Mobile register and journal., 1845-10-31
From the Washington Union.

TariT-N0. 5.
The present tariff further consiered-Specifc duties
plained-H Discriminate in fdror Of tie manufacture
against the producer of he raw natrriaI also IL
favor rich against the mdding classes and poo
1t faaeS labor and eBcepts capital and thus fend'
to bulM up driStocraty based upon money ana
chartered privileges.
Inlny last communication, my purpose mainly wa:
to explain 10 three different descriptions oidutics
modes of laying duties, under the existing tariff
viz: the nd valnrem, minimum, and specific. The
first Il showed TO be ust and impartial mode u
laying duties under Iarf-ihe only mode WHEEL
should be sanctioned, or submitted to, by an honest
republican people.
The second, proved 10 be mendacious, fraudu
lent, cheating device, resorted 10 by the friends oil
protection to enable them to impose upon the con
sumer a duty four or five times great the tariff
preitnds to Impuse upon them.
II remains now to consider the nature of specific
duties, which is another fraudulent legislative de
vice, invented Tor the purpose of compelling
The consumer to pay an enormous duty, for the dou
BILE purpose OF raising revenue for the government
and securing bounty TO the manufacturer; which
the consumer would never consent To pay mo-
ment, If he understood the of the duty, and
the extent to which he was taxed by it.
The specific duty also operates 10 exempt the rich
from taxaion and TO increase The bun den of taxation
upon the poor and mlddlmg classes. Its nature
and its mode Of operation, | shall now proceed to
explain.
a specific duty is certain, precise and nyariabIe
duty imposed upon particular description of arti
ces of the kind mifiom reference to their cost
or Daluc. lis meaning will be best understood from
its application.
For instance: brown sugar pays specific duty oil
two and n half cents perpnund; that duty is imposed
on all kinds oil brown sugar, Whatever nny be their
cost in foreign markets, or whatever their quality
The best brown Havana sugar pays than
The poorest New Orleans or Porto Rico sugar.
I of iGn J,fu ,T
pound, whatever may be its cost 10 foreign coun
try, or whatever may be it's quality.
Silk fabrics, used for dresses, pay specific duty
of So so per pound, whether they are coarse OF
fine, cheap or costly. silk dress weighing one
pound, and costing not than $40, pays just rs
much duty TO the government as pound of rich silk
lace, which costs $50.
Mollsses pays duty OF four and hall mills per
pound which, assuming that gallon weighs ten
pounds, Is ioiiI and half cents pei gallnn-whal
may have been ts cost in foreign market, or
whatever it's qualify.
piled To article, whatever may be its val
ua. Therefore, some articles il is sery heVy n,
proportion TO their value; while, others, II s very
light.
Ii would seem that specific duty which would he
equal to 30 per cent. would be enough in NIL con-
science, 10 satisfy the manufacturers, non masters,
sugar planters. and call -boilers raise reyen-
ne for the government. But, instead of that reason
able amount, some of the articles above mention
ed The duy ranges from 30 to 800 per cent. ad
valoIem.
On A,nnols, for instance, tho merchant, when he
enters them vi the custom house, pays IA cents per
square yard. Some of those fanoes cost In Eng
land hui IA cents per square yard. Consequently,
the merchant has to pay 100 per cent. duty, all of
which comes out of the person who wears hem
the middling clasSes and the poor-for the, The
ones WHO were cheap hannes The best and most
L.,
and of them in at duty low as
40 per cent. .a.-
The tariff imposes a specific duty Of % cents per
pound on "sad rrons"--irons used by poor washer
momen for smoothing cloihes; and under that duty
the importer is obliged TO pay that useful article
duty ranging from SO TO 100 per cent, reduced to
the ad-yaOrem standard.
The tariff imposes upon brown sugar specific
duty of 81 cents per pound. Brown sugar costs in
Cuba from less than to about cents pound. The
duty Of 81 therefore reduced t. ad valorem, Is
either lille more or little less than 100 per cent
The pay ment of duty on actual importatioCs ranges
from 85 10 100 per cent, when reduced to The ad va
loren standard.
The same astounding results are exhibited by The
table, in relation to mo'asses salt, and numerous
other things which are among the prime necessares
of life.
The specifc duty does not, like the minimum,
state positive falsehood, by assuming that an ar
tcle which costs but cents, for the purpose OF i'm
posing the tax, costs 20 cents But what makes it
obnoxious, is, that the consumer cannot hnow how
much duty he pays upon the arcie on Which as laid,
in proportion 10 its paige, because he has not the
means Of knowing how much the article costs IN the
country whence il was exported Like The mini
mum, the specific duty dece ives him, and exac's from
him The amount of tax on the article which he buys,
altogether disproportionate 10 ITS cost, and which he
would consent TO pay 1t he Knew ITS exact a.
mount. Like the minimum, II is cheating DEVICE
resorted 10 in order to accomplish the purposes Of
protective tariff.
On account Of This fraudulent and deceptive char.
ac,er Of the specific duty, it should no longer dis
grace the revenue system OF Tree peoples VINO nave
e RIGHT 10 know precisely what they pay for The gov
eminent which, they have instituted for their own
benefit and projections; and also what they have to
paw 10 tho large capitalists engaged IN the manuiac
lure Of cotton. woollen. iron, sugar, salt. &c.
shall now nj oceed 10 show that the present thrift
IN favor Of the manufacturer, against