Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-02-08


deserved penay Before that act The merchants il he were
honest, had produce hs invoice and that showed that be
bought his goo often happened more than ten per cent
below the appraised vaue be incurred forfeiture. This
CURED so often that the Secretary frequently had to remit the
forfeiture, under power vested in him by the act Of May,
$780, lis being proved that there was design to deceive
Now, the Secretary does not e US how many Of these cases
Ia the table which have referred where goods
ked up by the importer himself does he show
how many The sPpraisAs advanced.
But take either way; suppose they were marked up by
The appraisers, does show the sagacy, the aleness
and Gdely with which our public officers discharge their duty
in relation these massf When the great
msjoy of in which the advances were es than ten
per cannot avoid the conclusion that it very diff
cult to deceive our officers and that their scrutiny is close
and accurate detect any differences between tho
invoice and the market price, take, then, Mr. President,
hs very table prove the ragsciy, energy and fidelity with
which officers discharge their duties and detect error
fraud. atis a9 siss4ga+ 3flf l huB 3a8taa4fS94 }o
But the Secretary also furnshes with table Of wines
and spirits 10 which he shows the average price Of wines and
spirits imported under specific duties and the average price Of
the articles under ad valorem duties. From this 1t
appears that the sversge value of the imported
much higher under The system of specific duties than under
that of cd vaIems But that fact does not prove au It
proves precisely what the friends Of the ad vaoem system
predicted would take place. proves that under the system
Of high specific duties the consumption Of the article
fined the weather. classes and The higher priced varieties
while uoder the cd vaorem the poorer snd
classes enabled much larger of the
cheaper kinds of the article Let take the article Of
Madeira vine, for example, which figures largely in This
table, On this the specific duty SO The avesge
price under that specific duty for the niDe months ending
June 80, ls43 was 81 20 per saIon for the year ending
June 30, 1914, 81 s2 Afsr the specific duty had been
done away with ard I'd vaosm Of per cent substituted
the price was reduced Il for The year ending June &c.
is4s Al cents for the year ending June 80, ls4s, AS
cents and for the year 1850, 50 cents per gallon I
We thus see that Ter the high specific duty the rich
man who consumed wines st ~ 2sper gallon did not pay
even 40 per cent Of cd vsorem, but under that system the
wine at AS cents per gallon would have been taxed more
than 100 per cent and thus placed beyond the reach Of the
numerous and poorer classes But under ad yaloe
high 40 per cent this article placed within
the reach Of the poorer consumers and the revenue itself was
thus suay incressed9 This hct them much relied upon
an evidence Esud Il fhera proof Of the fsire opera
ton Of the ad vacrem system, not only for the Purpf OF
but also in the distribution Of personal and
| comfort ~. = ~ s's W y - ~ .
fhis Yslssive operation Of the ss Of spechc and I'D
vslorem duties is BY subisctof discussion ;