The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1853.

Well ! the Advertisement Duty is to be given
up after all. The obnoxious impost is to be
totally abolished--cut off root and branch. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer has virtually yielded.
Not with a very good grace certainly, but as he
has conceded the matter, we shall not too closely
criticise the manner of the boon. It is sufficient
to say that the inequitable and impolitic burden,
which the Right Honourable Gentleman himself
admitted to be " a tax on labour and industry,"
is to be rem)ved—that a fiscal impediment to the
full and free intercommunication of wants and
'wishes will no longer be maintained. Hence-
forward the overtoiled and underpaid sempstress
may make known her desire to obtain employment
without paying, what in her miserable condition
is a prohibitory price, for the notification. The
tradesman may announce the nature and quality
of the goods he has for sale, without having his
profits absorbed by the additional cost of the
advertisement, rendered necessary by the Govern-
ment duty. All persons having any wants un-
'satisfied may obtain the necessary publicity, so
as to achieve their objects on the most satisfactory
terms, without being conscious of the presence of
the tax-collector. Unrestricted publicity is, iu
fact, a supplement to the " unrestricted competi-
tion " which has been so highly lauded both
in and out of Parliament, but which Lever could
be carried into practical execution so long as
incidents so essential were wanting. As Mr. COB-
DEN justly remarked—cc it was a tax that, in a
commercial community, struck at the root of all
transactions." It opposed an obstacle between
vendors and purchasers, masters and servants
employers and labourers, that operated ver
juriously in the daily transactions of life—jkino.
consumption, because persons did not knows whe;
they could obtain the required goods on the beste
and cheapest terms—and inducing them to abstain
altogether when a very slight temptation would
have induced them to become customers. Thus
the Customs or Excise Duty on the article would
be lost, the profit of the tradesman which, if it
arose, would be directly charged under the
Income Tax, and a great portion of that which
would probably be expended in exciseable
commodities would be forfeited. It may be said
" that good wine needs no bush ;" that the trades-
man who supplies a fair article- at a fair price
will never want customers ; but we deliberately
assert that the sale of the pure vintage would be
materially increased if the landlord were enabled
to extend the knowledge of its excellence beyond
the convivial circle of topers by whom he was
habitually patronised. The fair-dealing tradesman
would also be enabled to enlarge his premises, and
add to his business, by the general appreciation of
his mode of dealing, and the advantages offered
to the community.
But why multiply argu-
ments in a matter so universally acknowledged
as the advantage to be derived from a judicious
system of Advertisements. The ve
The
and thoroughly appreciated by y are well known,
of business ;
and if hitherto
so 3 ry.practical man
ly resorted
to, the deficiency may be ascribPeadrintog the duty
which, on brief notifications, added 50 Per cent to
the cost price for insertion. To the sticklers 'for antiquity, who laud the old-fashioned style
doing business, we may merely notice the negle of
cted
stone which had for ages been merely used as a
seat for runaway convicts or solitary herdsmen,
but which WAS eyelitually found to contain several