The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-23 00:00:00

E Ll VE RPC

duty upon cotton wool, which confers no benefit whatever
upon any class of persons except those very American
cotton growers who already possess so many advantages
over us. The duty on cotton is five-eights of a penny.—
It is now to be reduced one half, and the I:320,000 there-
by thrown away, goes principally into the pockets of our
shrewd and thriving cousins upon the other side of the
Atlantic, who will no doubt be exceedingly obliged by this
mark of British. liberality. We speak more confidently
upon this subject, for it is one in which the people of Li-
veipool have some interest, and those connected with the
cotton trade, one and all, declare that the remission of the
duty confers no boon whatever, and will not administer
any relief to any class of his Majesty's subjects. This,
then, is one of the egregious blunders which have marked
the whole financial career of the noble Chancellor of the
Exchequer. In confirmation of this our opinion, we beg
Leave to subjoin the following, which has just been hand-
ed to us by one of the most extensive and intelligent
merchants in this town

"The alteration in the Cotton duty is simply a boon to the
Americans. Nobody in this town expected it ; nobody sought
for it ; nobody wished for it ; nobody thanks Ministers for it,
and nobody is relieved by it. It is an encouragement of the
American Cotton, to the detriment of East India, the import of
which has been increasing ever since the duty of % was im-
pOsed upon American; thereby completely fulfilling the inten-
tions of those by whom the duty was imposed,—rendering us gra-
dually less dependent on America for this staple article of our
manufacture. The American Cotton is chiefly on American
account, and gives employment to American shipping and
American seamen—the East India Cotton, on British account,
entirely imported in British vessels, and employs British sea-
men, and is a return for British exports. The % was a sort
of protecting duty to the importers of East India Cotton, on
the faith of which a large number of vessels are now on their
voyage to India. It is now proposed to reduce this duty to such
an extent as must very shortly inevitably prevent the import of
India Cotton. This, too, in the very face of the whole country
calling out for a more extended trade with India !"
The pitiful nibbling at the assessed taxes in favour of
the large cheap shops, the monopoly warehouses of
London, the rich shopmen, the Eliises, Morisons, and peo-
ple of that stamp—is another blunder! Who complained
of the duty on shop windows ? The smaller shops pay
no duty at all ; the large shopkeepers can well afford to
pay; they can better afford it than any other class, and
consequently they should be made to pay all their present
liabilities and even a trifle more than they are at present
subject to. Here then are £320,000 upon cotton,
£244,000 on shop windows, and £37,000 on pan-cakes,
we mean pan-tiles, making a totality of £601,000, ab-
solutely thrown away without either rhyme or reason, and
which if it had been subtracted from the present enorm-
ous duty upon sugar, would have been hailed as a boon
all over the country, especially by the working classes,
and would at the same time have been gratefully accepted
as an act of grace by the suffering planters of the West
Indies.

The reduction of £lOO,OOO in favour of foreign marine
insurances is a pittance which it would be foolish to
waste a drop of ink in-favouring with any further notice.
It is not a pinch of snuff and a quid of tobacco, per
week, to the sailors employed in the trade.
The repeal of the tax upon clerks was never consi-
dered a grievance by any respectable merchant. Those
who cannot afford it must be in a very deplorable state
indeed, and the sooner they close their counting houses,
and dispense with the services of their clerks, so much
the better for themselves and their creditors.
Then comes the reduction of the newspaper advertise-
ment duties, which although it is likely to put some
£2OO or £3OO a year into our pockets, has nearly killed
us with down right laughter. Does Lord Althorp know
what a newspaper is ? He proposes to give us a reduc-
tion of £75,000 a year. The whole revenue arising
from newspaper advertisements amounts to about
£150,000,-3s. 6d. of duty being charged upon each
advertisement. Had the noble lord reduced the duty to
Is. 6d. we should have understood his meaning, for his
plan would have been practicable. But he cannot go
straight forward to his object like a sensible man. He
is totally ignorant of the subject, and has allowed him-
self to be advised by some amateur dabblers in Maga-
zines who are as ignorant as himself. He proposes to
charge 2s. for an advertisement if inserted once, Is. 6d.
if inserted twice, and is. if inserted more than twice.
If this scheme were practicable it would confer a bounty
upon quackery—upon the venders of pills, balsams, and
all the million of sickening and detestable drugs which
are puffed, in the most extravagant and disgusting terms,
in the most disreputable journals. It would be a boon in
favour of these empirics and their agents, who gain a
livelihood• by stuffing potions and poisons down the
throats of the ignorant and unwary, thus encouraging
imposition and swindling, which are already carried
on to an enormous extent, and in which the - poorer
classes are the readiest and principal victims.

Such would be, we repeat, the effect of Lord Althorp's
measure, if it were practical, which very fortunately
it is not. The expense of hunting after first, second, and
third advertisements, by the clerks of the stamp office,
would be far greater than the amount of profit derived
from the duty. It would beside lead to perpetual alter-
cations, vexatious complaints, and frequent overcharges,
so that there would be no end to the difficulties of carry-
ing it into operation. It would be far better, and equally
profitable to reduce the duty at once to is. 3d. or is.
For our part we think there should be no duty at all
upon advertisements. What is the paltry sum of
£75,000 to a country like this ? Lord Althorp ought to
blush at the confession that this pittance is indispensable
for the safety of public credit. But if he must have it,
we can tell his Loidship that he must also alter his plan
and impose a fixed and unvarying duty—we propose
on each advertisement, but if he should be hard pushed,
and should plead extreme poverty, we are willing to give
him is. 3d.—but, mind, not a farthing more!

We have inserted on the score of fair play, and, accord-
ing to our general. rule, a letter which will be found in
the prop!. place, controverting the accuracy of the data
upon which are founded Mr. Sadler's calculations as to
the duration of human life under the factory system.