Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1844-10-04
Come to the Point.

We had thought that the few remarks we
made in our last weeks paper would have
been sufficient to satisfy any reasonable man
on the subject Of the duty and original cost of
foreign imports being, so far as regards the
consumer, one and the same thing. The
- Chronicle" however, has an article in its
last number, in which it attempts to deny this
position. In order to show how jesnitical
the statements and arguments of the ssChron-
icle'' are, we will first premise few observa-
tons on the details Of the Tariff: and first, we
would observe, that there is duty fixed upon
many of the products of agricultural industry
in the act of' ~ for no other purpose, as we
candidly believe, than to bambooZle and blind
the honest farmers of the country, so as to in
duce them to believe that their interests were
attended to in the adjustment of that Bill
AS an evidence of this, what on earth was the
use of imposing duty of 9 cents pound on
cheese! What good end could it subserve :
Who was to compete with US in that article !!
! Do we not export the article to England =
Surely we do : and if the duty were l cent
or 100, every man of common sense must see
at a glance that it would not alter the price
one iota. But the s. Chronicle has cited
the article of Brandy. We thank him for do
ing so. Il is exactly apropos to our purpose,
and we would ask the s. Chronicle" upon
what kind of Brandy does this duty fall. and
what is its effect? Do we not import French
Brandy, and is it not just one Dollar higher
than it would be, supposing we had no duty
to pay on it? What is the price of that arti
Gle in France? from so to IS cents and yet i
is sold here for 50 gallon. What increase.
the price to the consumer! Is it, or is it no
the duty! Answer that question; Ell A
: gain, Tobacco is worth in this country from
Ct to 40 cents pound, and sells in Englans
at from IS to 1875. Is it the cost IF transpor
tation that enhances the price in the latte
country so much, or is it the high duty tn
English Legislature has imposed upon it I
Again, the " Chronicle" together with it
kindred sheets, takes the ground, that if on
0 Tariff was reduced to revenue standard
a thereby admitting the free importation of fo
eign manufactures, our own manufacturers. a
t a consequence, would be driven out of tn
9 field, and foreigners would charge us jus
J what they pleased for what we wanted to- pu
n chase. Now, in the first instance, we don
= admit the premises but suppose we did, doe
$ it follow that there would be no competition
Is all our history negatives the idea. Is it to |
10 supposed that the manufacturers ard capita
- lists of Europe. of England, France, and &c
n many would not compete in our markets Il
y one with the other1 The slightest acquair
te ance with human operations-the slighte
ID acquaintance with common sense, tells us tn
- they would. Would not they endeavor
e, undersell one another as we'll as urown car
he talists No man who ,cishes to view thin
10 correctly, can think otherwise. Again, /
I'd would ask every man, who is disposed
as speak as he thinks, is not the price ofthe pr
e.. cipal articles made by the manufacturers
e this country higher by at least 90 per Gel
10 than they were during the last year OF 1