New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-07-22
Profits Of Trade.
F,om he Republic of Saturday.


What q singular idea the Tribune seems TO en-
terrain of the lmi;ess profits derivabe from manu-
factured goods. The self-suftcient and oii-hand
manner with which il disposes of the goods Of indi-
vduals and The produce OF nations, e1cites admra-
tomas, for instance, It remarks Inns morning as
follows:
Nov The duty lit he protective raises up OF nysora,es
the home competition in producing the article ana me eI
S asys 70 ,oeS per 10
save per cent duty Now yoI mus re w noe
he i"sers he Vree the mnrke, for his goods II
profit five per cent over hetaAs as rt1ured
the trade less, he gives up and passes en-
tirey To the home producer.
II told that goods are piled up here for use free OF
expense, and that he must give his for nothing and
pay the freight here, otherwise they will not be
sumcI, of course he does it," The goods cost no
thing Of COURSE" and it is just as easy 10 take 20
50 per off the price as not, because The mar
ket here is snch great object, when goods are
delivered gratis, that it won't do 10 lose H. They
used TO tell II story somewhere down East" OF an
individual who undertook 10 go round and sell bag
of meal. After travelling whole day without sue
cess, he offered it 10 matron for 81, which was re.
fused-"75 cents ~" No. 30 cents ?'-"No."
"25 cents ~" M" Well madam, | am so
tired, cannot carry it further; and if you will nc
cept oft, will give ii 10 you" All well, said
she, hestatDgly, ais IL sitt,d?" The foreign trade
theory of the Tribune is the same principle.
The foreign goods costing norhing home, England
is ready TO supply gratis Seriously, the parti-
the creduty Of the public liltle too grossly. The
protective principle, in ITSELF in the hands OF those
who understand the subject, and have some know
ledge Of commercial and financial operations, Is ca
pable of very strong defence but 10 put forth only
the acknowledged ullacics and vulgar errors which
attach to it, is TO bring the whole theory into con
tempt, and to destroy that which would otherwise
be strong cause. Again we take the following
paragraph from the same article:
The question is will hemp now cost the American con
ed? We say surely not, il may he little higher but it
quite likely To be ower Such knon to hare been the e
screws plain coitons Does any doub, that these
never laid duty thar Importation We bctece they
certainly tuenfy foe per cent lower IN the average
He "knows' that nails nre lower and he " be-
leves 25 per cent" Now take the following
from circular Of nail makers, with comments by
Eastern paper in the interests OF manufacturers:
'Ngw.YoRE. May IA. 1914.
"CIRouLAR.-In consequence of the advance of
find necessary fix the cash price OF nails at four ard
quarter cents per pound
manufacturers of nails in Massachusetts. New York aud
Pennsylvania. has been issued and establishes ne GdcGnoe@
about hfr,y halt cisk and there be
doubt Of lis being and probably increased bra
Since the arrival of the steamer from Liverpool most Of the
metals have ADVANCED considerably scotch pig IRON Is nov
s sSf fs% mos. as% % Susiss
tom months, English bars are worth SIS TO-. &c. sceSins
from as 20 $50 These aduanccs. aud the prospective firm
tesiue ps!iew beng eontn@ed will give
ncyy 70 the American iron masters and the works VIII be
These Z" theories" guesses" and "believes"
of the organ of all the isms, in the face of all
fact, do serious injury 10 those whom il pretends TO
support.
Remarks by The Tribune.
Others might be deferred by the selEcompla.
cency and puppyism of the foregoing from cx-
posing its misrepresentation and bunders, but
we shall Mott is as fair and gentlemanly as We
expect from its author. One might suppose that,
for his own sake, he would refrain from exposing
himself so grossly but we have tracked him often
before, and know his ways Those who pay for his
Free Trade sophistries only expect OF him super
fetal plausibiGty, which will pass with those who
read without thinking; on those who think, they
have no hope of making an impression. He is
dexterous and unscrupuous at handling stariS
tics never hesitatcs to assert what is necessary
to his case-in short, he is just their man.
What was our assertion which he represents as
20 preposterous7 We said (see above) that
whenever a Protective duty enables the Ameri-
can producer to undorsell his foreign rival in our
markets, the foreigner, if making profit OF
twenty five per cent. on his sales will fall as much
as is necessary to retain his American customers,
propiGed il is not necessary to sink his ,rhOle
profit. Of the truth Of this statement we have
abundant evidence in the circulars of the En-
glisa maaissanaurss based on the passage of our
present Tariff; and Offering their ,cGres at redac-
ed prices corresponding ,cith The Increase Of du-
ties, ,ohererer they could possibly afford to do so
Where they could not; they hauled off, leaving
;thes make, to be settled by domestic competition
WsTbuld give chapter and verse for this, and
will, if required, but nobody desires it. All see
that it is dictated by the inevitable laws of Trade
II the foreign manufacturer can still make profit
by sending us his goods-though much less
profit than formerly-he VIII continue to send
them; if he can't he won't. This was our plainly
stated position of Friday Yet The Republic
represents US as asserting that the foreigner will
gladly supply us with goods for nothing-no,hing
for profits, nothing for work, nothing for material
If We will only take them! Is not this beauty
to intimate that he could make strong defence
of Protection if he were engaged on this side
with his knowledge of commercial and finan.
cial operations Z" Is he not pleasant fel
low to talk of taxing the c'edulity of the CON-
munity a little too grossly z"
And now to his second cayil. We stated
that Hemp is cheaper now than when we import
ed it entirely; aud that Glass, Nails, Screws.
Plain Cottons, &c. are certainly twenty five per
cent lower in the average than if we had never
protected their Home Production. This of course
does not suit the Free Trader of The Republic
But how does he meet it Does he look back
through the Price Currents and see wha; were
the prices of those articles ,ohea began to pro-
teet them, as compared with their present prices
Not he! He has shorter way than that. He
inds that the single article of Cut Nails, in con
sequence ofthe aarance Of lrOa bears the enormous