Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1847-06-24

'''o' 'Aeeo cdidihiIous anu ulsgraceful events
were calculated to give an upward tendency
to the tobacco market. 1t would seem from
from the Speech of August LIST, 1876, tina.
the views Of General Chapman, in regard to
the natural effects of such condition of
things, was not variant from mine, how
strange soever the change which has since
come over the spirit of his dream. Let him
speak for himself, Permit me Che says) to
take G lance a, the condition of the coun-
try and the finances Of the Government in
1912, when the tariff was enacted. The
currency of the country was deranged, its
labor depressed, every branch of business
was embarrassed. all its pursuits Of indus
try imPeded or interrupted" The culture
and trade Ill tobacco are, as "branches Of
business and 'pursuts Of industry" COM
prehendedsin this frightful picture of ''te-
presslon," embarrassment and einterrup-
ton" 1t would seem then that the tobacco
interest was, a: one and the same time,
active and prosperous, and depressed, en-
barrassed and interrupted, just as it might
suit the exigencies Of rhetorical display
But the gentleman tells us in the Speech that
the tariff of 1912 cured all these evils and
restored the government and the country to
a healthy and vigorous condition. 1t would
be reasonable to expect the best prices for
our tobacco during that golden age, when
the high protective tariff of 1912 was Tin
the language Of its friends) ''giving pro,ec-
ton to American industry" pouring food
of treasure into the government Golfers, Civ
ing stability to credit and the currency, and
nj
But we have seen that such was not the fact,
and the reason is that a high and prohibtory
tariff, closing against us foreign markets by
closing ours against them, is more than suf
fcent to weigh down the other advantages
But the gentleman relies much on the foreign
debt of the Bank of the U. S. as the cause
of the advance of demand and prices of to-
bacco. But he ought to know that the bank
did not turn Spectator until about 1889,
there remain the five previous years to
which this cause will no. apply: and when
he and his friends asserted the currency was
sound and not redundant. The ground as
sumed by the gentleman and his party in
the Legislature, for enlarging the number
and capital of the banks in 1886, was to
supply the demands of business. If he
dealt honestly with the public then, how
can he declare now ''lhat from 1884 to 1912
there was great expansion of the curren-
cy;" an expansion SO great as TO produce
suspension of payment. Immediately after
announcing that there was great e1pan-
sion Of the currency, he tells us ''that new
banks sprung up to supply the deficit in The
circulation, consequent upon the extinction
Of no Of tbo l. 1. ~ ~
thing should be deemed impossible but to
reconcile contradictory propositions. will
not endeavor to find out how "a great ex-
pansion of the currency" and ':a deficit in
the circulation' could possibly co-exist-
1t would be not less difficult to understand
how an ertinguished bank could operate
such wonders for the benefit of the tobacco
trade. But if foreign debt is sufficient
cause to create demand for tobacco and to
: advance the market value, the demand
should be permanent, for the debt (spoken
of in the Speech of August, 1916, mainly
exists to this day. Two hundred and SIX
millions are owing by States and canal and
railway corporations, and the U. S. Bank
debt remains undscharged For of the 300
millions set down as commercial debt, but
t 60 millions were really so. The interest
annually paid on the first branch of the
, foreign debt mentioned above would require
all the tobacco exported to pay it, and there
fore the demand should be the same now as
then. But if this were the cause of pros
perity to the tobacco trade, why did i, not
= prove equally favorab bic to cottone This
} staple, we all know, became greatly de-
: pressed after the commercial revulsion of
1897 took place. 1t forms, and has for
S long time formed, our principal medium of
J, foreign exchanges, and is in England and the
more important kingdoms OF the continent
a of Europe, subject to mere nominal duty.
: 1t is moreover an indispensable necessary,
t without which the most lucrative branch Of
f British commerce would perish, and her
] government sink under the accumulated
/, weight of her public debt. Cotton then,
I rather than tobacco, was certainly the ready
r and favored means Of payment, and Mr..
Biddle possessed the sagacity to see that
, this was the only road by which his bank
t could, by any chance, escape bankruptcy.
, He became the largest dealer in cotton, aud
not in tobacco, and as it failed to relieve, it
precipitated the catastrophe he sought to
) avert. Why did not this cause, co-opera,-
ing with the, scarcity OF 1889 in England,
il, advance breadstufs to the presen. prices
The Bank of England had to export IS mil
lions Of her bullion to supply the deicien-
cy; much heavier drain than has occur
red under the existing pressure, owing to
the abandonment, by the two governments.
of the protective policy and the closer ap-
} Proclamation to the principles of free trade.
An inflated currency would give 6c,i.
tious value to commodities in the u. States.
, but ask if they would have any such eff
feet on the the foreign markets A mer-