Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-01-01
sTAUNToN, (vA.0 MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 1, 1s4e.

But how can foreign countries pay fol
these exports if we will take no exports,
or very few in return Clearly our exports
must in time cease, or fall to very small
sum the foreign markets mus, be destroy
ed and the price of our staple exports Of
COTTON, of rice, Of tobacco, of breadsinfs,
ard provisions mnst immensely decline,
for that we cannot take the return in spe-
Gle from abroad without eshausting those
markets in single year, nor can we con-
sumo at home this augmenting surplus
The British Empire. Iper table G.. took
from u.s. (not during lhe year of farrine.. a2
is called of 1847) but in 1913, our domes-
tic articles. exclusive Of specie, TO the value
Of $7S, T41,416, and Great Britain and Ire
land Of the value Of 1854 222, 268, and his
is the trade of our best foreign customer,
which protectionisis propose 10 sacrlhce
by high or protective duties. If the :arfl
of 1S42 gradually excluded, as it must,
nearly al British fabrics, could they take
$7S, TAI ZIG in value Of our exports, whilst
we would take from them scarcely any
thing but specie in exchange ? Such
trade would exhaust Great Britain of her
surplus specie in single year, and leave
her nothing with which 10 purchase our
exports, and so in regard to all other ma
tons. Thus would go our foreign mar
kets, commerce aud revenue, and with
them orr carrying trade, and our vessels
s. steamships would remain at the wharyes
without freight. # the importation Of pro-
tectad articles you'd rapidly decrease when
The foreign were high in price aud specific
duties operated as protection under the
tariff of 1912 from Al to 243 per cent.
| per table II. compiled from Treasury re-
turns in 1874 what must not base been
the decline Of importation aud revenue
when tie foreign article fell, as it has i'll
many cases, fifty per cent. bringing up the
specific duty from Al TO 80, and from 2t3
to 1856 per cent ? This fact ILLUSTRATES ano-
Their objection 10 the specific duty, viz !:
that although it processes TO be stationary,
it is in fact constantly augmenting from
the reduced price Of foreign articles. Ex
perience proves that from improved ma
chinery, new inventions, and reduced COST
Of production, the foreign articles are con-
stan.ly diminishing in price whilst The spe
cifc duty remaining unchanged it is con-
tinually increasing in ratio as an equivalent
ad valorem, and the protection augment
ing every year.
Thus, if the price of sugar was six cents
a pound and the duty three cents, it would
be equal to Fifty per cent ad valorem; bat
if the price of sugar fell to three cepts, the
duty would have risen TO one hundred per
cent ad vaorem, thus Doubling the pro-
lection and continually augmen,ing with
the decreasing foreign prices until the
duty becomes prohibitory and the revenue
on such articles disappears, whereas the
ad valorem bears under all changes of price
the sane exact ratio to tkV cost of the for
eign fabric. and therefore is the most just
and equal, and also necessarily nsuring
larger revenue.
Annexed will be found the table (marked
H of seyenty-iour principal protective arti-
cles, prepared at the Treasury Department
in 1914, from actual returns, and attached
port of Mr.. Mckay, from the committee o
Ways and Means, Of March II, 1874, en-
bracing coal, iron, sugar, cotton goods.
&C., Sc, showing the actual specific and
minimum duties under the tariff of Ar, on
these Articles, and the equivalent ad valo-
rem ranging from 4 to 243 per cent
Now if these foreign articles have fallen in
price since that date fifty per cent, the
equivalent ad yalorem would of course
now range from 50 per cent, TO 1876 per
cent, and would 60 on increasing as the
foreign article diminished in price, soon
becoming absolutely prohibtory, and de-
stroying all revenue. In this aspect of,he
case, the objections to the specific duties
| VIZ tn rav
enue, are insuperable; whilst their unjust
operation upon labor, in imposing so much
| higher duties as an equivalent ad valorem
on the cheaper than the more costly quail
ties of goods, cannot be successfully de-
! Tended
Our manufacturers do not desire the
restoration of the tariff of 1912. They
know, from its excessive and prohibitory
duties, il will soon annihilate imports and
revenue, and produce reaction in favor
of protective policy, They know ais
that from lis immense bountles, ranging
present prices from sixty to three hundr !
per cent, it will stimulate domestic pro-
duction in a few years to such an extent,
as finally to prove most disastrous to our
manufactures. That which our manu-
| lures HOW Qesile, is what tHey TeSaIu dc
moderate duties, made specific in certain
cases. But these duties, will, as has been
shown, be found constantly augmenling
in ratio, under the operation of the gener-
al principle by which The foreign article is
continually tending to diminished price
whereas. the ad valorem always bearing
the same proportion to the value of the
import, is therefore always the most JUS
and equal, and yielding the largest revenue
The augmented revenue underline tariff o
1916, has proved that ad valorem dutie.
can be fairly assessed and collected. 1t il
shown also by the returns. that this aug
mented revenue is derived from compar
a,iveIy small amount of foreign imports
consumed in the United States. That a
noun, as shown by the tables before re
j ferred to- marked Z, of all those foreign
i imports thus consumed in the year endin!