New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-04-21
The state Of cur Mana features.

The state Of our Manufacturer.
Having resisted 10 the utmost the passage Of the
Tariff OF 1886. we have earnestly wished that 1t
should have full and fair trial. add thereon stand
or fall according 70 its merits ln announcing It's
passage, we secuted the notion that 1t would par
slyze the whole Manufacturing Industry OF the
ooantry, or anything like it. We said then q" we
had done before have done since, and stM say that
the duties imposed by 1t on many articles were
essentially Protective and were high enough and
though others were deporably otherwise, we trusted
the National Industry would struggle on for years
under its auspices with at most but partial and
Temporary arrangement. Had it been practicable
at that time TO frame Tariff in support Of which
the great mass Of all parties would heartily concur
we should have reioiced 10 it most sincerely. But
there were certain features of the New Tariff
which We knew were radically vicious, and would
work mischief OF these are the abolition Of all
Specific and Minimum duties, aud the substitution
therefor of AID Vslorem imposts exclusively
This has two neradicabe vices FIRST it insures that
the duties on any imported article shall sink with
Its market price that the duty on Iron, tor ex-
ample. which may be adequate for Protection
when the price OF the article is an average one,
will fall and fall, as the article becomes cheaper
cd, and the duty which was els per ton when Iron
was eco falls to sl2 when the staple falls to $40,
and to o. when IL touches $50 that the PrOtec-
ton Is ai,cays most phen eass and least phea most
needed. The other fault of Ad Valorem duties is
that Of uncertainty, tempting directly to undervau
alton. Here comes shiPload OF laces silks,
woolens. prints. ginghams, thread hosiery &c put
up in bales and boxes by those who know quite
well that II they get IL by the custom house at
valuation sl0O 600 below the true one they will
have made s25 900 clear cash by the operation. Do
We not know that custom house oaths are sproyerb
and joker Who that ever witnessed their trans
parenty fsrccal administration would wish to risk
his own property on their truthfunessl Yet here
we have the National Industry virtually suspended
on the breath Of a dozen hard swearers selected
because most expert or least scrupulous in their
line. We are not forgetting those highly respects
BILE land toerably expensvel scsrecrows, the Ap
praisers. Weighers, Measures, &c. These were
worth something while the law expressly said
80 much per yard, pound or ton : but where the
duty 10 per centage on the valuation, they amount
10 nothing The invoice governs everything
ninety nine times in the hundred and there are
few 10 this city so green as not to know that the
invoice by which goods are sold and paid for and
that by which Ad vslorem duties are paid on them,
are often two very different documents.
The longer an Ad Valorem duty continues, the
worse, naturally. becomes the cheating under it
Importer A. begins by paying whstwould honestly
be IS per cent. but some rival has his goods sworn
down so a. to pay in fact bat go per cent A. finds
hst ha nd haY, Al
cheaper or fsil-so his custom. house familiar has
orders to improve his swearing. So with another
and another until the scrupulous being driven out
Of the trade. the most reckless alone are leh to
import and sell The Foreign manufacturer can
honestly swear lower than the American mer-
chant who has paid the makers profits in addition
10 the naked cost the knsve icM swear lower than
the honest man can, aud can easily make all
smooth on the surface by fictitious sales In short,
every impulse o; honesty is toward Specific Du.
ties, 30 far as they can bs made Specific as was
the rule of the Tariff Of ls42 while every instinct
OF roguery points ~ Ad Vslorems, which are uni.
iormIy established by the Tariff of 80. All expe-
rencs and action based thereon are Ia favor OF spe
cisc Duties. Great Britain while lately reducing
her duties. adhered to aud extended Specific
lmposh.
Then as TO the present duties on raw materials
which exceed those imposed on articles lnsnulac.
tured therefrom-for instance, Sulphur 70 per cent
salphuric Acid 10, Hemp 80 per cent Hempen
Gables, Cordsge, &C.. IS Paper 80 per cent Books
generally 10; Coarse Wool wholly imported 80
per cent. Flannel. Bai1es &c. 25 Woolen
Blankets 2o-is there any body who pretends to
Justify these Determinations against our own La
bori Should We pay bounty on work done Tor
us in Europe in preference to our own workshops
Repeatedly have We pressed these inquiries, but
silence IL the only response. The advocates Of the
Tariff Of 40 cannot frame apology for sach dis
ordinations that they dare trust to paper. They
csn do better by vaguely deisming the motives and
derdng the intelligence Of the advocates OF Pro
lection, or impudently asking whether thirty per
cent. is not Protection enough
That the changes made ia 1916 have wrought
great harm to the National Industry, not In any
particular department merely, but IL its general
'ymmetry and progress, we cannot doubt. We
,ever held, never thought that Manufactures would
DO annihiated here by any change OF polcy-not
sven by the abolition Of oil duties whatever Many
branches have attained q bothold and are prose /
gted under Circumstances which defy the worst /
fleets Of foreign competition. We believe this is