion and manufacture, import, export, and consumption of
iron and steel, and manufactures of iron and steel' and the
like comparison of the population of 18.50, with the produc-
tion and manufacture, import, export, and consumption of
those articles in 1850, extended by estimate, for the produc-
tion and manufacture in 1855, and by the import and export
and amount left for consumption of that year, places the
subject fairly before us, in connection with our past and
future supplies and future wants. The table of prices at
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore for the last
17 years, furnishes the fluctuations in the prices of bar iron,
and a criterion for the value of the other descriptions, and
proves that this indispensable article, like all others, obeys
the laws of demand and supply, in affecting the profits
of the producer and manufacturer, operating favourably or
unfavourably, npon the amount prepared for general use.
We have in the United States more ircu ore and more coal,
with the usual fluxes, in convenient connection and of
cheaper access, than all the other civilised nations of the
world. and have the necessary capital, skill, and labour to
produce all the iron and steel, and manufactures of iron and
steel, required for our consumption, or that maybe required
for our consumption, for centuries to c once, and also to
enable us to supply the m rkets of other countries in fair
competition with the iron and steel of other nations. These
tables show that our production of iron and steel, and
manufactures of iron and steel, was greater, iu proportion to
population, in 1850 than it was in 1840, and that it was
greater in 1855 than it was in 1850, giving us the right to
assume that, influenced bY the same causes, it will be greater
in 1860 than it now is, and in time will be sufficient for our
own consumption, and then give us a surplus for export.
Bit taking into,consideratiou our present population and
accumulated cipital, with the amount of Capital annually
drawn from other countries in the course of emigration,
and the great cost of carriage to the interior of our country,
with the late improvements in the modes of produc in and
manufacture of iron and steel, it would not be rash to
expect a full supply for our own consumption, between
this and the returns of the census of 1870. The
tax upon iron and steel, and the manufactures thereof,
because of their general trFe, in all sections and in all
industrial pursuits, has been considered . as equitable
and fair a tax, as it was possible to impose upou the country ;
consequent'y no material charge has been contemplated or
recommended ; but if continued at in eseot rates, it is not
supposed the same amount of revenue still continue to he
derived from it, even should the use of iron, as no doubt
it will, be extended to many other purposes, and be con-
sumed in much greater quantities In commercial inter-
course with other nations based upon equivalent exchanges,
as it must always be, if profitable and continuous, we may
well look forward to the time when we shall produce,
within our own limits, all articles that are essential to
national defence, and the use and comfort of our own people ;
and of these there is none more necessary to the defence of
the country and the use and comfort of the people, and of
which we have better means of producing in the country
than iron and steel, and the manufactures of iron and
steel. Yet the production should not be stimulated by ,
unequal and unjust taxation, nor the period of an abundant
supply, from our mines and factories, retarded by impolitic
legislation. The home production of iron and manufactures
of iron and steel, is on the increase. The tables prove
the production and manufacture of these articles have in-
creased with our increased population, and that we import
less, in proportion to our population and consumption, than
formerly.
On manufactures, and the rise and progress of
cotton, the secretary says :
In 1790 but little manufacturing was done in the country
as a distinct business. Nearly all that was done was in
private families, for domestic use. Now manufacturing is
a separate pursuit, and immense capital is employed in its
various branches. In 1840, the value of our manufactures
was returned in the census of that year at 483,278,215 dols,
and in 18,50, they were returned in the census of that year
at 1,055,595,899 dole. The ratio of increase makes our
manufactures for 1855, 1,391,031,293 dole. In this result
we recognise the fact that we have become a great manufac-
turing people, and the tables accompanying this report prove
we are likewise a great agricultural and commercial people.
An impulse, in accordance with the national sentiment, was
given to manufacturing by the imposition of duties on
imports in our first revenue laws, and the impulse was
increased from time to time by the imposition of additional
duties, At first we manufactured the coarser and more
bulky articles required by our population ; gradually we
have extended our operations to a great variety of articles,
and to some requiring much skill in the execution, and now
our manufacturers are in possession of the home market in
a great variety of articles. In 1790 our planters raised no
cotton for exportation ; now it is the great crop of our plant-
ing States, and they furnish it as a raw material to the
manufacturing states, as well as to foreign nations, and now
we manufacture the coarser cotton goods for the consumption
of our entire population, and export near 7,000,000 dollars
annually to foreign countries. Our manufacture of cotton in
1840 was 46,350,453 dole, in 1850, 61,869,184 Bois, and the
same ratio of increase in 1855 would give 70,961,712 dols.
The history of the rise and progress of our manufactures, as
given in the tables of this report, together with that of the
growth of cotton and other productions, is suggestive of all
that is required to extend our cotton manufactures, to that
of the finer fabrics, and to the enlargement of the home and
notnno ...let for our ootton and cotton', inacod for
all branches of our manufacturing and agricultural produc-
tions. Allow the incidental protection of a revenue tariff,
and place our manufactures and productions upon the same
beneficial footing that foreign manufacturers and producers
enjoy, in our own and foreign countries, by taking off the
duty we now impose on the raw material, and give them fair
and equal competition for the home and foreign markets,
and we may safely leave all the rest to tho skill and enter.
prise of our people.
We append some further remarks :
, The use of steam tonnage, in the commerce between the
United States and other American nations, and Great
Britian, France, and other commercial nations, may, and it
is thought by some will, considerably reduce the sail
tonnage used in commerce, and that cheaper capital in
Great Britain will give to that nation an advantage over
the United States in steam tonnage, and the carrying trade
of our own and other countries, and they attribute the
reduction of our tonnage to that cause. This may be so to
some extent, but no continued reduction of our commercial
tonnage is apprehended ; nor is it apprehended there is any
just reason to suppose our enterprising ship builders and
merchants will surrender the navigation of the seas to Great
Britain, and place that nation in possession of the carrying
business of the world ; yet the subject is one of interest, and
calls for a careful examination of our tonnage laws, and the
removal of all impediments to an equal and fair competi-
tion, for our foreign trade and the trade of other nations.
When our navigation laws were first enac'ed, in 1789
the registered tonnage of the United States was secured.
against the protecting navigation taws of other nations,
by countervailing or protecting provisions. Such pro-
visions were, from time to time, extended so as to coun-
tervail the prohibitory enactments of the commercial
nations with which we had intercourse. These com-
mercial restrictions have gradually yielded to the more
liberal principles of free trade, in the transportation of
freight and passengers, until in that business we have
free trade with almost all the nations of the earth, only