New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-03-23
The Lazy of Prices.
The ByGaIo Courier Of last Saturday favors


The Law of Prices.
The Bafdo Courier Of last Saturday favors
US with the following
Ths New-Voik TGhureis the oracle Of the MauufactuT
ING Interest his said over again that the dnfy
does not increase price Of the art c.. which Is laid
and Vet duty laid tho raw na1ia raised
All a. oace, like ha;cd Lu and runges uron the Wanda
Tariff st>tyes It s1ad~nly admits that the dny does
the ice nj compa!5 that the american Msnuiac
tuer have par for the material without Re
cers any
,ods cieap he would be glad q hate high duy or IN. raw
as.ia for he Wy uiposs OF making come cheaper
Let us endcavor orce more to explain the
seeming discrepancy which so staggcrs the
Courier. It's difficulty isthat we represent Pro.
tcctiye Tariff as tending to reduce prices when
that suits u.s. and then as Increasing prices
when that will better answer our purpose. Now
there is some truth in this--we do contend that
Wool, Grain. Meat, &c at this moment COM
mand better prices, taking the average through
our country, than they would in tie absence Of
q Protective Tariff, and that at the same time
this very Tariff ensures our consumers supply
of Manufactured goods at lower prices than they
would bear in the absence of Tariff. Is their
anv mystery or absurdity here? Let US try to
make all plain. But it is an old maxim that a
question may be asked in five lines OF which the
proper answer will require many pages; where
fore we cntrcat patient attention.
The careful observer of the laws which govern
Production and Distribution will perceive, at the
outset, that the fruits of Industry arc naturally
divided into two classes in reference to this sub
icct: the first class, embracing mainly Agrl-
cultural staples consisting of such articles as can
only be produced in greater quantity at proper.
tomato increase Of cost the second class oil artl-
cles which are not sub Jet to this law. For
instance, Farmer a. produces five hundred
bushels of Gram per annum and receives three
hundred dollars therefor and he could not pro-
ducc double quantity Of Grain for less than SIX
hundred dollars But his neighbor who prints a
village newspaper has a demand for five hundred
copies per week, and receives say seven hundred
dollars therefor, and he could print thousand
comics instead of five hundred for much less than
double the present cost or remuneration Is not
this plain to every man who knows how news
papers are made
The distinction here indicated needs but to be
traced out TO its legitimate results to dlspel the
pcrpexitv of the Courier In the production OF
Grain, Wool, Sc the process is simple, and the
result so n1uch product per annum from the use
of so much Capital and the application of SO
much Labor Ii twice great product IS re-
ouired. YOU must double the Capital and Labor
consequently. any extension of the demand tends
primarily to increase the price OF the product
But larger demand for Newspapers or Calicocs
creates an ability, other things being equal, to
produce at lower price. We are now printing
Newspapers cheaper than we could possibly at
ford to do if the demand for them were much
smaller, or if we were compelled to face in our
market q formidable competition from the capri
cous importation of SO many newspapers as the
British and other Foreign publishers, having failed
to sell them at home, chose to send out here. So
in the articles Of Calicoes and Fancy Prints oil
all kinds it is easily seen that they can be made
cheaper in this Country as the market Tor them Ii
extended and steadicd by the exclusion of For.
eign competition. Give us ready, constant
market for all the Newspapers we could print, by
the aid of steam and cylinder presses, and We
could and would print far cheaper than we now
do-for one,hird the average cost of Newspapers
in this Country, or ones sixth their average cos
the world over Just so with the makers o.
Cloths or any thing else subject to the same law
of production AT this moment plain cotton ia
brics and hannels are VIGOROUSLY sold cheap
er than any other descriptions of goods, thel
production, by the Improvements in machln
ery and in trade, having been reduced near
" to the same law which governs the pro
ductlons of Wool and Gram, except that tn
power OF production is practically infinite
and an increased demand for Cloth does no
essentially raise the cost Of the elements OF 1t
production, except Cotton and Wool. A manu-
lacturer of these fabrics needs to take no accoun
Of chances that the Goods will not sell, or will be
come questionable, or now be suppanted b,
Foreign fabrics He has only to count the css
of his cotton and his labor, with proper allow
ancc fo- the use of capital, the wear of machine
~, and the probability that It will be supersede
by something better in the rapid march of i'm
provement The fact, therefore, is well known
that, compared with the absolute, inevitable cost
plain cottons and hannels arc much cheaper thar
fine broadcloths and fancy goods.
Does any one fail to see how the present TART
has increased the price Of Wool by widening arr
quckening the market for it, While shutting on
the supply which would else reach us from coun
tries where it is produced cheaper than with US p
while at the same time ii has reduced, and vii
farther reduce. the cost OF many descriptions 0