Richmond semi-weekly times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 184?-1853, 1851-10-21

my INC lolowlng IN NeihakeDS Political Economy |
began To nave my doubts upon the subject. Vethake
says, page az that the smaller the suppv of an arti
Gle Is, the higher the price will be. Again he saws
page lSo--lhat when the price rises, importation
rom abroad OF the commodity will follow. Now,
raising the tariff dmlnlshes the supply consequently
1t raises the price But if raising the prices has
tendencyto increase the importation. how is the home
manufacturer otected and encouraged? 1t is for the
very purpose OF checking the importation that the
r is raised Il importation is promoted, the object
had IN view is defeated
write these lines for information. Bv reconcnp
II possible, ,the passages referred to- and if rreconc
liable, informing me of the fact, you will confer ia
vor upon me that shall not fail to appreciate.
AN INQUIRER AFTER TRUTH.
Answer.-There is no subject in our opinion,
so much misunderstood as the operation of duties
on foreign importations. The misunderstanding
arises from failure to disc rimnate Justly, so as
to reach the truth on the medium ground between
opposing errors.
Two extreme propositions may, we think, be as
serted without fear Of contradiction, namely: LIST
An absolute prohibition upon foreign manufac-
lures would increase prices by combining the sup.
ply to the homs production; and 2ndy An abso-
lutte prohibition upon manufacturing at home
would tend to increase prices by combining the
supply to foreign importations, The problem,
then, is plainly this what mean between an alb.
solute prohibition upon foreign importations and
an absolute prohibition upon home manufactures
will ensure the lowest average prices? We an
swer, such scale of duties will prohibit neither,
but will maintain healthy competition between
them. The home manufacturer should desire
nothing more than the ability to offer his goods in
| the market on footing of steady, unfluctuating
equality with foreign goods, and this equality is
to be determined by the relative cheapness of
production, and command of capital, in this coun"
try and abroad 1t is not high prices that he wants
Gas "As Inquirer seems tosuppose) but simply
remunerating prices which the foreign manufac-
turer cannot underbid. His profit is better if it
Is derived from large business at fair and steady
prices, than from small business at high prices.
All this seems perfectly obvious !; but the next
step in the inquiry is, what sort of duties will
ensure this healthy competition, and these stead
dy, fair prices We answer again, with conf
dence, moderate specific duties, which shall not be
high enough to prohibit foreign imports, and yet
shall be high enough to secure the home manu-
facturer against whatever constant advantage the
foreigner may possess, and particularly against
those sudden and disastrous fluctuations in trade
which so frequently cause large surplus OF man
ufactures to gather in foreign hands, and to be
thrown upon our markets to be sold at any price.
The specific duty has this essential difference
from the ad ualorem 1t makes it the interest of
the home producer to sell steadily at the lowest
remuneraIing prices; for then his advantage over
no INN 10 yJ
ua!orem duty, the lower the price the less the pro-
lection. For instance, with a specific duty of
cents yard on cotton cloth, the American man
facturer will find it more to his interest to sell
such cloth, ifhe afford it, at 10 cents than 49,
or at 6 cents than 10. Why? Because, at Is
cents, the duty is only third of the price at 10
cents, it is one half att cents, it is fve-sixths
of the price. But let there be an ad Ua1orem duty
of thirty three and third per cent on the same
cloth. AT the price of Is cents, the duty, or
| amount of protection, is 5 cents at 10 cents,
three and third cents and at cents, it is 2
cents.
What is the necessary operation Of the two
kinds of duty, at period like the present, when
a large foreign surplus is ready to be thrown into
our ports at very low prices Why, precisely,
what we are every day seeing; the home manu-
acturer, losing his protection as the price falls,
s compelled to give up his business. And what
must follow that? The foreign manufacturer
permanent supply will be diminished and, ac-
cording to the we'll known law of trade, prices
must rise. This rise will probably stimulate men
of enterprise in the United States, forgetful of
the teaching of experience, to embark upon other
adventures. Another ebb Of surplus goods from
abroad will be flung upon our shores, and the
same process of low prices at first then failures
at home, then high prices, will ensue and these
disastrous fluctuations will go on as long as the
ad uazorem system is adhered to.
| This brief statement, of the principles which
should control our tariff policy, contains, we think,
a satisfactory solution of the difficulty of can In
quirer after truth" The true object of wise
protective policy is not, as he takes for granted,
| to raise prices but to give the home manutac-
turer a certain and fixed advantage in selling at
| moderate prices. And the average result, demon
straby is, to produce lower scale of prices in
the long run, than that produced by the unsteady
operation OF ad uazorena tariff. The prices cur
rent of past years, which have been carefully in
vestigated with reference to this very question,
sustain entirely this general deduction, and, if
we recollect rightly, the fact was fairly admitted
by the celebrated free trade Convention that met
at Philadelphia some fifteen or twenty years ago.
Unfair Opposition.
| The course of the Washington Union towards
the President is marked by disingenuousness
really unworthy of the position of that journal.
The editor daily assails Mr. Fillmore as an Abo-
litionist, notwithstanding all the unvarying testi-
mony of his public acts, and in the Teeth of the
| trihtna Of 10