Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1832-05-16

ton of the labor, lihrated by the disbanc
ment of armies, was absorbed by manufactr
Irers than by agriculture. 1t is also contende
that the invention and Improvement of labor
saving machinery haze tended to lessen tn
prices of manufacture objects of consumy
ton, and undoubtedlyEhis cause has had som
effect. Ought not America to contribute he
quota of this cause, AID has she not, by he
skill and extraordnar adaptation to the art
in truth, largely conriblted to it9
This brings me to colder, what apprehen
to have been, the mosiefficient of all the cat
Uses in the reduction oftha prices of mapuiaC
ltured articles-and THAI IS COMPETITION. B
eompetition the total ar unit II the supply
Increased, and by increase 81 the supply,
competition in the sale5nsues, and this enable
the consumer to buyat lower rates. or al
human powers oper+ing on the affairs of man
kind, none is create than that of competition
1t is action snd reation. Itoperates between
individual, in the same nation, and between
different nations. 1t resembles the meeting
Iof the moyntain torrent, growing, by its pre-
cipitous rloton,its own channel, and oceans
tide. Unopposed, it sweeps every thing be
fore it ;but, cou,terpnlsed, the waters become
calm, safe, and egular.
1t is like thu segments of circle or an
arch; taken separately, each is nothing; but.
in their combiation, they produce efficiency,
symmetry, AM perfection. By the American
System, this rower has been excited in Amer
lea, and brought into being to act in co-opera
ton or collision with European Industry. Eu
rope acts within itself and with America and
America ads within itself, and with Europe.
The consequence is, the reduction of prices
in both hemspheres. Nor is it fair to argue.
from the reduction of prices in Europe, to her
own presumed skill and labor, exclusively.
We afftcther prices, and she affects ours.
This mus always he the case, at least in rel
erence t any articles as to which there is
not toll non-ntercourse; and if our indus
try, by diminishing the demand for her sup
plies, sbuld produce dimunition in the price
of thos supplies, it would be very unfair to
ascribethat reduction to her ingenuity, instead
of plating it to the credit of our own skill and
erertel industry.
Practical men understand very we'll this
STATE of the case, whether they do or do not
the causes which produce 1t. !
have. in my possession letter from a respecta-
bic merchant, well known to me, in which he
saws, after complaining Of the operation Of the
tariff of 1928, on the articles TO which it ap-
plies. some of which BE &c had impaired, and
hat, his purchases having been made in Eng
and, before the passage of that tariff was
crown, it produced such an effect upon the
English market, that the articles could not be
'e.sold without loss, he adds: Hior it reailr APP
bears that, when additional duties are laid up
IN an article, it then becomes lozuer, insttad of
agher." This could not probably happen.
when the supply of the foreign article id not
exceed Che home demsnd, unless, up,n the
of the increased duty having erci-
ed OF stimulated the measures Of the h0me pro-
1uction.
The great law of price is determined by sup
ply and demand. Whatever ELECTS either, af
ects the price. If the supply is increased,
he demand remaining the sane, the price de.
slihes; if the demand is increased. the supply
the same, the prize advances, il
both supply and demand arr undiminished,
he price is stationary and theprice is infiuen
led exactly in proportion to tie degree OF dis
.urbance to the demand orsuply. 1t is there
tore great error to suppose hat an existing
or new duty necessarily becom.s component
element, to its exact amount, o price. II the
of demand and supply are varied
by the duty, either in augmertng the supply,
or diminishing the demand, or vice versa, price
IS affected, TO the extent # that variation.
But the duty never becomes an integral part
OF the price, except in the instances where
the demand ano the supply remain, after the
duty is imposed, Previously what they were
before, or the demand is increased, and tbs
supply remains Stationary. Fl
Competition, Therefore, wherever existing
whether at home or abroad, Is the parent caus'
of cheapness. liza high duty excites production
at home and the quantity of the domestic AZ
ticle exceeds the amount which had been pre-
viously imported, the pnce will fall. This ae
counts for an extraordinary fact stated by
Senator from Missouri Three cents wer
laid as a duty upon pound of lead, by tn
act of 1928. The price at Galena, aud tn
other lead mines, afterwards fell to one and
half cents per pound. it is obvious, thu
the duty did not, in this case, enter into tn
price: for it was twice tile amount of the price
What produced the fall, II was stimulated PR
duction at home, exerted by the temptatio
OF the exclusive possession of the home ma
ket. This state of things could not last. Me
would not continue an Improbable pursuit.
tsome abandoned the business, or the tot
iquantity produced was diminished and livlr