The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-09 00:00:00

THE TOBACCO DUTY.

The very high duties laid upon tobacco by seve-
ral nations of Europe—many hundred per cent.
of its cost price here—and the monopoly in the
sale of it for the purpose of extracting a heavy tax
from the consumers, maintained by other nations,
have for many years been an occasion of loud com-
plaints on the part of our tobacco growers. Thil
entertain the idea that these very heavy taxes
levied upon the consumption of tobacco greatly
curtail the use of the article, and that if it could
be had throughout Europe at American prices, its
consumption • would be very greatly extended.
There are many articles as to which this doctrine
would be applicable. A diminution of one-half in
the price of cotton, sugar, or flour would, no doubt,
lead to a very extended consumption of those
articles ; and, on the other hand, the imposition
of a duty by which their cost to the consumers
would be doubled or quadrupled, would greatly
diminish their consumption. But tobacco seems to
be as article to which this rule does not apply, ex'
cept to a limited extent, and it is for that very rea-
son that the Governments of Europe have been
able to tax it so highly. Chewers and smokers will
have their indulgence regardless of the expense,
which, after all, with all the taxation levied upon
this fragrant weed, does not pass a limit beyond
the means of most labouring men—the article being
produced at a very moderate price, and the quan-
tity being quite limited to which the most invete-
rate smoker or chewer is able to consume. Some
statistical inquiries on the subject lately laid before
Congress tend to confirm this view of the case.
From these documents it appears that here, in the
United States, where tobacco juice is so vigorously
squirted in all possible directions, and where it
is almost impossible, at least in any public place,
to escape the puffing of tobacco smoke in your
face, the consumption of the article does
not exceed two pounds ten ounces to each inhabi-
tant. Hence it is apparent that under the most
favourable circumstances its use will always be kept
within pretty narrow limits. The people of Europe,
exclusive of Russia, notwithstanding the heavy
duties by which the article is burdened, consume
now about two-thirds of that amount. It appears
also, from the same documents, that although the
growing of tobacco is prohibited in Great Britain
and some other European countries, yet that the
total of the European crop somewhat exceeds the
total crop of the United States, whence it is reason-
able to conclude that an increase in the consumption
would not redound exclusively to the benefit of
our American growers. The attempt persevered
in for so many years and so constantly repeated,
to induce the Governments of Europe to alter
their policy on this subject, seems to us little
better than childish. Can those Governments
be expected to abandon a source of revenue
at once so lucrativeand so unexceptionable, merely
r
to gratify the American tobacco growers ?
tobacco had about it any nourishing or even stimn-
latiug the Governments of Europe might
he supposed to have some inducement for desiring
its use extended. But as it, is merely a narcotic,
of which both the moral and physical effects upon
those who use it are of a very dubious character,
Governments have rather an interest in diminish'
ing its use than in extending it, except so far as use
that may be a source of revenue. Indeed the
interests of cleanliness and decency, let alone those
of health, would seem to afford abundant reason¢
why any civilised. Government should reject with
disdain our diplomatic efforts on behalf of free to-
bacco. In fact, we are strongly inclined to believe
that more than one of our foreign envoys has
afforded in his own personal habits more than
counterbalance to all his political and economical
arguments.—New York Tribune.