Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1841-01-23

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the value ofthem here being not uniform at different
ports, would, if taken as the guide in assessing the du-
ty, be justly open 10 any constitutional objection, it is
not deemed appropriate on this occasion TO discuss.
From these various considerations the following deduc-
tons are made:
That the present tariff laws should be as little disturb
ed by any revision as possible, consistent with the pub
lie wants, and an adherence to sound principles; that
changes should be made chiefly, if not solely, for pur-
poses OF revenue; that these changes, when raising the
duty, whether operating before or after July ], 1912,
should, as a general rule, be confined TO articles not
paying a duty as high as twenty per cent; that except
in extreme cases, it should never raise them above that
rate; and, lastly, that the existing provisions for the pay
ment of duties in cash, and the assessment of them on
the value of the merchandise at the port of entry after
1912, are too important TO be disregarded.
A principl deemed useful in carrying out these views,
is this: In raising the sum needed, if it does not be-
come necessary to subject all free articles to a duty, or
TO one as high as twenty per cent. and a discrimination
can therefore be INDUCED within the restrictions Of the
compromise act, it is doubtless a sound axiom 10 select
for highest taxation articles of luxury, rather than of
necessity. Under similar circumstances it is, also, mt
only competent, but e%xpedient, to select such of the
former as compete most with similar articles of Anne
rican growth or manufacture, though not TO raise the
duty on them above the limitation of twenty per cent.
And another discrimination, sometimes useful, might
be to select those articles, in certain cases, for an in
creased impost, not usually exceeding the anne limita-
ton, which may be proper for countervailing injuri-
Gus imposts, placed on our own productions by any
foreign power. The broad and well settled ground on
which these distinctions rest, cannot require on this
occasion much detailed illustration. For the luxuries
of life are enjoyed by the few, rather than the many
the rich instead Of the poor-and their use tends
rather to effeminacy and pleasure, than TO what invi.
gorates or makes useful. In form of Government
like ours, these principles apply with peculiar force,
as an excessive indulgence in luxuries always operate
as a bane to Republican manners, and, in time, TO Re-
publican principles. On the contrary, articles of uni
versal use, and considered as the necessares of life, are
beneficial 10 all, and are to be c%heapened as much as
possible to promote the comforts Of all. So what is Ame-
rican, may we'll be supposed entitled to receive, within
the Limitations stipulated, more incidental favor than
what is foreign, because obtained with more readiness
and certainty as well as being more safe and indie pendent
in its use. Nor can any other country complain with JUS
lice, if we counteract its high taxation on any of our
products, by imposing some corresponding impost on
theirs; and however improbable such conflicts usually
prove TO all concerned, yet when such a measure be-
comes convenient for our own fiscal purposes, or is re-
CURED by proper self-respect, and is kept within due re-
strictions as TO the amount Of duty, it's believed TO be en-
tirely justi6able. The present tariff is, in many of these
respects, an anomaly. Being designed to get rid of reve-
nue. when it was too abundant, and 10 diminish a sup