Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1846-08-20
"Dedne your Terms"
Voltaiirs.

Voltairs.
The term "ad vslorem" is Latin term, which
means proportion Of the ralue. Thus, when COM
modify is charged with duty of thirty per cent ad
valorem, the importer has to pay at the custom house
$50 for every hundred of its value. If the duty IS
twenty per cent he pays 800 for every hundred; and,
if forty per cent? $40 for every hundred value of
the article imported. Thus it is evident that this
description of duty is just and honest duty. II the
articles of cheap description they are OF less
value, and. of course, pay less duty. If they are
valuable and costly, they pay higher duty in pro-
portion. Each person who purchases the article I'M
ported, whether cheap or dear, pays duty only in
proportion to its value. To illustrate more clearly
Suppose that silks were charged with duty OF thirty
per cent ad valorem, and that two pieces were inn
pored-one valued at % cents per yard and the other
at 81. Under this description of duty the person
who purchased yard of the cheap silk, would have
to pay ID cents duty; while the person who bought
the dear silk would have TO pay thirty cents-jus
double the amount-because the value is double; but
both articles paying only duty of thirty per cent ad
volorem. Thus adj ralorem duty, whatever may
be the rate, falls equally and imPGrtidly upon all the
consuners-the high and the lotc, the rich and The
poor 1t is the only kind of duty which an honest
republican people should ever submit to or tolerate
The minimum duty by tie tariff Of 1912, is also
called ad valorem duty but, while pretending to
that character, IL is mere meHddciouS. fraudulent,
and cheating Legislature derice 10 collect duty, an
some instances -four fire times higher than az pro-
fessts 10 collect 1T is also Latin word which means
the smallest quantity possible In the present tariff it
applies only to cotton fabrics and yarns. There are
three minImums which apply to fabrics, all or part
of which are cotton, viz: the twenty thirty
cents minimums and two apply to cotton yarns, viz
the sixty-cents and seyenty-fve-cenis mlnimums.
The following is the mode In which these minimum
duties are levied. To explain the method, take, for
instance, coarse cotton shrtings which cost three
cents per yard in England. The present tariff pro-
fesses to levy all cotton manufactures coarse as
well as fine, imported into this country, only duty
of thirty per cent ad valorem-that is, $50 for every
800 of value imported. II, however that were the
actual duty levied manufactures Of cotton, the cloth
above mentioned, costing in England three cents a
yard, would pay duty of but nine mills But, when
the importer enters the cloth at the custom house,
and offers to pay the duty of nine mills per yard,
which would be thirty per cent. ad vaoren, the col
ector tells him he must pay SIX cents, instead OF nine
mills: The importer asks him why he dema nds six
cents per yard duty, when the law says it shall be
taxed only thirty per cent ad valorem, which is nine
mills The collector replies: ''True, the law says
you shall pay only thirty per cent on your CLOTH but
it also says-for the purpose of protecting Abbott
Lawrence, who is worth million of dollars; Nathan
Appleton, worth another million; Samuel Appleton,
worth another million; and numerous others, worth
hundreds of thousands each, manufacturers of cotton
that all cloth costing less than twenty cents square
yard shall be assumed to haze cost tceny CENTS and
on that twenty cents the duty must be paid which is
six cents Now you paid, it is true, but three cents
in England for your cloth; but the tariff Says for the
purpose of protecting the aforesaid manufacturers,
that you paid twenty cents, which is the minimum,
or least possible price the tariff supposes you have
paid and therefore, thirty per cent. twenty cents
is six cents; and instead of nine mills, you must pay
six cents duty" The importer replies Then, sir,
while the tariff pretendS to tax me only thirty per
cent, by stating a falsehood in assuming that my
cloth cost twenty cents square yard, instead Of
three cents, it actually, under this wicked device of
minimum duty, taxes me two hundred per cent. ~
He then consoles himself with the reflection, that in
the end. he shall not pay that duty; but he
tciH add ii to the cost Of the CLOTH aud toiR make the
poor man lrho bugs the cloth PAY a. Thus, through
this mendacious, fraudulent and cheating invention
of minimums, is the consumer defrauded of a duty
equal to two hundred per cent, while the tariff pre-
tends to exact only thirty per cent. of him. This
illustration explains the principle of minimum duty.
The effect Of this enormous duty is to exclude the
coarse cotton cloths from market and to leave TO
the American manufacturer of the article complete
monopoly of their sale.
specific duty is certain. precise, and invariabe
sum imposed upon all articles of the kind, per
pound yard, bushe ton, uthout reference to their
quality, cost, or ralue. Its meaning will be best
understood from its application.
For instance: Brown sugar pays specific duty
of two and half cents per pound; that duty is i'm
posed on all kinds of brown sugar, whatever may be
their cost III foreign markets, or whatever their
quality. The best brown Havana sugar pays no
more than the poorest Porto Rico
Loaf sugar pays specific duty of six cents per
pound whatever may be its cost in foreign country,
or whatever may be its quality.
Silk fabrics, used for dresses, pay specific duty
of $3.50 per pound, whether they coarse fine,
cheap or costly. silk dress weighing one pound.
and costing not more than so, pays just as much
duty the Government, pound of rich silk lace,
which costs $50.
Molasses pays duty of four and half mills per
pound-which. assuming that gallon weighs ten
pounds, is four and half cents per gaon-whatever
may have been its cost in foreign market, what
ever its quality