The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-12-05

cause it compels them to pay almost as
\ much per head, as the same number of
: rich mon;whereas the latter ought to pay in
: proportion to their property. A man worth
t one thousand dollars probably consumes
= half as much Of dutabIe goods, on an ay-
r orage, as mau worth 100000, Con-
: scquently the latter pays but twice as
: much for the support of Government as
t the former; whereas he ought to pay a
! hundred times as much. But waving all
g this, we agree that the necessary rcvc-
f nue., over and above the proceeds of land
= sales, is best raised by dLtics on imports.
r The average annual expenditures OF
= the government for many years past have
c been nearly or quite S3O,OOO,COO Ii
G we should keep clear of wars and other
extraordinary charges we may POSSIBILITY
| reduce them to $o25, OU0, 600. TO do this
however, will require the most rigid G.
economy If we call the revenue irom
funds SO, 500,U00 annually, there will re-
main to be raised by duties on imports,
$2l 100000. TO raise this amount,
would require an average duty Of 2 and
halfpor cent, on 500, 0O0,0 900 of i'm
ports; which is about the average OF cur
imporlations for the last four years.
Nearly or quite one tenth Of our imports
consist of specie, which of course is free
of duty Sundry other articles are nee
essarIly free ofduty, or subiectto a duty
of less than Copper cent. Making these
deductions, it would be found that hori-
zonlal duty on all other articles must be
in the ncighborhood of25 per cent, in
order to afford the requisite revenue and
the cost and charges oflmportation would
be equal to about 10 per cent. more,
So that the worst that could happen TO
the manufacturers, should the doctrines
of the most ultra free trldc men, SO call
ed, be carried out, would be, that they,
the manufacturers, would have protcc-
ton against foreign commodities, 40 per
cent. on the value; or two iiths of the !
cost of the article Is not this protection
enough' Can it be eXpcdicnt 10 manu-
facture, in this country, goods which can
be made two-fiihs cheaper clscwhcre:-
Cannot our labor be turned to better &C.
count in some other way
But most free trade is willing to make
some discrimination in favor of particular
articles. M'Kay's bill, which was before
congress at the last session, made a dis
elimination. The free trade men gen,
orally would have been satisfied with tina,
bill. They would be satisfied with it
now, The maximum range Of duties III
that bill, with the exception off, few ar
ticles, was 50 per cent, ad vuIo,cm.--
Then add Is per cent. for cost importation
and it makes Il protection to the Amer
can manufacturer Of d per cent, At
this rae Of duty shifting which cost
seven aid quarter cents IN Manchester
could only be laid down here at 10 and
half cents, thus:
Cost in Manchester, 7,o5
Duty and expenses l5rcr cent, 1896
1921
In other words we con ont to pay our
own manufacturers lO,jl-lO0 for goods
which we can buy in England at Go
100. lfthis is not enough We arc Of
opinion that the business cannot be worth
pursuing. At any rate, it ought not to
be pursued at a greater expense than this
to consumers.
The question thea at issue before the
country, is not whether there shall
be high protective duties, or no duties,
levied with n primmary view to revenue,