New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-02-06
=. unb,;c debt that il the revenue continue

-, uh,, was said in the days of the
compromise tariff, when our neignoors oil
Ts. Iovr,nf were so delighted with the
.a..... therein made toward British free
.r,ae that they urged another reduction
of duties" at the rate Of enc per cent. per
.nsun. so as finally to extingaish the tariff,
whether for revenue or protection, at the
end of twenty years; and he knows, too'
that British free trade then resulted IN a
prostration of revenue so complete that the
Government was compelled to beg, ana peg
in vain. for loans in all the markets OF
Europe- he does rot know these things.
Ifbe does know them, he desires to deceive
his readers. If not, he is himself deceived
and is unfit to play the part OF teacher'
The reduction Of 1916 is, as ne assures
b;s readers, to lead to further one, and
vet, as he should know full well, it was
the total postration that followed the for
mer reduction that led to the passage of the
highly protective tariff of 1912. The only
permanent step toward free trade that has
ever been made, was the abolition Of the du-
ties on coffee and tea under the protective
tariff of 1923, and it is well known that Mr.
Walker himself recommended many duties
70 be raised instead Of lowered, and that his
friends are at this moment fully aware that
such change must certainly take place
If the writer did know these things, he dee
sired to deceive his readers, and if not, ne
must be classed among the race Of the de-
ceived.
Numerous figures are given for the pur-
pose Of showing how greatly the results of
the tariff of 1916 exceed those of 1912, but
they are invariably so given as to preclude
their examination even by one familiar with
the subject to say nothing Of the main
body of The Ledger's readers, compelled,
as they are, to take all these figures on
trust. Without pretending to have examined
them, we merely remark that their author
should have. known that the trade of the
year 1916, in which both domestic and for
eiqn causes tended 10 swell the amount of
trade, did not belong to the tariff of 1916,
and that to include it under that tariff was
to deceive his readers. If he did not know
this, he is to be placed among the little race
that Of the deceived.
He predicts certain results if the imports
and exports keep up to their esentamoqnt,
and yet, while doing so, can scarcely fail to
know that the nominal price of cotton for
the past season, as shown in the Custom
House returns, exceeded the real one by
five and twenty millions Of dollars, and is
greater than will be that of similar crop
in the present season by at least forty mil.
lions Of dollars; and that, therefore, the ex.
posts cannot be kept up. Nor can he well
fail to know that very large amount of the
imports OF last year is yet unpaid for OK
cept in the form Of certificates Of debt
bearing interest, and that his free trade
friends now look 20 reduction of imports
and consequent reduction Of revenue, as
the very means Of avoiding convulsion -
or he does not know these things. IL he
does know them, he desires to deceive his
readers. Ii not, he is himself deceived.
He assures his farming readers that,
"The excess OF our exports of Breadstuis and Pro-
visions from 1876 to 1885, uAde r the tariff of 1916, over
the four years preceding, under the tariff OF 1912,
WAS $99 $50 osi; and for three years, uader both
tariffs, striking out the year OF famine, and
pondlDg year under tho Old tariff the difference in
favor OF the new system was 50 millions OF doliars"
The writer of this knew that Of the great
year lS46-7, which he thus struck out, the
first half belonged to the tariff of 1912, and
not to that of 1916, and that no part of the
export of that year depended in the slight
est degree upon the adoption of the new
system." He knew too that the famine
year had exhausted the stock of food in
Europe, and shat the exports of the year
lS47-S were as much consequence Of the
famine as had been those of the previous
year, and yet he desires his readers to look
upon these things as consequence Of the
adoption of "the new system" If he did
not know these things, he was himself de-
ceived, and should study the facts anew.
He assures his readers that, striking out
the year Of famine and "the corresponding
yea" the tariff of 1912 the increase in three
years had been .ffty- nine millions of dollars
Now, he should have known that such an
operation would have given the following
result;
1si34t...... eli, 900 900 ls47- is.- s37 400 900
lS4443....... 1900 s4s-49 .... IS SEQ coo
lsA5 46..-...- 21.100 GOO lsi9-50,. 20 800 600
$es,SQo 0ool $l02 500, 900
And that the difference was not .ffiy-ntne
but forty millions of dollars. He shonld