Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1847-07-20

DEMOCRACY AND THE MARKETS.-We have
been waiting few days to see IL the Enquirer could
moi find out connection between Deinoctac hlea-
,ures and the tremendous fall in The prices OF bread
stuffs which has recently taken place. To these nea
sures were awarded the praise Of the advance IN those
prces-in effect, was denied TIA. scarcity o ana Ia
policy of the Polk party, II was claimed, and nothing
else. did IT, Well, what then produced the fall We
ask whether f tho Polk policy raised Hour 70 30 " ana
cause has brought the price down TO s. IS WIN the
ENQUIRER inform usl VIII tho enlightened Democratic
press reveal the mystery Of this mater"
We had laid aside for notice The above article
of The Times, which appeared some days ago
but other subjects have prc-occuped our atIen-
lion. The ~ Y. Journal OF Commerce an able
commercial journal, saves US all trouble, how
ever. and we ask attention TO its conclusive and
mastery reply. In the mean lime, we must cor
rect the very important error OF The Times, viz ;
that we had claimed Democratic measures as The
sole cause of the advance in the prices Of bread
stufTs On the contrary, We have always admit
ted that 10 certain extent, the scarcity in Eu-
rope had raised prices in this country; but we
argued that democratic measures" had enabled
our country 10 take FIJI! advantage Of The stale Of
things in Europe.
We have moi room at present for further COM
menl Indeed, The views Of lhe Journal Of Com
merce cover he whole ground and need mol
W. I'd 10 strengthen lis position
From the Ne,c Ymk J,1,vaal Of Commc7ecl
The Journal of Commerce, which Of course knows
heter has fty times had M The high prices under the
present tariff tbs reen oi The Loc0fnCo experiments
In political economy. What win the Journal of Com
mercc say, now that famine The great ally Of Iocofo
.stt,A .ag, ftau fx1u fhar
Propidence Journal.
II will say that the whole operation shows
how utterly fallacious is the high Tariff doctrine
that the foreign market for our brcads,uffs, &c,
is of little consequence, because the amount ex-
| ported is but pillance compared with The amount
cons umed at home. This rank heresy in polili.
| cal economy has been scattered 10 the winds by
| The experiment OF The last few months. Every
| body knows that our crops last year were i'm
mensely large, and that without foreign demand
| -four could no, have ruled higher than four dol
lars or four and hall per barrel? But in
stead of that il went up TO . dollars and over
VIVA, caused Il? The demand from abroad
| And what has now caused decline Of more
thar three dollars a barrel2 The prospect Of good
crops on the other side. The despised foreign
market. then, is The regulator Of our own. 1t
drives our -four up 10 dollars, or lets il drop 10
halt that rate. Even now, The foreign market
keeps the home price 81 or 81 50 higher than il
otherwise would be.
We have never contended, or pretended, that
The late extravasanl prices of breadsinfs were
exclusively the result OF the new Tariff IL we
have "fihy times" as The Providence paper i'm.
pies, il can doubtless quote single instance
| We have said, and repeat it now, that "Provi-
dence having withheld lis blessings from the peo-
pie of Europe, Free Trade, (not The Tarif OF 1886
alone allows US to reap the advantages OF The
calamity-and allows them 10 buy food Of US,
and so 10 mitigate The calamity" All The bcne-
fl we have derived from the scarcity OF bread
stufIs in Europe, and all The benefit which Eu-
rope has derived from Us for the mitigation ofthe
calamity, is the result Of Free Trade, more or
less complete. Had the same rale Of duties ad
valorem been charged upon breadsuffs in Eu.
rope, as was charged upon various articles OF
European manufacture by The Tariff of 1912,
(for the restoration of which we suppose the Pro-
violence Journal is daily and nightly sighing,)
no, barrel nor bushel OF breads,uffs could
| have been sent thither from the American ports,
unless our own prices had been reduced one-half,
or unless the prices in Europe had been doubled.
Lei this be conlradicted if it can be.
OF course, upon articles OF export from this
country, our own Tariff upon imports can have
only an indirect effect; though this indirect effect
may be large. When The Tariff men deprecated
a reduction Of duties on The ground that il would
inunda,e the country with foreign goods, they as