The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1844-05-03

D ehce between levy lhg the DUTY upon thl
! exported and the imported articles il
: either case, il falls upon the exporter.
, hardly know whether il IS worth while Il
, stop 10 consider the argument that III,
, South is the great exporting section Of Ih,
country. That it produces upon its soil
aud beneath its genal skies, much tht
largest portion Of our exported productions
J freely admit. Ii furnishes the articles 0
export, but who exports them At whose
risk For whose profit No nconsder
able proportion 10 purchased and paid foi
] and exported by agents Of foreign mannlac.
tUrers aud foreign houses themselves. i
every bale IS shipwrecked on the voyage
does the South lose il Bot | omit that
matter. Tie honorable Senator says, prac.
tlcally the exports Of the South pay the
luiies-that there IS no d ference between
taxing the exports, and ,a>ing the imports
which are returned for them. Wen, sir,
Il this be so, | do not know upon tie Scna.
tors own argument that there is any ground
OF complaint. He contends, as q universal
principle, If duty be levied upon any ar.
uce, lis price is raised exactly by that
amount. Nha, IS i, to the planter or the
exporter, then, # ou DO levy tax upon
his EXPORT " hen il reaches Liverpool
or Manchester il goes into market ca
HANGED in price. The purchaser pays the
duty and nobody but he eau complain. So
OF the imports II YOU levy duty Of forty
per cent, according TO the Senator, you
enhance their Price forty per cent. What
eau the importer complain Of? Nobody
but the person who purchases Of tho I'm.
porter is taxed, Il The honorable Senator's
doctrine DO sound. ln other words, the
turd,a falls on tie consumer. II so, dogs
the burden OF our reyeGuo fall 90 !ne
South : Do they consume beyold their
proportion Of dutab'e imports Of tho coun.
tfS Certainly not, sur; aud considering
the character ard wants Of considerable
part Of ITS population, probably the South
does not consume an equal proportion &C.
cotdtng 20 it, numbers
admit, il the South were the exporters
Of all that We send abroad and were the
importers of oil that We bring home, and
aere moreover The consumers Of all that Is
imported, the burden would fall upon them,
aud it would make very little difference
whether the revenue was raised by duty
en exports or on imports. Ihete IS stlll,
however, some difference. The article upon
winch tbs duty is laid. goes TO the market
butdcned with tina, duty, and, naturally
sinks IN price-End 1t IS better that the
article which you buy should sink, than
that which you sell. Ii the honorable
Senator exports cotton, and imports cloths
10 exchange, II is far better for him 10 sell
hrs cotton al prices not depressed by du
ties, aud TO purchase cloths which are thus
depressed, than 10 sell low and pay high.
Il - ouId be easy to illustrate he difference
to the exporter, whether the duty Is laid
upon one or the other, but have not lime
% pursue it. The question is, whether the
Ssulh pays an undue proportion Of the
revenue derived from the customs, Let It
be granted, il the Senator plcascs, that the
South does actually make all the imports
What becomes Of lheml The South does
no, consume the whole. A large portion
IS sold aud consumed 10 other sections. II
then, by mpos NJ duties on them, you ndd
to their cost, as tie Senator contends,
when hey ore sold tie South obtains fol-
indemnity IN the enhanced price which she
receives. The Senator says, il he imports
che hundred bales Of Merchandise, mud you
stop twenty Of them al zoe custom house
for duties, YOU leave hun bot eighty for his
consumption. So you DO; but It this elSh
~ viii sell for as much ia ihe market as
the one hundred would, where is the injury
to him. None, unless he intends to con
sumo the whole himself; IN that case, his
consumption will, Of course, be diminished
But, the South does not consume the whole.
The eighty bales 20 to market, and, Upon
tic Senator's own showing, arc worth os
much as the one hundred would have been,
[Mr. McDuihe: We consume moro than
We import
That may be 50. So docs every other
section Of the country. The foreign i'm
ports entering into the general consump
ton of the country, arc nero irac.
ton Of the whole. Do no, the North and
the West consume more than they import,
aud far beyond the value Of all their ox.
portsl ltany such test as this be applied,
it viii be found that the South pays much
less than its proportion Of the revenue.
The honorable Senator has SAID, that the
imports, which are tho returns OF our OK.
ports, arc as really and truly tho products
Of American labor, Us the same amount
aud description Of articles which are manu-
featured IN this country hence, that
It IS altogether a fallacIous idea, that there
- any competition between American labor
and foreign laber IN the production OF them.
There can be, he says, no competition be-
tween the manufacturers Of Manchester and
the manufacturers Of Lowell. The com.
petition takes place only when the foreign
fabric has become American property by
being exchanged for American productions
and that II is competition entirely be-
tween American labor employed IN manu-
features and American labor employed in
plantlng--belwcen one kind Of industry aud
another kind. This is more specous than
solid In order 10 obtain eighty bales ot