New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-14
THE TARIFF QUESTION.


We have on various occasions asked the at
tention of eur readers to the fact that our
present revenue system tends TO throw on
our own people the payment OF a large amount
of taxes that prior to 1916 were paid by the
foreign producers of the articles we imported.
Protective duties tend to produce domestic
competition, and theirehec has uniformly been
to compel the foreign producer to take upon
himself in part, and ultimately in whole the
payment of the increased expense OF bringing
his goods to market That this had been the
case under the tariff OF 1912 was shown con-
clusvely in the tables appended to MI
Meredth's Report, by reference to which
any of our readers may satisfy themselves
that the selling prices of numerous and
highly important articles had fallen with
the increase Of duty, and that thus while
the domestic consumer was more cheaply
supplied, the foreign producers have found
themselves compelled to pay the larger duty
out of a smaller gross receipt. Duties i'm
posed for revenue, and which do not tend to
promote competition, are, on the contrary,
chiefly, even when not wholly, paid by the con-
sumer, and that such is the case is generally
admitted Great Britain taxes tobacco, one OF
our most important staples, more than thou
sand per cent, but as she prohibits domestic
competition for its production, it is not admit
ted by her that this affords to the producer any
Just cause of complaint. Being an exclusively
revenue duty, it is held to operate entirely on
the consumer, and that this is to a considerable
extent the case We see no reason to doubt
Similar views in regard TO duties intended ex-
clusvely for revenue, long since prompted the
United States to the abolition of duties on tea,
coffee, and other commodities not produced
among ourselves.
The entire accuracy of these views is proved
by facts now occurring in regard to the supply
and price of IRON of all commodities the mos
essential to any advance in wealth and civiliz-
atiOn. The efficient protection afforded by the
tariff Of lsi2 gave so great stimulus to do
nestle production that in 1916 it was admitted
by Mr. Walker to have reached 1000 tuns,
and it was then advancing at a rate so rapid as
to renderit absolutely certain that in briefpe-
ricd our whole demand would be supplied from
our own mines furnaces aud rolling mills In
tlat year, however, specific duties were abol-
she6 in favor Of I'D yalorem, and shortly after
there commenced contest between the foreign
and domestic producersf for the possession of our
market, the consequence of which was seen in
steady decline Of prices until the fall exceeded
so per cent. The duties, being ad valOrem, de-
clined in like manner, AID this combination Of
low prices and low duties closed so many Of our
furnaces that the Census of $50 exhibited a
reduction Of no less than 800, 900 tuns At this
time it was that Congress was urged to the
adoption of measures that would sustain the
domestic competition, and il cannot now be
questioned that if the duty had then been al
tered to aspeciic one not exceeding in amount
that originally paid under the present tariff
not only would all our then silent furnaces have
been revived, but We should have built many
new ones, and our power of production would
now greatly exceed our present consumption,
a consequence of which would be that the con-
sumer would be cheaply supplied. That how
ever, not having been done. our manufacturers
have gradually sunk under the foreign competi-
ton, and production has fallen, as il is under
stood, 10 little more than half the amount at
which il stood in lc46, leaving the consumers
70 seek in foreign markets the supplies before
obtained at home. This has, of course, raised
tie price abroad, and the consumer has now
TO pay not only the increase ofprice, but the
duty thereon, the joint amount of which is
twice as much as would have been required to
be added, in the form of a specific duty, for
greatly increasing our production and en-.
abling our producers so to improve their pro.
cesses of manufacture as TO meet reduction
Of price. The foreign manufacturer having
destroyed the competition that diminished
the prices, now receives for himself more than
was, two years since, the joint amount of the
price and tie duty. Thus has the system
of merely revenue duties transferred TO the
consumer the payment Of q tax that was then
paid by the producer. How lightly protective
duties bear on the consumer as compared with |
those imposed for revenue alone, our readers
may satisfy themselves by comparing the vast
increase in the consumption of the most i'm
portant protected articles under the tariff of
ls42, with the great diminution in the con.
sumption Of the same articles, whether of
foreign or domestic origin, that has since oc-
CURED. Could our people generally be made
to understand the real facts of the case, they
could not fail to be satisfied that the readop.
ticn Of efficient protection would be followed