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

ifc duty without minimum Asan' 10
vided tia, Ill white cotton clo'hs' OF c'o'is ~ WV.
ls ,,r.n,y canis per square yard, shall be valued al
twenty cents The square yard, and be SUBJECT TO duty
Of thirty uer cent al vaiorem Now, mere IS case !"
minimum which common case IN the oi' dnu
the effect is 10 make cloths, winch cost only SIX Genus
n,v s;y cents du,y while cloth costing twenty cents
,n,s H., o., c,uts In the first case, the duty Is
on h,nd,-d per cent in the last thirty per cent? az
v,loro,n Now. the effect Of the specific duty on the
sugar and of the minimum duty one the white COTTON
cloth is to subject the poorer cassrs VINO usually COZ"
snr,a tho inferior article, to taxation more IMAM threc
lines as great in proportion TO price, as me richei
classes who usually consume the superior But II Is
urged in justification OF thus system oil oppressive TAXA
,n nm h. poor that SPECIFIC duties are necessary 70
project The revenue form fraudulent invoices Let Us
nons how This is: BY the provision OF the bull last
hna acr,ed TO- all cloths costing twenty cents and
-, 40 splec 10 the specific duty on the minimum
nr,nn, and so FAR the revenue may be protected oy Inc
du,v heinz spccic but on all white cotton cios cost
mo more than twenty cents the square yard the duty
is an al yoorem duty only ana OF course 'e
on ,bnm i not protected by the specific duty, in any
w,v c,on fraudulent invoices Here, then, the rere-
ma on coarse cloths protected against fraudulent IN.
voices By the specific duty, and they are in all cases
made IN nav the full duty while the revenue on Inc
finer ou,es is not pratec by the SPECIFIC Duty ana
smch ,onds NAV be introduced at less duty than
Inn, ;mn,o,ed by the law. This jurisdiction, then, al
las. in mart falls the ground and the unequal and
oopressive action OF specific and minimum duties loses
even this shadow of excuse On the other hand, the
ad valorem duty acts equally upon all, and the article
pavs duty only in proportion TO its cost and Should
system of suc! exact justice be sacrificed 10 the APP
prebeusion Of an occasional fraudulent invoice:
The ne y Objectionable feature of the bill s, that il
makes no provision for warehonslng system, or, IN
other words requires the duty to be paid al the lime Of
entry in cash. This requirement oil the payment OF
the duty in cash. on the entry of the goods al the Gus
tom house is calculated diminish Imports by the IN
convenience 10 which; the importer or consIgnee, ana
especially the latter may be subjected, by sudden ar
rival of a large amount OF goods ut season "heh'
from cessation Of business in the South or OF press
IRE m the money market al the North, 1t may he I'M
possible except at great sacrifice to obtain the mo
ney and thus especially in the Southern cities, where,
from climate other causes there IS almost lota ces
saion Of commercial business for three months IN Inc
year time too, when all the winter supply OF sooaS
must be brought n be ready for the market when IL
ooens This inconvenience, in those cities, will be
made the more manifest when state that, from the
causes to which have referred most OF the import
100 merchants themselves absent and lie business
is left chiefly in the hands of clerks or agents but
there is another effect winch, in Government based
upun the principle OF equal rights and equal advantages
to all of very serious nature. The system has the
elrc, of accommodating the whole importing business
into the hands of few large capitalists in each CITY,
TO the exclusion OF all others for when tue small ca
ptalls feels his inability to pay the duty on his own
to import; and when conscnmens are made 10 HIM. he
obliged from inability 10 pay the duties w advance,
to turn the consignment to large capitalist nus
small capitalists are, for the most part, excluded from
competition in The business OF importing. How many
there are at this moment every city, who feel this 10
be true proper warehousIng system ought to be
adopted, and Tie bill Of the majority OF the COMMITTEE
curh, to temporary provision, even though
imperfect to obvaie these evils.
There IS another feature in the bill, which deserves,
specially at this juncturc, serious consideration,
If it is not altogether Objectionable. We allude
To the tax on auction sales Of imported goods. The
prssent Indebtedness of the States has been urged
as the strong reason for distributing among them, the
proceeds of the public lands In some of the States,
where there are large importing Cities the auction tax
is en- important branch Of revenue 10 the State
The bill imposes duty of three per cent. on auction
sales of imported goods. This will have the effect
Johannesburg the sales Mt auction; and of course the
revenue derived by the State from this source, by pre-
VENTING sales BY the additional loss to the owner in the
addition of three per cent tax and OF course the State
will lose the revenue which would be otherwise o.
tanned BY the State for most If not all OF the States
;mnose a tax upon ton sales Such sales all,
cept in particular cases. forced sales and you make the
very necessities of the owner for taxation, and
that necessity is often caused by your own law, winch
compes the importer TO pay the duty IN cash, at the
time of import and thus he is forced TO sell, to repay
the money which he has borrowed to pay the duty
Thus your law will force him 10 sacrifice his goods, and
then tax him for making the sacrifice. All tins may
benefit the manufacturer By checking importat'on but
will it eventually benefit the revenue' We think this
is al least probematical
The las, objection propose to make to the ball. and
probab!y it is even more serious than any we nave
named is that which imposes, after the 30th oil June
st duty OF ten per centum ad vaoren, III aooiiloh
10 all other duties, woolen cloths and kerseys OF
cassimeres al! manufactures OF cotton, winch are
dyed. coored printed or stained: on laces; beached
,nll. bnJ aU
lures Of silk and worsed, and of leather; on spirits
distilled from grain other materials on hemp and
cordare and the various wines OF France, Austria
and Germany: provided, that If the o6acco, gram, ano
-four, of the L. ) are admitted INTO any foreign kihe
dom or State With all the rights and privileges OF the
products and manufactures of the said State, and sub
ect to higher duty tax, them as to the products
Of such Stale, the ten per cent additional duty sha
This is perhaps The most extraordinary piece o.
legislation, TO say no Of it, land we say 1T with
ont dsrespeci) Which has ever been proposed lot en-
actment.
By The very bill which exacts rate OF duty, on al
the foreign products named high as TO exclude them
from market, you say to these foreign producers,
you do not admit certain articles OF our production
which are produced by portion Of our people, to al
the rights and privileges of your own, and subject
to no higher duty, will put such an additional
duty upon all the most important OF your exports as
will certainly exclude them from our market, and
we will all people for the benefit OF that por
ton who do not produce them but II you Will con
sent to give up - 00000 dollars of revenue on to
bacco, we will take 0OO0,000 dollars of your pro
duce in return, at price; and this, too wher
the amount Of the import of those articles already
SO small have shown as scarcely TO weigh lea
Their in the general consumption of the world; when ht
whole Of our importation, free or subject to duty doe
not equal in amount the export Of single class of ma
nufactuTes from England alone-that OF cotton manu-
features Tie revenue derived in Europe from TIT
single article Of tobacco, principally of our production
is S32 eco 000 while the whole importation OF her pro
ducllons, which propose TO use as rod TO coerc
her to accede to demands, hardly equals tina
amount. However reasonable and desirable such reci
proc'y might to be TO many persons IN this coun
try, there can be no probability Of such concession
and this retaatory clause can only result IN an add
,ona tax of ten per cent. on our own consumers, 10
the protection OF domestic manufacturers. Such al
attempt 10 other Governments to conform thei
legislation TO notions of policy would, we believe
only recoil on our consumers.
We have done. Ii VIC have embraced much OF space
in this re port il because of the necessity of giving
view of the whole subject iii order to give just eie'o