The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-11-06
THE REPU BLIC.

labor exclusively to agriculture, while at the
same time providing a market for the products
of agriculture; and that the effect of this course
Of operation is to diminish the necessity for de-
pendence on foreign markets, with constant
tendency TO increase in the power to choose
between the foreign and domestic markets, and
equally constant tendency towards a rise of
prices The latter teaches that which agrees
with the experience of each individual man.
The former, that which is opposed to such ex-
perience.
How far the views of those who advocate the
emancipation of the American farmer and
planter from their present state of colonial de-
pendence are borne out by the facts, will be seen
by reference to the following tables, in which
are given
First. The four years succeeding the passage
of the compromise tariff, when duties had, as
yet, been but slightly reduced.
Second. The four years preceding the pas
sage of the act Of 1912, embracing the two
years of the strictly revenue tariff-ls4l and
1912.
Third. The four years succeeding the pas
sage of the act Of 1912.
Fourth The four years commencing July |,
1916, and terminating June 80, 1850.
lS34-5 to 1889 to
1878. 1912.
Total export. bales, 100000 100000
Total value. $26l ,O4l 900 1925, DOS, 900
Average export, bales, ,2O00 900 400 900
GO value. ....... $65,260000 $50, 557 600
1928 to 1867 to
1866. lS49-50.
Total export. bales, 100000 100000
Total value. $2lS ,22s 000* 1922, 900 900
Average export, bales, 1,S5O,0O0 1925, 00o
&c value........ $54, 557, 900 500, 900 900
We have here the striking fact that the ex-
port value was greatest in the first period, when
the dependence on Europe was least; that it
diminished in the next period, when the de-
pendence on foreign markets rose TO 100000
bales; that it still further diminished when the
dependence rose to ,S50,000 and that it rose
when that dependence diminished to ,725, 900
bales. The first was the period when duties
were still very high, and when the consump-
ton of the country was still rising. The sec
ond was the period in which consumption adj
vanced slightly and then receded The third
was that in which the country was just begin
ming to recover from the effects of the compro-
mise. The last was that in which the mills
built in l645 and 1916 were beginning to pro-
duce their effect upon the consumption of cot
ton, absorbing in the four years an additional
half-million Of bales, and diminishing the de-
pendence of the country on England to the
whole extent Of the difference between the ex-
g hot a. IL
by adding to the average value of that portion
of the crop which was exported almost ten
millions of dollars per annum.
Such having been the effect of an addition to
the domestic consumption of only half mil
lion of bales, the question now arises, what
would have been the increase of value had the
tariff of l842 been maintained, and had we
continued to build mills and furnaces, and had
the domestic consumption in these few years
absorbed three millions instead of two, as it
would have done, and had the dependence on
Europe been diminished to 100000 bales, |
as 1t would have been? If 100000 yielded, |
in the first of the above periods, $65 900 900, |
would not 100000, in the last of these, have
yielded $4,000, 900, and would not the total
crop have averaged a hundred and thirty
millions instead of eighty millions, and would |
not the planters have received in these few
years two hundred millions of dollars that
they have not receved2 We hold it to be
impossible that any one should examine the
facts and not arrive at the conclusion that such
would have been the case.
Our readers will doubtless desire to under |
stand how it is that two modes of stating the
same facts should produce results so different.
The explanation is easy. The year just closed
has been among the most remarkable ever
known for misrepresentation in regard to the
extent of the crop, the consequence of which
has been an enormous amount of loss and ruin
to merchants and manufacturers. The Gus
tom-house prices have been very high, and the
value of the export, as reported by the Treasury
greatly exceeds the amount realized for it.
Two millions of bales now exported would
scarcely yield sixty-ive millions of dollars;
whereas that quantity exported in the past
year appeared to realize above hundred mil
lions. The Union has taken the fraudulentIy
diminished official weights and values of the
period from lS43 TO l847, and the traudutently
official value of the past year, and
thus has it been enabled to obtain results to
answer its purpose. What must be the
strength of cause that requires for its sup
port the perpetual repetition of statements so
directly opposed to truth, as are those which |
are Systematically and regularly prepared for
the Union, we leave it to our readers to
determine. They have now before them all the |
facts, and all tend, as we think, to prove
that to the cotton planter the only road to
lies through the system which tends |
to his emancipation from the tyranny of Eng
lish manufacturers, who desire to compel him |