The Middlebury people's press. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1841-1843, 1842-08-02
;n1in favor of it,

afford nroteclion to the Wooio" i"
nv remarks do not propose 10 60 ih'o mo
Ic,,;,s-time will not permit. Others VINO
u';li take mart in this debate will 'Pp'y all
,,.;c;rncy. Nv first objection Is to the al,
,n;.s;on of wool, costing eight Gems and
nndcr, free of duty. When that regulation
was made it was a very proper enc i"e
oh;ect was to admit the coarse wool. whlch
did not come in competition with OH is. iree
of duty. for two purposes: to aid The man !
,,f,ctnrers and 10 afford at cheap rate,
spec;as of cloth used exclusively al tile
South. Put sir, since the act OF 1909, ',o
ouality of the low priced wool has en'irey
changed BY the Introduction OF nefih0
bucks {lIuO) into Buenos Ayres' (ahd l
s,,Dpose into other coarse wool fesiohs')
,,onls ,re brought invoiced under e'ght
GENTS that compete with our merlLo WOOL.
In Is4I,I4,O 100000 of pounds eight cent
wool was imported, which 9,uOO,Ooo
,.,me from Buenos Ayres. In consequent
res Of the embargo of two wears producing
an accumulation of three clips, ii was pro-
babIv purchased very low ; yet at The usual
prices there in ordinary times the low-prIced
woods must always compete win our line
woods. 1t should not be forgotten that ono
fifth of our fleeces may be regarded As coarse
woods.
On fl re wool, competition is rising and
increasing in various quarters. AuSirii'a
and the cape of Good Hope will soon sup
Div Englan with all the fine woods neces-
sary for her manufactures. What she now
takes from Spain and Germany must be
thrown on other markets. The increase OF
sheep within a few years in Hungary, has
been immense. Ii has also been increasing
throughout the whole of the north OF Eu-
rope.
But sir. under any degree Of protection,
we must not expect an Immediate return oil
former prices. We, with all other interests,
must await the return of general prosperity
When the time comes for voting on a.
mendmonts an amendmet will be presented,
anaIaqo,,s in some respects 10 the duty pro-
posed by the report of Mr.. Simmons in the
Senate WHO admit long coarse wool
costing six cents and under free OF duty,
and all other wool at least twenty hive cent.
on valuation Of 30 cents per pound per-
hans some further protection may be moved
for fine staplcd woods. This mode has the
advantage of simplicity and certainly. In
deed there are 30 many grades and prices,
real and nominal, that any mode other than
n simple home valuation would be uncertain
and liusory.
In regard TO wooIIens. unless the mimi
mum system is adopted, the rate of duty
must depend on the mode of valuatlon.-
The bills now under consideration proposes
foreign valuaion. Under that valuation
no rate Of duty will afford sufficient protcc-
lion; the amount will depend on foreign
ers and subordinates in the custom house.
! nus far we have wholly failed 10 protect
the revenue against The systematic frauds
of foreigners notwithstanding all our vig-
lance Tor negIigence,) we have been una
bic to keep pace with foreign frauds. De-
tected in one artifice, they resort TO another.
That these frauds have been successfully
prdctised is demonstrated by two facts: mr.
American merchants who purchase with
cash are undersold by foreign importers.
1t is moi pretended that they are undersOld
by Struggled goods. How then is the for
ign importer enabled to undersell the Amer
icanl Solely, because in some way or 9TH
er, he pays less duties. The second fact is
but the consequence of the first. The
whole livery nearly,) trade is thrown INTO
ihe hands of foreigners The American
merchant remains here responsible for Gus
tom house perluries-the foreigner, on the
first alarm, can go home.
| wish had time to refer TO the report Of
tn hon n-ablc gentlemen from Massachu-
sets. Mr. Adams, when at the head of
the Committee on Manufactures. II furni-
shes ample proof of the frauds in fact Ev-
cry oner ecoIects the Woods case. | repeat,
the foreign valuation on woollens must be
abandoned and a minimum or home valu-
alton substituted. But. sir, the home valu-
alton has received no favor from the Secre-
tarv of the Treasury, or from either of the
committees of this House. As system TO
be applied to every one of the $500 dutia-
be articles, there are difficulties, admit
bit, on reconsideration, | do not think the
system impracticable. The greatest diitl-
cuities are AT the commencement. The
difficulties are the same tha' every mer-
chant meets on entering a new line of bust
n:sS-hc has TO learn and remember prices.
Bat what merchant who has long been in
Al extensive business of buying or selling
thoIand different articles of merchandise,
cannot at any day, and at any hour of the
day, tell you the market value Of any arti-
Gle of MS trade Without this, what may
call a mercantile habitual knowledge, he
cannot safely conduct his business; and
this knowledge, and this only, extended to
all articles of import, is required in the Gus
tom house.
In practice register would be made of
every article, with its aScrtained value
that being done. it is only necessary to
note the changes. In addition TO this you
must have intelligent and honest appraisers,
and TO secure that honesty let the examna
ton and apprisal be open TO the attendance
and agents of The protected interest.
One objection has been to the great ex-
pense of appraisers-lhat their number must
b greatly increased. That increase will
drnrnd in great measure on the extent TO
l..