Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1844-04-11
lat Jan. l843

VI bleached goods, domestic pflntS,
staple sty Iss) were from 10 10 lS cents
in al, and from 81 TO ~ cents in '43.
Cloths, cassimers and satinetts fell not
less than 33i per cent. Calcoes fell from
% and % cts. to Is cts. per yard.
Many other articles are given in the
statement, and the falling off of price is as
remarkable as that shown above. Elan.
ntls have fallen 33s per cent; blankets
25 per cent; Kentucky jeans 30 per cent;
bed.ticks from Is cts. to IL cts., &c. &c.
In addition TO the Richmond table which
| have been using, have one before me
prepared by two Of the most inlelligen,
and respectable merchants Of Martinsburg,
showing decline Of price in a majority
Of the articles commonly bought OF them
and used by the farmers Of the county.
This taae goes directly to the point; !,
will, no doubt, shortly be made public.
The prices then Of the manufactures
which our farmers buy are lower under a
protective Tariff than they were without
a protective Tariff.
| might content myself with this fact,
and leave the question Of the effect Of du.
ties on prices as practically answered.
But our opponents say that this decline Of
price is not occasioned by the imposition
of dpties--that other causes occasion It
that the imposition of duties cannot in
any conceivable way occasion it-tbat
the duty is tax on the article, so much
added 10 its cost, and is and must be paid
by the eventual purchaser or consumer.
| will, therefore, endeavor to shew how
the thing is done that is, how the impo.
si,ion of duty brings down, by its na,u.
raj operation, the prce Of the article on
which il is laid.
The clearest mode OF doing this will be
to take an instance fthe particular ope-
ration of a duty on particular article.
will suppose nothing in the case put for
illustration that is not Of actual ordinary
occurrence.
The manufacturers OF certain article,
we will suppose, have been sending It
abroad and selling it 10 country whose
ports are open. These manufacturers are
few in number, and enabled by juxtaposI-
ton and the smallness other numbers to
act in concert; that's, to carry on part.
nership of monopoly. The absence Of
duties having prevented the citizens Of
the buying country from goirg into the
manufacture Of the article, this monopoly
is undisturbed by composition. The arti.
Gle has been selling, therefore, at monop-
oily prices The profit made has been
Tar beyond tie point of fair return for
outlay Of capital and labor in the manu-
facture; 1t has been the profit Of mo-
nopolst controlling the market in which
he sells. Let US suppose that the foreign
manufacturer has been selling for So an
article which he can sell with q reasonable
profit at 1925; take this particular rate
of profit merely for the convenience OF
the figures without reference to strict fact,
but it is certainly not unusual rate Of
profit under the circumstances | have
mentioned. A citizen Of the buying coun-
try, believing that he can make the same
article at . reasonable profit for SI,75,
but knowing that if he began the manu.
iac,ure without the protection Of duty,
the foreigner would instantly crush him
by falling from his price of So to Sl,25,
is 10 readiness to go into the manufacture
as soon as duty OF so cents is put on the
article; he regards this duty as guaran-
ty securing the price at 81, rs at less,--a
price at which he can sell pro6tably.
His government, after a delay, during