The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

American Cotton.

The following is the main portion of a report on
the cotton tax recently adopted by the New York
Chamber of Commerce

The committee appointed to consider the expe-
diency of memorialising Congress in favour of abo-
lishing the present tax upon cotton beg leave to
report as follows :—Your memorial to Congress, of
the 10th of May last, urged various reasons against
the proposed increase of the cotton tax which was
then before the House of Representatives, and among
them that our cotton had lost its former influence
in the markets of Europe. In illustration of the
correctness of this opinion we submit the following
facts :

United States
Growth. Growth
Liverpool Stock September 13 last 286,090 397,0%
Then known to be afloat for Liverpool... 18,000 323,000

ndia

-- ---
Stock and prospective supply Sept. 13... 304,000 720,000
Liverpool stock on October 18 last ... 218,000 320,000
Then known to be afloat for Liverpool... 35,000 169,000

Stock and prospective supply October 18. 253,000 489,000
Liverpool import in the above five weeks 38,000 184,000
Decrease of stock in same weeks ... 68,000 77,000
Apparent outgoings for Consumption
September . ~. ... 106,000 77,000
Correction of Stock on September 27 ... 15,000 58,000

Corrected outgoings in the five weeks 121,000 203,000
Yet, under these circumstances, and the known
probability of a short crop in the United States, the
rise in prices at Liverpool during the week was 3d.
per lb., or 37i per cent., in India cotton, and only
2id., or 171 per cent., in United States cotton. It
must be stated also that eminent merchants in Bom-
bay estimate the growth of India this year at one-
fifth more than last year. The comparative insig-
nificance of our cotton in the European markets
may seem strange to those whose information has
not kept pace with the progress of events in the last
five years, but the following table will explain the
change that has occurred :
Consumption of cotton in all Europa, measured in
pounds weight :

U.S. growths. Other growths.
Average of twenty-two years,
ending 1860 ... 82 2-10 p. c ... 17 8-10 p. c.
Average of two years, 1859
and 1860 ... ~ 81 4-10 p. c. ... 15 6-10 p. c
Supposed rate at present
about
... 40 p. GO p. c.
The opinion, therefore, which
.has not been un-
common in this country, that Europe would practi-
cally pay the tax on our cotton consumed there,
can hardly, in the light of facts here presented,
meet with general acceptance. A reference to your
memorial of May 10 will indicate that an enlight-
ened regard for the public interest would necessarily
require a total repeal of the cotton tax in the event
of any important failure of the crop. Such a failure
has now occurred, in consequence of unfavourable
weather from the time of planting to near the close
of September, accompanied by much destruction in
the south-west by the caterpillar or army worm, and
this misfortune is the more severe upon the South
because of the great deficiency in the yield of Indian
corn. Our Southern lands and climate are better
suited for the cultivation of cotton than for any
other purpose ; much better than those of
other countries, as is proved by the fact
that previous to the war we were sup-
plying 84 per cent. of the consumption of all
Europe, and notoriously with great profit to our-
selves. We see no obstacles to recovering our posi-
tion as chief cultivators if the business is no more
discouraged than that of growing wheat in lowa, or
of pumping petroleum in Pennsylvania. To con-
tinue a tax upon cotton is only to discourage
it cultivation in the best cotton • lands of
the world as ours are, and to encourage it in
the worse lands of India, Egypt, and Brazil, where
they would be ready enough to devote much of their
soil to other purposes as soon as we begin to throw
crops of aree or four millions of bales on the mar-
kets of Europe at the lowered prices which would
naturally ensue. Your committee find the present
tax to be indefensible with reference to the welfare
of the whole country—north, South, east, and west
—and must believe that it is inexpedient, unjust,
oppressive, and practically unconstitutional, :Ind
that the longer it is kept in force the more injurious
it will be found to national prosperity. We there.
fore recommend an early memorial to Congress
praying that the tax may be abolished imme-
diately.

Comments of the American Press on the
President's Message.

The style and spirit of the President's Message
are generally praised. The New York Tribune finds
fault not so much with what he says as what he
declines to say, and remarks :
" Mr. Pierce could not have written a weaker
message. Congress would as readily have heard
an essay upon the cause of thunder as this tame
and harmless disquisition. There is much that the
President regrets. There are some good words
from Washington and Jefferson, likewise Jackson.
We marvel that his excellency neglected the other
fathers of their country. For any living fact, for
any suggestion, for any helpful thought, we might
as well turn to the last novel of Mr. Trollope as to
this message. Ephraim seems irrevocably joined to
his idols. * * * He clings to his dogmas with
as much tenacity as when he hoped to carry the
country in the late elections: There is not one
word for the negro—not one word for the loyal in
the South—not one sentence which might not as
well have been written a hundred years ago as to-
day, for all the comfort and truth it brings."
The New York Times admits the moderation and
good temper of the Message, but thinks it not
uniformly in good taste. Very naturally the Times
cannot comprehend the President's adherence to
an opinion which the majority has rejected, and
says :
He has neither modified his views nor given any
indication of a readiness to concede aught of prin-
ciple or policy to the demands of the governing
States and Congress. He reviews the bearings of
the question precisely as he reviewed them more
than once during the last session. His statement
of the case is a reiteration of the statement heard
many times within the last nine months ; his argu-
ments have all been used before ; and his recom-
mendation is chiefly noticeable as evidence that he
has learned nothing from the election and forgotten
nothing in connection with his struggle with Con-
gress. This exhibition of unyielding purpose on the
part of the President may not occasion surprise to
those who know the firmness of will which marks
his character. We cannot but consider it, how-
ever, a serious error of judgment, and a source of
difficulty, which we would gladly have averted in
the session now opened."
The inability of the President to veer as readily
as the Times with the popular breeze is not the
worst possible trait of character, but the Times is
probably correct in supposing that it will provoke
more radical legislation in Congress, and at the same
time encourage the South in its obstinacy, thus
aggravating the two great obstacles to the restora-
tion of the Union.
The Hera/d, which now aspires to be the leading
Radical paper of the metropolis, says of the mes-
sage :

" It is an argument to the court after the jury
had rendered their verdict. It may be compared to
a history of Trance, omitting the revolution which
overthrew the Bourbons, as a trivial not worth
mentioning in pleading their claims to the throne.
It is indeed remarkable that after deliberately suh-
mating his Southern policy against the plan of
Congress to the people in the late elections, the
President should not have a word to say of the will
of the people, as made manifest in these elections."
The World is the only New York paper that tho-
roughly admires and defends the message. The
News sharply criticises the President's failure to
pitch into Congress, and fears that he is growing
timid. The World says, exultingly
" What is certain, and what the country is most
concerned to know, is, that the President remains
immovable, and Congress belligerent. The elec-

tions have not awed him into any degre o submis-
siveness, and be re-states his position with a mas-
culine, convincing clearness, which must produce a
favourable impression upon all candid men. He
does not deign to pay the Constitutional Amendment
even the cold compliment of a passing allusion ; nor
is there any reason why he should."
The New York Evening Post fully sustains the
President in his argument for the admission of
Southern Representatives, and declares the course of
Congress in violation of the Constitution. It thinks,-
however, that if the President possessed a broader
statesmanship he would urge upon the South the
adoption of the Constitutional Amendment as the
readiest means of reaching a practical settlement.