New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-06-30
Protection and Prices.
The Oaondaga STANDARD, in an article on Ths
Tariff and Wool Growers. makes these assertions

uOnlst. " Al 4 taifr upon any article OF p'OuucuOn
nhehsr Of The f the boom reduces the price thereof
The great III n Priest OF Protection, Horace Greeley has
tereted and FEDERATED this doctrine all occasicns when
discussing The Tart question
Now we have explained this matter at leas,thry
times, yet the Standard must have overlooked our
articles il could not make the statements above.
IA the Editor has given our name as authority for
an error will be not feel bound in common fairness.
20 let his readers see the correction
/, il not true, absolutely and universally that a
Protective duty reduces the price Of the protected
article any more than the contrary. But suppose
an article il mainly imported, bat partially and ca
prciousy produced at home, the cost Of importation
will mainly govern the price. Now raise the duty
from five ten, twenty up to fifty or seventy per
cent and shut out the Foreign article almost entirely
the instant effect will generally mot always be some
advance in price But what follows win the pr'ce
be peymonently enhanced or diminished b. the
change We answer, That depends on me natur,
NJ he article, and The feasibility Of producing O
greater quantity at a less PROPORTIONAL price.
For instance: suppose the Newspapers Of this
Country were mainly imported 20 that they could
only be manufactured at home fitfulIy, when the
stock Of the Foreign article had run low or become
stale The average price would inevitably be high
than now. Wei we lay high duty on the
Foreign article as 10 shut it ON almost altogether
What VIII he the effect on the American produc-
lion and price OF the article Possibly mot probably
an advance in price for week or two But soon
the American producers find that they can sell regu
ariy large editions where they formerly sold small
ones caprciousy often having large part left dead
On their hands OF course, the cost Of production
Der sheet be4ng lessened the price will inevitably
tall No matter whether the old publishers see fit
To accommodate their prices to the new state Of
things not if they do not others will 60 into the
business and supplant them. The price Of newspa
pers by law resistless as Gravitation, will come
down to that point at which the capital talent and
labor required 10 produce them be obtained in
fair competition with other chances Of employing
them This law has INDICATED itself in the reduc
ton OF the prices OF Pins Screws Cotton Cloths and
almost every manufacture which has from first to
last been fostered by Protective Duties.
But does this law ensure the cheaper production
Of Wool, Grain, &c. under Protective Duty than
without one Surely not because he cost Of pro-
daciag each pound Of Wool or Jusha Of Wheat rs
not reduced by Increasing the general product II
one million Yards Of calicoes or broadcloths Were the
whole annual product OF the Country, and demand
should be created for two millions or ten millions Of
either, the elements Of production would not need TO
be increased in proportion. Not ten times the
power machinery, buildings or labor would be re-
luired to produce tenfold quantity and so the
price would fall But let there be a demand for
double the present quantity OF w heat or Wool and
The price would invariably rise, because the ele
nents of production must be increased in proportion
to the product required Other things being equal.
would require twice the Of land, twice the la
Dor, &c to produce the double quantity, and the
price of both land and labor would be increased
l. not all this plain Does not the Standard see
how il il that Protective Duties naturally and gene
rally reduce the price of Manufactures but not OF
Agricultural Staples Does il not realize that
while duty of five hundred per cent would not
ensiby increase the price OF cloths or callcoes in
England much smaller duty does increase the
price of Wheat there
AS TO the price of Wool we cannot doubt that
il is now lower than it would have been had Henry
general aud well grounded apprehension Of a radical
change in the Tariff 10 be effected under the auspices
Of Mr.. Polk and his Cabinet the ensuing Session
of Congress- and this de,ers capitalists from building
new wooden factories or laying up stocks of Wool to
any such ex,en, as they would do if ii settled
that the Tariff is to remain as now. Yet we do not
say that the prices for Wool of last year would in
any event have been maintained because we do not
know what is the average cost of producing Wool
in this Country nor how the profits OF Woodrow
ing compare with those of other departments Of
Agriculture We know that the impulse given to
Sheep Husbandry by the prices of last year and the
rapid extension thereof on the vast Praries Of the
West tend to reduce the price Of Wool Let the
Tariff stand, and Wool growing, like Manufacturing
will speedily settle on proper basis, with its profits
fairly adjusted TO the general average OF profits
capital and industry in other departments OF produc
tion-nci,her less nor more