The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-18
1imes q, the uto,ost iimits Of adyan,aae to ths

| times to the utmost limits OF advantage 10 the
! producer or carrier. III mt any time given ar
/ tiole of export should be carried beyond the
foreign demand, reduced prices, the invariable
result of orer-suppIy, brings loss upon all con-
cerned. III foreign article is IN Ike manner
forced upon our own market beyond the re-
quired supply, the effect Of reduced prices,
while il inflicts often runouS losses upon the
| importer from abroad, is felt by those engaged
in producing the like article at home, in conse-
quence tenfold more injurious, rs the reduction
of price in our own market extends t" and af
! fects the entire labor OF the whole country
which may be employed in such manufacture or
productions. Thus, while the injury is tempo
rary and limited in its effect upon the importer,
it is often lasting and widely extended upon the
labor of our own people. We see md feel 1t
in the sudden breaking up Of establishments not
vet sustained by m aii'ount of capital which
can afford to encounter ten pDrary suspension
of sales and reduced prices, or not yet worked
with that skill and economy which long expe-
rience alone can impart In such instances, IT.
Dor is suddenly withdrawn from diversity Of
pursuits, aud driven to the production in linz
tied sphere; this again brings an over-suppy of
whatever may be produced by the common Ell :
| Payments, while in the end it leaves the mar
ket Of the article, whatever it may be, the pro-
1t the mercy of the foreign supply alone.
The result in the end, to the consumer is in
variably rise in the price Of such article, and
there being no competition with the foreign pro.
| Queer, he has possession Of the market, and, of
| course, supplies it ut the highest price which
the demand will give him. His prices and pro-
fits, unchecked by competition in such cases.
continue to rise with the increased demand and
diminished home supply.
| The operation and effect Of these laws OF
labor and trade, it is believed, have been fire.
quen!ly and palpably exhibited in the history OF
our country. 1t is from such experience that
the general principle upon which our tariff laws
are based, have become the common opinion OF
the people. Hence the almost universal impress
sion in our country prevails, that in assessing
duties on foreign merchandise, such discrimina-
ton should be made as will have the effect OF
producing all articles which can be manufacture
ed athome in such quantity, if possible, as to
raise up two markets for the consumer, the
home and the foreign-each competing with
the other, so that he may not be left to the
mercy of one, and that the foreign one alone.
The happy indirect effect Of such Legislation
upon the labor, and, consequently, on the per-
manent prosperity of our own country, is not
the greatest, by any means, of the blessings it
confers. BY giving diversity to the occupations
and industrial pursuits of the people, labor is
rewarded, the ability to consume foreign pro-
ducts is attained, and the wants of the national
treasury dependent entirely upon duties col
lected upon foreign imports, are amply supplied.
l. While the great end-that of competent re-
venue-is thus surely reached by this policy, a
larger amount of exports is at the same time OBJ
tanned towards paying for the required importa-
| tons.
Our exports, as the commercial statistics will
show, are made up mainly ofcotton, rice, tobac-
co, breadstufs, and provisions. These are the
products of the soil, and are shipped to foreign
ports without more labor, as an element of price,
than is necessary to fit them for market in their
first and simplest condition Our statistics dis
close the fact, also, that breadstuffs and provi.
! sions, of which we can produce larger surplus
than any other people, form comparatively a
small addition to our exports, particularly in
years Of plenty abroad. These articles, in the
production of which so largo and interesting a
portion Of our people are engaged, cannot find II
market abroad at such prices us the farmer can
afford to receive, except when famine or war
create foreign and exceptional demand.
in 1877, II year Of famine in Europe, we ex-
ported OF breadstutfs and provisions, without,
premonlio, Of the calamity which created the
demand, S6S7Ol,l2l. This extraordinary ex-
port. while our own market was fully supplied
put beyond doubt our ability to supply Of these
articles n surplus far exceeding the ability Of
any other country, provided market were found
which did not exhaust the value in the expense
Of transportation The extraordinary demand
"f lS47 was not due tn any legislation Of orr
own or of foreign nations. 1t was the result
alone of the famine in Euro pc. Since that tine
the operation Of the British revenue act Of 1916
L,,, ,kol! ,.n,nv.d ha I,tins o,nb f,,r
egn agricultural products a. are used for food
and ours enter into competition there with those
of other nations. This free passage through
British custom houses has not, however, in
creased the British demand, for we find our eX-
ports diminishing in proportion rs the effect of
the famine is Overc0me by the subsequent abun
dance thus the export of brcadstutfs and pro-
visions in 1877 was $6S.7Ol ,92I ; in lS48 $37.
472.75l in lS49 $3S, l55507; and in 1850
Ss2605l,373; (see statement Our exports
in 1891 (see same statcment Of these articles
were $l7,53S,227; in lS4l Sl7l96,l02; and
ut the ratio Of decrease exhibited since 1917
will, in 1851, but little exceed the latter amount
The exports Of rice in 1917 amounted to s.
3i3,90S: in 1887. to $S2,309.279: an in 1913
Uhc vrnraft rhe f.minc.) to S. ,33l s24; in 1880
to 81 63l. 557. Statement y These dates
embrace n period Of high and low duties, of com.
plTnlNc Tree TRACE III nome itiIu VI Tue
market abroad. These facts disclose the fallary
of the principle so freq emily urged, that, by in
ducing heavy importations under a system OF
low duties, we necessarily create a large CORES
ponding demand abroad for our own produc-
tons.
Whatever truth there may be in this principle
as applied to the trade between other nations OF
the world, in consequence of the relative ,aturc
Of their productions and manufactures, it has
not the same application to the United States
from the simple fact that nearly all the supplies
which the latter furnish to foreign nations, c'n.
sist Of articles Of necessity, the consumption
of which is limited to actual wants, and cannot
be forced beyond that demand, by adventurous
circumstances. When a high degree Of pros
perity exists in the United States, we see large
increase in the consumption of most foreign
productions, which may be generally classed
under the head of luxuries, but we have no such
class of articles to tempt foreign nations in like
manner to extend their purchases from us, in re.
ciprocation for extended supplies from them.
No nation will purchase from US, no matter
how prosperous may he her condition, larger
amount of breadstuffs than the deficiency in her