The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-09-06

be taken or not, for the genuine cost of
the article. The frauds already practised
on the revenue amount to millions of dol
lars.
From the article to which we have re-
ferred in the Courier, to which we are in
debted for the above facts, we make the
following extracts:
In 1874, under the operation of specific duties, the
proportion of importations into New York, for for
eign account, was only t~tyJo,1 per cent, and
now, by recent return under the operation of the
present ad palorsm tariff the proportion of the i'm
portation there, by foreigners, is serenity eight per
cent. In Boston, Immediately previous to the tariff
of 1912, foreigners imported nineteen per cent;
der the tariff of S42 nine per cent? and now, under
the present tariff, thirty one per cent. Our
chants refuse TO cheat the revenue They leave the
cheating TO be done by the foreign importer. II is
the universal rule for the American importers
TO buy the goods from the foreign manufacturers
the same as formerly, but deliverable the United
States, by which they find they from ten
to fifteen per cent, instead of taking possession of
them in Europe, and paying the full duty on the
actual cost. One of the delegates at the Newport
convention stated case where an invoice of cloths
had been purchased in Belgium, which the seller
agreed TO deliver in New York at fifteen per cent.
less than the American purchaser could do, if the
full duties were paid.
The operation of the present tariff upon the Amer
lean manufacturers is indicated but too plainly in
the following facts:
Railroad iron in 1916 was in England fl2 $500
per ton, and pig iron f5 ($25)the duty on the
former at 80 per cent. was SIS per ton, and on the
latter ST so. At present railroad iron is f5 ($25)
per ton in England, and pig iron f2 $50 per
ton. The foreign article has therefore the advan-
tage of not only reduction of EDS per ton in the
price, but also $40 so in the duty. This system of
I'D ualorem duties gives, therefore, TO the foreigner
the double advantage of fall in the price and fall
in duty; and when the home producer wants the
largest protection against low prices abroad, the
tariff gives him the smallest; when under high prices
abroad he requires protection, then the tariff
gives him heavy By the operation of this
absurd and ruinous system the manufacture Of rail
road iron in the United States is utterly FRUSTRATED
and million of dollars invested in the mills in
Pennsylvania alone, is a total loss. The furnaces
manufacturing pig iron are in an equally PROSTATE
condition. and thousands of tons of Scotch pig metal
are imported for the purpose of being manufactured
into bar iron, whilst own furnaces are daily
going out of blast. All these losses we encounter
under the fatherly protection of the Walker tariff
for the benefit of English manufacturers and i'm
porters. The importations of railroad iron from
England have amounted to 10000 tons within the
last two years. The money which we lose in this
manner is taken out of the pockets of the farmers
well manufacturers, for it is easy to that the
importation of $4,000 tons of railroad iron is the
| same the importation of equal amount in
wheat and rye, or beef and pork The laborers who
produced that iron consumed foreign bread and
meat, instead of American, would have been the
case had this iron been made In the United States
What is true of the iron trade is equally true of
| the woollen manufactures; they have been almost
totally ruined by the existing tariff. Out of 1900
looms employed in Massachusetts, alone in the
manufacture of broadcloths before 1885, there are
now less than 800 in operation. The same state of
things exists in other States.
When the Opposition journals have be-
come tired of groaning over the dismissal
of few hundred humble, poor, and
dependent" postmasters, collectors, and
district attorneys, we hope they will
turn their attention to the care of the
many thousand honest American labor
ers whom their Sc ree-trade" folly turned
out of comfortable livings for the ben
eft of few knavish foreigners. The
American custom houses are swindled-
American farmers are swindled-Ameri-
can laborers are swinded-by the tariff
of 1916; but Birmingham and Sheffield
flourish on it, and Mr.. WALKER is eulo-
gized in the British Parliament