New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-08-14
The Tariff Controversy.

every hand that the Administration viii make
real attack on the Tariff a, the coming Session.
The sub-Treasury will be proposed, pro tor'no
and commended in sundry cheap paragraphs IN the
Presidents Message and the Treasury Report, bat
the bill should happen To be defeated or essentially
modified in either House, the Executive sorrow on
the occasion will no, be nconsolable. But as The
People will soon be asking themselves for ~ho'
they made James X. Polk President, and some oincr
than a personal reason must be offered we canno'
doubt that the Tariff will be charged In earnest by
the ponderous columns Of Secretary Walker. We
infer this not merely from the uniform tenor oil te
official organ bat from the pertinscity with which
the Tariff is assailed by the Albany Argus and It's
echoes which have usually been shy enough OF
avowing a hostility to Protection. These journals
whether slim ulatsd by direct instructions from head
quarters or not, evidently perceive that there has
arisen o necessity for putting the party upon ma
ked anti Protective ground, and the more reluctant
the rank and file may be, the more imperative Is tho
nece ss,y for early and pcrsevering exertions ON tho
par Of the leaders Hence the untirng efforts ex.
cite the hostility Of the growers Of Wool against the
manufacturers on the principle Of Divide and Con
quer Hence the perpetual parade Of the dividends OF
q few fortunate Manufacturing Companies in the
hope Of exciting prejudice against the Tariff. These
dividends prove nothing but the incapacty OF those
who appeal to them to discuss q great question oil
National policy on its real merits. Not word Is
nor said by these Free Traders of the Companies
which make slender dividends or none, nor OF those
which have recently failed But III is not two years
since they were exulting over the failure oil Senator
Simmons the Saugerties Iron Company, DC a.
knock. down arguments against the Tariff Which
ever way the luck whether the factories make
or break land some do one, some the otherl their
fate il adduccd as argument against Protection
How unfair this appeal to few dividends Is, facts
will establish. Two or three OF the Lowell Compa
nics which made good dividends last year earned
them altogether by manufacturing for Foreign mar
kets, where their products came in direct compcti
ton with the cheap fabrics Of England. Again
The Essex Steam Mill has just divided tortytro
per cent r. cxclams an agonized Loco-Foco pa
per see how the Tariff is enabling the Manuiactu
rers to rob the people" But stop, friend let us
consider all the facts This steam mill was built
and put in opSaiion at outlay Of 100000 fafted
and was sold out for $4,000. the stockholders losing
every dollar OF their investment, with several years
interest The new proprietors hare divided forty
two per cent.-not on the 100000 that the works
coat but on the 100000 that they pa'd for them, or
little over eight per cent. on the real cost. But Of
ali this the readers of Free Trade journals will hear
only that Manufacturing Company has made a
dividend Of a. per cent. with the defamation that
other Companies are making or might make as much
We do not intend often TO refer TO such Free
Trade arguments as the above. Those who have
any clear idea of the matter. know well that N,
average rate Of profits CANNOT permaRennyh high
err IN one branch of business than another be the |
duties what they may. Put duty Of five per cent |
on Cotton Goods and one of five hundred on Wool |
ems, for instance. and you would not make the pro |
fits Of the Wooden manufacture permanently higher |
than those of the Cotton. Such a tariff would di |
minish the amount Of the Cotton goods made in the
Country and increase that of WOODEN but cap /
tal would be employed in one business the other |
Just SO far as it should be found profitable than
otherwise, and no farther. If the present tariff had
had the effect of raising the price OF Cotton cloths IL
one cent n yard above the cost of producing them
the whole land would have swarmed with Cotton |
factories ere this, Just as the present season has
doubled the number of its furnaces under the slim
illus Of the advance in Iron. Had this latter been
understood to be n solid and permanent advance, |
and not Fictitious and momcntary one, smelling |
furnaces would have been plentiful as blacksmiths |
shops before another Spring. As il is we have not
doubt that this temporary advance in Iron will prove
Of ultimate and decided advantage to the consumers
Of that article (who every body by leading to
great improvements In processes and products and
s6ording abundance of American Iron a, a mod |
crate price.
We have recently INDUCED in an amcabe dis |
cusson Of the effects of the Tariff on Prices with
the Morning News. Ii has been the means of bring |
ing certain important facts with the deductions |
therefrom Of each party before large number of |
readers. Whatever they may think of the respec-
tive comments. there can be little farther dispute
about the facts themselves. They include an cxtcn
sve comparison Of prices of articles chosen by our
opponents on the last of July. lsi2 when the Tariff
was lowest, with the prices of the same articles in
this present ls45 when the Tariff is avowedly Pro
tective. What is the general aspect of this compa
rison Some articles are lower some higher now
than in isia-are the higher articles Manufactures.
or articles enjoying the highest Protection By no
means, unless raw Iron is considered manufacture
The advance is on raw Sugar, American Hemp.
Liverpool Coal &c. But while ra,c Sugar IA grea,
Agricultural staple has largely advanced partly by
reason Of the Tariff, but still, farther on account of
the failure Of the Cane crop of Cuba manufactnr
ed Sugar is as cheap ever such is the fact with |
regard to Steel and most other manufactures of Iron
though small Chains. which continue 10 be almos, |
wholly imported are higher. Axes. Ausers.
Screws, &c. Ac.-nearly every article produced is
this coasiry, except perhaps Gu, Nails. which are
always afforded for a little over the cos, of raw
Iron and rise and fall with it, are now as cbeao
o. ever So If Hemp lAmerican) is a little higher |
Sail Duck, Tarred Gables and Cotton Bagging lare !
iorer.
Glass is one Of the articles complained of by the
Evening Post and its echoes as exorbitan,y taxed
by the Tariff and the duties on il are very high and
specific. But Window Glass (see Price Current
Is no higher now than in is42 while Cut Glass
Tumblers. &c. on which the duties are most strin
gent, are i2i per cent. cheaper.