Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-03-22

Of 1928, on the articles to which it ap-
plies, some of which he had imported,
and, that, his purchases having been
made in England, before the passage Of
that tariff was known, it produced such
an effect upon the English market, that
the articles could not be re-sold without
loss, he adds: "for it really appears that,
when additional duties are laid upon an
article, it then becomes lo,cer, instead of
higher" This could not probably hap
pen, where the supply of the foreign ar
ticle did not exceed the home demand,
unless, upon the supPosition of the in
creased duty having ercited or stimulated
the measure of the home production.
The great law Of price is determined
by supply and demand. Whatever af-
fects either, affects the price. If the
supply is increased, the demand remain
ing the same, the price declines;'if the
demand is increased, the supply remain
ing the same, the price advances; il both
supply and demand are undiminished, the
price is stationary, and the price is influ-
enced exactly in proportion to the degree
of disturbance to the demand or supply.
1t is therefore a great error to suppose
that an existing or new duty necessarily
becomes a component element, to its ex
act amount, of price. If the proportions
of demand and supply are varied by the
duty, either in augmenting the supply, or
diminishing the demand, or vice versa,
price is affected, to the extent Of that va
ration. But the duty never becomes an
integral part Of the price, except in the
instances where the demand and the sup
ply remain, after the duty is imposed,
precisely what they were before, or the
demand is increased, and the supply re-
mains stationary.
Competition, therefore, wherever ex-
isting, whether at home or abroad, is the
parent cause Of cheapness. Ifa high duty
excites production at home, and the guam
tity of the domestic article exceeds the
amount which had been previously i'm
ported, the price will fall This accounts
for an extraordinary fact stated by Sen
ator from Missouri. Three cents were
laid as duty upon pound of lead, by
the act Of 1898. The price at Galena,
and the uther lead mines, afterwards fell
to one and a half cents per pound. Now
it is obvious, that the duty did not in this
case, enter into the price: for it was
twice the amount of the price. What
produced thefall? Itwas stimulated pro-
duction at home, exerted by the tempta-
ton of the exclusive possession of the
home market. This state ofthings could
not last. Men would not continue an
Improbable pursuit; some abandoned the
business, or the total quantity produced
was diminished, and living prices have
been the consequence. But, break
down the domestic supply, place us again
in state of dependence on the foreign
source, and can it be doubted that we
should ultimately have to supply our
selves at dearer rates? 1t is not fair to
credit the foreign market with the de-
preston Of prices produced there by the
influence of our competition. Let the
competition be withdrawn, and their pri-
ces would instantly rise. On this sub
have seen some erroneous reasoning, in
a late report Of Mr.. Lee, of the Free
Trade Convention, in regard to the arti-
Gle Of sugar. He calculates the total a
mount of brown sugar produced in the
world, and then states that what is made
in Louisiana is not more than two and
half per cent. Of that total. Although
his data may be questioned, let us as
sumo their truth, and what might be the
result? Price being determined by the
proportions Of supply and demand, it is
evident that, when the supply erceeds the
demand, the price will fall And the
fall is not always regulated by the a
mount of that excess. If the market, at
a given price, required five or fifty mil
lions Of hogsheads Of sugar, surplus of
only a few hundred might materially IN
fluence the price, s. diffuse itselfthrough-
out the whole mass. Add, therefore, the
eighty or one hundred thousand hogs
heads of Louisiana sugar to the entire
mass produced in other parts Of the
world, and it cannot be doubted that
material reduction of the price of the ar
ticle, throughout Europe and America,
would take place. The Louisiana sugar
substituting foreign sugar, in the home
market, to the amount Of its annual pro-
duce, would force an equal amount of TO"
reign sugar into other markets, which be-
ing glutted, the price would necessarily
decline, and this decline Of price would
press portions Of the foreign sugar into
competition, in the United States, with
Louisiana sugar, the price Of which would
also be brought down. The fact has
been in exact conformity with this theo-
ry. But now let us suppose the Louis
lana sugar to be entirely withdrawn from
the general consumption,--what then
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