The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-07-01

The schooner Advance, recently condemned as q
SLAYER at Norfolk, has been ordered to be sold.
We regret TO learn by an arrival from St. Thomas
that the yellow fever still raging with frightal
maignity among the shipping ct that place, on the
10th nit Several of the officers and sailors belong
ing to American vessels, whose names we are IN
able to give had died. The British steamship her-
lin, which arrived late last night, will probably
able US to morrow to lag before our readers full par
tcuars with regard to the ravages OF the epidemic
Late accounts from the Cumberland coal regions
state that the miners still strike, and that
the superintendent of the company has resigned
The supply Of coal sent to market contlnaeB very
light.
Coroner Hilton held an inquest on the body Of
Mrs. Joanna M. Noll, WHO died yesterday merning
from injuries caused, is alleged, by the nalprac
tice Of DR.. Charles Boerner who attended her ac-
couchment on Saturday last. The Coroners inquest,
giving the medical evidence, is published elsewhere.
Taxes ON neutrality-suspicious. of the British
Tariff.
The advocates of the removal of taxes on
knowledge have just won an important victory
in England. Areduction of twenty-five per cent
in the duty on books printed prior to 1901, and
of seventy per cent in that on books printed sub
sequently to that date will be effected by the
new tariff. We congratulate the poorer classes
in Great Britain on the boon. At time when
Sir Archibald Alison is expanding all his ener-
gies in one last effort to convince the British
public that popular education is fallacy. and
that crime increases pdri passu with enlighten-
ment, few measures are better calculated 80
dispel the fears of the philanthropist, and coun-
teract the tendency of tory sophisms, than q
reduction in the duty on books. The step
which is about to be taken is moreover, we
trust. but the first sign of new era For the
guage published subsequently to 1901 have
paid on entering Great Britain duty of s24
per cwt. In other words, under the old tariff,
religion, philosophy science, and literature
from abroad, were taxed thirty7four times
as high as cotton and about nine times as
high as beef. The enactment was in keeping
with the old system of government in Eng
land. but at direct variance with the tenets
of the school which gave birth to the Reform
bill. The extension of the franchise involved
popular education, and popular education in
volVed a removal of the duty on books. Mea-
sures of reform. however. are but slowly car
ried in England. 1t required ten years to estab
lish system of common schools on anything
like solid basis we are in the twentieth
yesr of the reformed franchise, and the tariff
is only now being remodelled. As soon as the
effect Of the reduction is felt fresh diminutions
will be imperatively called for and we have
every reason to hope that the enlightened
,o,io, which has dictated the repeal of the
corn laws will a. length effect the total abol-
ton of customs duties on De"Ss.
We are concerned in the movement both as
makers and as readers of books. As Authors
and publishers we are directly interested in
the change. The s24 which under the existing
tariff is levied on foreign works in the English
language tells heavily on our publications.
and serves to fortify the system of piratical re-
production which we had hoped to have seen
abolished ere this. Duties, we may take for
granted are paid by the consumer but where
they are heavy they operate to restrict and
diminish consumption. A duty on -four, which
is an indispensable article. is obviously felt
only by the eater of bread but duty on
books, which, strictly speaking, are not articles
of prime necessity. is equally felt by the
producer whose market is diminished and by
the consumer who pays higher for his reading.
Now that the tax on American books sent to
England is reduced from s24 to 81 rs per cwt.,
we may hope that in many instances our pub
fishers will be able to supply the British mar
ket, in defiance OF the pirates of Paternoster
row and Fleet street. And as we have every
reason to expect so much honesty of our Senate
as will ensure the ratification of the copyright
treaty next session-as we ought to and can
print and publish cheaper than the Engish-we
may fairly anticipate chat an entirely new trade
the expectation of American works to Great
Britain-will spring up within the next few
years.
On the other hand the reduction of the duty
on foreign works imported into Great Britain
is an example it would be wise to follow here
quently to 1775 paid twenty-six cents per ID,
in sheets or boards, and thirty cents when
bound, on their arrival in this country,
being rather more than the present British
tariff allows. The tariff of 1912 established
rate of duty equivalent to 1914 per cent
adj valorem. By the act of 1916 this was
reduced to ten per cent for all books, with the
single xcepton-introduced to protect the
pratical publishers of this country-ofbooks in
the course Of printing and republication in the
United States" Thus. under Che existing law,
when we expend q dollar to purchase valuable
French. or English or German work. we pay ten
cents to the government for permission to ac-
quire knowledge which most likely will be De-
voted to its service. These ten cents are tax
on the student, imposed by way Of punishment
for his intoerable impudence in attempting to
cultivate and refine his mind. Some of us. who
mako science their pursuit nav pnouph ~ than