Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-05-27


leave o. ner cent I'D ralorsia, protection to the
wool.rrower Strike oil par, OF the duly proposed Oh
pig IRON and YOU adj to the ptohs o a ''e "o.Ne's
in iron in the United States, and sl' eaVe e P'ou'oe
heavy nro,eciion STRIKE off but one-!oufth from the
dutv ON dressed or tanned leather aud you ut once eha
ble the shoe and baotmaker better 10 compete wan the
orein labor while the tanner vii! still enjoy heavy
protection Reduce the duty all other raw materials
used in manufactures to revenue du'y, ana you re-
lie ve all other branches ot manufacture.
As evidence OF the effect which the reduction OF the
duties on the raw material would have the profits OF
the manufacturer will again refer 10 the statements
annexed 10 the report of the majority The average
price of wool in this country appears to be about ~
cents per pound; the average IN Europe is about -
cents A 20 per centum duty and freight would add
about cents say it would be imported here at 81 CTS
and sold TO the manuacur here at that price, he
thereby saving 9 cents per pound The amount OF
wool produced in Eagland alone, according to Mconi
loch, is, in value, about $4,000 600, or nearly To-
100000 The duty proposed by The Dill rs - per cent
and cents per pound TO protect The wool grower In
Encland the duty is only cent, TO protect the wool
grower there. The cost Of pig iron in New York is
$50 per ton The foreign cost OF the best Scotch pig
IRON is abou; Sl7 30 The duty proposed by the act is
s per tom or nearly half of the first cost Of the
best Scotch pig ron. By the proposed bull dressed or
tanned skins and hides to be subjected TO dnty
varying from 81 - 10 81 per dozen, and sole ana bend
leather to cents per pound CndFessed h'aes now
ever as they the material OF the tanner! are
admitted fee of duty, and are imported to the amount
in value of SS2,1o0009.
In searching for objects which to raise revenue,
here would have been fair opportunity OF giving in
ciden;a protection TO great interest OF the Mssis
sippi valley; but would somewhat have distracted
from the tanner the value OF the protection gwen by
the duty on manufactured leather and therefore an
equivalent is a1rted at least TO Kentucky, by high
duty hemp and imported coida5c, at The expense
Of the shpowner.
IT, then the manufacturers of wool, iron, and eah-
err are really the distressed condition IN which they
are represented to be- may, without destroying the
i,ar, Nal lief nv TrlU IL
duty on the raw material, by suhiecng it to mode
rate daty only, instead Of duty of exclusion, as IN
the three cases have named. The duty on the raw
cotton from abroad could also be reduced to revenue
duty without injury to The cotton producer for as we
believe no duty imposed upon foreign cot,ons here can
materially affect that article in the market Of the world
There is very little and that of the most inferior kind,
imported into the U. S. do we believe that the re-
noval OF the duty altogether would affect the price in
the home market. Oar domestic consumption is 50
small in comparison with that OF the world, that the
price is wholly dependent upon and IS regulated by,
the foreign market and the price in New FORK rises or
falls with the price in Liverpool. The consumption OF
the India and other cottons must interfere with the cot
of the L. ). the general consumption; and II IS
really matter of little consequence 10 the grower oil
cotton, whether it displaces given quantity in the
foreign the home market But Independently of this
consde ration ii matter not under control; tor
England at any moment, ny the imposition oil
heavy duties cotton, nouriSt and increase the
production OF the India other co,tons, 1t shall be-
come her interest 10 do So and that entirely
counteract any effect Of our legislation. Whether,
therefore, the alarm which has been created, if any
really exists, BY the ALLEGED increasing and improving
production in India, IS with or without foundation, we
are powerless avert the danger by our legislation,
aud would a2p-ehend evil in the reduction of the
duty 10 a mere revenue duty. like alarm
ated some years ago among the growers OF the long
staple seasand cottons by the attempt to produce
that article IN Egypt, with seed from the State OF
Georgia: but that groundess we trust this
is now tor during the last three years believe,
no such has been exported from that country, at
least none appears, believe IN the English imports,
and the attempt 10 produce ii there has been given up,
and an inferior quality is substituted. Indeed, it
would be almost impossible cr any foreign cottons to
compete with in our home market under duty
OF ~ per ad vaorem for the most inferior of our
cottons are low as cents and these supe
rior or al least equal To the bes; India.
But it will be said if this is really the state Of the
raw material Of the cotton manufacturer, then the
lief be afforded 10 him mast be b. other than
by reducing the du;y the material The other
mode which presents itself is, by reduction in the
price OF labor. The necessity TO. this leave entire
Is TO tie decision Of the manufacturers themselves,
aud those whom they employ. They know best what
OF wages they aord 10 pay out Of their pro-
fits: and we the consumers, only ask, that If t!.cy pay
wages three times high paid in England or on
the Continent for the services, they will pay it
out of their pochets, and not abstract 1t from
by Of high protection; at least, may ask that
they will not expense Pay the aborcr who digs
the the coal twenty or twenty five dollars per
month, when in North Carolina and in Georgia the
services precisely rendered by the free white
man for fifteen dollars is the both in the iron
and gold ines Of those States We say, then, that the
reduction Of wages is Il matter which we neither ask
for nor insist upon: only ask, that If the manuacu
rer disposed 10 be liberia! iii such Matters that he
will not do ii a, the expense Of han in the South or
West, who Only receives his SD per month"; and finds
himself and family out OF that sum.
Hitherto We have been engaged in the examination
nft ba min af ne by he
majority of the committee; but feel that before
close ii becomes duty to present some objections of
very serious character TO lis passage, growing we'll
of lis general principle its particular provisions,
which cannot aud ought not to pass without no.
tice The act OF the I'd of March, 1888, commonly
called the Compromise act, was the result of mutual
concession, and lis object 10 preserve the peace OF
the country, and the Union ITSELF both of which were
then endangered hy the acts Of SIS and 1892 II was
q compact not between this and that State, THIS and
that section Of the nion but between the representa-
lives Of The manufacturing interests on the one hand
and the agricultural and other man uac urng in
tcrests the other, by which The former allow
I'd 10 enjoy the high protection afforded 10 them by the
existing laws, for given tme subject to scale OF
gradual reduction, in consideration that after that s
pua:ed period the duties should be fixed at rate not
exceeding twenty per centum on the home valuation
Now it is matter of little consequence, far good
Faith ia concerned whether the representatives. who
were the agents in making this compact came from
sls that particular State section; whether the
people woo were represented ny 'ieii H1se no" '"e
same interests or not that they had then. 1t is the OPP
posing interests ho the parties to the contract
however those interests might change their localities
or their agents here; and that the non 'nnnnfac
turing interest has faithfully executed ITS part OF tie
contract by quiet and peaceful acguiescence in lis
operations, and the time about to arrive when the
manufacturing interest is 10 execute its part, by sub
uniting 10 reduction Of duties 10 the rate named IN
the compact, they not bound in honor and good
faith no matter where located BY whom repre-
scented here, perform their part Of The compact, by
submitting to the reduction imposed by The compact
The proposed bill not only violates the a!-impor ant
spulatons Of the compact bat insists upon re-es;a-
blishing To very great extent, the burden which
the original subcc. of dissatisfaction and the removal
of which, a. then future day, the sole object
of that compact In this view of The matter and we