Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1849-11-09
The TariH---Ad ValOrenn Duties.

Gle ON the subject of all valorem duties,
which presents some striking facts, and
facts that cannot fail TO startle candid men
of all parties whan they come TO the con-
sideration of the next Congress. How
ever the House may be constituted, there
is no doubt, we suppose, That important
notifications of the tariff will be success
fully attempted. The voice of starving
labor will be Notwithstanding the walls
and bowls of displaced, pensioners and
ex-shpendiafies. af 81, esag;s.t,-
To give few instances of the opera
ton of The ad valorem system: Broad
clothes pay duty ON an inioice cost OF
sixty-eight to seventy five cents per yard,
and that, too, not even the square yard,
but on the running yard, five and six
quarters wide. Brandies, that pay one
hundred per cent, duty, are imported SO
as TO cost, landed duty paid, not above
seventy-fve cents per gallon. The pre-
tended inUoiee price of such brandy, ON
which duty is paid, could not have been
above thirty cents, as there are, besides
the duties, freight, insurance, &C., to pay.
Entire cargoes are imported ttlis rate.
Champagne wine is imported at the cost
of 81 70 to 80 per dozen, by, 500 to
1906 baskets AT q time. The average
rate Of dnty on coal from Nova Scotia
does not exceed three fourths TO one cent
per bushel, and is brought in very large
quantities.. .nu
Not every body knows that to invoice
broadclothss at GO to rs cents, and cham
paigne at two dollars dozen, is fraud,
and yet it is d fraud without a remedy,
under Mr.. Walkers system. So Under
this system, the same article, imported
from the same place, is made to pay one
rate of duty at Boston, another at New
York, another ait New Orleans, &c.
The importer shows his invoice, and the
collector has his own way of dotermn.
ing on what evidence j: is to be taken OF
moi, for the genuine cost OF the article.
The frauds already practiced on the rev.
enue amount TO millions of dollars
From the article to which we have re-
ferred to in the Courier, to which we are
| indebted for the above facts, we make
the following extracts:
In 1914, under the operation of spec
itic duties, the proportion of appropriations
into New York, for foreign account was
only forfyJoisr per cent and now by a
| recent return nnder the operation of the
present al ralorefp tariff, the proportion
| of the Importation there, by foreigners is
s3rerty-eigAt per cent. In Boston, i'm
mediately previous to the tariff Of 1912,
aine. per cent, and now, under the pres
ent tariff, Foreigners imported nineteen
per cent,-uiidSr the tariff of 1912, tier.
| " one per cent. Our merchants refuse
TO cheat the revenue. They leave the
cheating to be done by the foreign impor.
| ter. 1t is now the universal rule Cor the
American importers to buy The gond:
from the foreign manufacturers the sam,
as formerly, but detiUera5le in the Uni
ted States, by which they find they cur
save from ten to fifteen per cent, instead
of taking possession OF them in Europe
and payingr-he full duty on the actua
cost. One of the delegates at the New
port convention stated a case where al
invoice Of cloths had been purchased il
Belgium, in which the seller agreed I,
deliscE in New York at fifteen per cent
less than the American purchaser coul'
do, if full duties were paid.
The operation Of the present tariff up
on the American manufacturers is indica
ted but too plainly in the following facts
Railroad iron in 1916 was in Englan,
el2 ($6o) per ton, aud pig iron .e5 (s25
the duty on the former at 30 per cen,
was J lS per ton, aud on the latter 81 50
At present, railroad iron in 5e5 $3.50 pc
ton in England and pig .g2 (Sl0) per Ton
| The foreign article has therefore the ad
vantage Of not only reduction Of g3'
! per ton in the price, but also so 80 ii
the duty. This system of ad ualoren
duties gives, therefore. to the foreigne
the double advantage of fall in the prize,
and fall in the duty: and when the HON
| producer wants the largest protectio
against low prices abroad, the tariff give
him the smallest; when under high price
! abroad, he requires no protection, thel
the tariifgives him a heavy one. BY III
operation of this absurd and ruinous sys
tenn the manufacture Of railroad iron il
the United States is utterly prostrated
and one million of dollars invested il
the mills in Pennsylvania alone, is a tota
loss. The furnaces manula curing pi
iron are in an equally PROSTATE condition
and thousands of tons Of Scotch pig me.
al are imported for the purpose of bein
manufactured into bar iron, whilst GU
own furnaces are daily going out of bias
All these losses we encounter under til
fatherly the protection of the Wake
tariff, for the benefit Of English manufac
turers and importers. The importation
of railroad iron from England have am
Ounted to 10000 ions within the las
two years. The money which we los
in this manner is taken out of the peck
cts of the, farmers as well as manufae
lures, for it is easy to see that the impor
tation OF 10000 tons of rail road iro
is the same as the importation of eeua
amount in wheat and rye, or beef an
| pork. The laborers who produced tina
iron consumed foreign bread and me;
instead IF Ameriaau &c wonI1 boya hoo