The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-03-26

on the import trade with ouN1nxp country, and
would probably possess himsel II the largest
share; for such a mode Of valuation would discri.
| inmate in his favor The manufacturer who has a
great quantity Of goods on hand, and can wait,
when the market 10 giutted, until they rise in va
| lue, according to this decision, could send them
over here and pay duty for them according their
value at the time Of procurement, or by fictitious
sale transfer them to some consignee, man OF
straw, at date when price, were lower. He
| importer. which would, to great extent. throw
the business OF importation into his hands''
TARFF ACT, MARCH, 1851.
II IL almost impossible to describe in stronger
terms the vicious principles Of revenue in the tariff
act, which were left to US by the Congress OF
| lS46. They justify every prediction, every an
| nouncement OF the Wings Of that day, and when
| enforced by the decisions of the Supreme Court,
Congress Immediately proceeded to correct them;
and without the act Of March 3, 1851, sufficient
| revenue could not have been collected. The new
tariff act Of March 3. 1851, provides that
1.-The actual market value, or wholesale price,
at the period Of eIportaton to the United States in
the principal markets OF the country, (of export)
Shall be the real market value on which the duty
shall be levied in the United States custom house,
| to which shall be added
"All costs and charges, except insurance, and in
GLIDING, IN every case, charge for commissions, at
the usual rates. the true value at the port where
the same may be entered. upon which the duties
shall be assessed
This new tariff act gave the force of law to the
nullified Treasury circulars; nay, went further in
subsequent sections, by creating four travelling
appraisers TO 60 from port to port to secure as far
as possible, an uniformity OF duties in the ports
from EastpOrt, Maine, to Pugets Sound in Oregon.
The act Of 1851 is what the lawyers call Con-
gressonal cognovt, to all the indictments of George
Evans and others, in the Congress Of lS46. Under
the old Treasury circulars, issued against law and
To- volx H.,F
able to yield revenue enough to carry on the Gov
| eminent and to meet the public debt. The Trea
curry circulars, however, have bequeathed to the
country hosts Of lawsuits, fifty. it is said. in New
York alone, still undecided -such as that Of Thomp
son us. Collector of Boston, and Griswold o. Col
lector of New York, with business encumbering
the federal courts, and running up the already too
great expenses Of the federal judiciary, and with
hosts of demands for refunding duties, the amount
OF which can be seen by CHANGING at the record and
estimates of the Register of the Treasury. see at
one hasty glance now $439. 5SS in repayment Of
| duties sugar and molasses illegally exacted by
collectors, refunded under a decree Of the courts
acquesced in by the Treasury Department.; and
these, among other such items, now swell up the
apparent expenditures Of this Government
But, say gentlemen the other side, s'if the
tariff of 1876, or what you now call the tariff Of
| 1851, yields revenue enough, and is high enough,
why demand any change In such a tariff! Why
complain Of III" l have anticipated such ques-
| ton, and am prepared to answer 1t now.
THE VICE THE SYSTEM.
| The essential, radical, incurable defect of the
tsrffs of 1886 and 1851 is the universal ad ualores
and the principle OF them, that establishes the duty
to be levied, upon the ever -huctuating, ever
uncertain foreign valuation tits wrong, radically
wrong, that foreign nations should. in foreign in
voicess make universal American tariff And it
10 wrong that no stiff, stern legislation, no vo
lent Treasury CIRCULARS, no travelling appraisers.
can ever cure. The tariff of 1851 has followed the
foreign invoice down to the place of export, and
afh xed to 1t there all costs, and charges, and COM
missons-so far, well; but levying a duty upon a
Manila, q London, q Marseiles invoice, in
New York custom house, 10, to great extent,
collecting American duties upon foreign tariff,
in Manila, London, or Marseilles. 1t is impos
sble TO inspire confidence in these foreign invoices
II IL impossible to make an American merchant
believe that be is doing business fair and equal
terms with the London born, the Manila born,
and the Marselles born merchant. 1t ia impossi.
Die to know Tor certainty in New York whether
not the invoice s a real bona fds invoice or if
50, whether or not it may not be under, above,
the general. actual, real value Of the goods in
the country Of the export II is impossible to find
appraisers that know every country, every pro-
duction, every process OF manufacture, every price
oil every thing, everywhere; and hence there II q
constant collision between merchant and appraiser,
between the Treasury Department and the bust.
mesa oil the country. To make themselves uni
vcrsal geniuses, or to qualify themselves TO pre-
sumo to know every thing everywhere, / venture
TO say you Will Ind scarcely an appraiser who does
not study foreign price-currcnt more than he
studies the tariff statutes Of his own land; and
sure you will find Winners European Times, with
Its numerous prices current, (and not always cor
rect ones,) hung up In every appraisers office,
rom the commissioner Of the customs here in
Warrington eastward to Eastport, and westward
to San Francisco. Winners European Times is
thus practically the American revenue law Of the
land; and the foreigner, who wants to amend the
American statute 10 suit him, will resort TO amend
ing the prices current sent from Liverpool to New
York. "Why quit own, ask, to stand on
foreign ground ~ No other nation docs SO. The
British revised tariff of 1876, which has so often
been commended to US for imitation, collects
only EDS, 900 1882 0O0) per annum in a gross re
oeipt for customs Of E22 900 900 8 l05 900 OOO)
Tor articles paying ad polorem duties, being less
than one fifth Of one per cent. Of this immense in
come from imports! All Europe pursues similar
course.
The errors or frauds that do arise, and must
arise, from subjccting all the productions of the
earth to universal, horizontal ad uoiorems cannot
be got over or got under, however much the at
tempt may be made TO avoid the fncts that have
been marshalled in proof Of the allegation. The
Secretary OF the Treasury in his report of Deem
Der, 1850, exhibits irrcsistiby conclusive proof in
demonstration of them. He shows that prior to the
act Of March, 1851, in New York and Boston alone.
the appraisers advanced on the invoices. from Jan
uary, ls4s, to October 1850. S4.09s in number,
thus
Whole number of advances in New York 2 1853
Whole number Of advances in Boston. .....l ,739
4,09s
lie shows, too, that In an importation OF fruit
(oranges) shipped by the same house, from st.
Michaels TO Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
at Philadelphia they passed at the invoice value
Mt New York the appraisers advanced it TO per
cent, and at Boston 81 per cent, and no objection
or appeal was made by the importers. like ex.
traordinary pimento from the Island Of ia
maica Is set forth. Indeed, l might, with little
research, 60 on and add indefinite number of
like cases-but why prove appraisers are men, and
that their judgments must vary-and that thus
there must be very unequal system Of duties in
the widespread ports OF this now vast Republic Of
Stated
But what Ia more ruinous to the commerce and
industry Of the country than all these vicious
principles Of universal adj uaiorems, Is the ever
iluctuatng basis Of tbeso foreign valuations upon
which our commerce and all our manufacturing
industry are obliged to stand AZ well stand man
and labor, IT seems to me, upon the rolling pillows
OF the sea, in some frail barquc, without chart
rudder, as stand man and labor upon ever huctu-
ating foreign valuations in foreign ports. The
sliding corn laws Of Great Britain have been,
throughout the world, universally condemned as
detective IN equity and sound principles OF political
economy but here IL a aiding scale Of duties in