New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-10-14


we became more dependent on the foreigner, who
raised h. prices and the higher they rose the greater
became Bis power to sccep; bonds in payment. The
more bonds sold the higher the prices and tie
duties and the more rapid the accumulation OF the debt
the greater became the revenue which is now surplus
and for precisely the same reason that eause the
steuee Of the surplus in l36-the destruction Of the
domestic competition for the sale of cloth and iron
Asin the former it is required that the
MY he depleted, and il is proposed that move for
ward N the direction in which then travelled.
diminishing the duties, discOuraging home prOduc
.ion rendering ourselves still more dependent on
foreign miners and manufacturers. producing still
greater necessity for selling bonds and placing the
control Of the movements of the country still in
tLehands of foreign bankers thatthey may be enabled
act toward they did in 1881 when il announced
that credit at the Bank OF England would longer be
given 10 the principal American houses. How far il
would be judicOus place the country more in that
position than is, shall leave it to the reader
to determine for himself For the present object
is 10 show how the treasury may safely be depleted
And that this is the required TO produce the
effect desired will we think be proved by examina-
ton Of facts in relation 10 few important commodities
In the year l540 the trade in lead was a. follows:
Imports Reefs y o. EKp.. Of Dom Lead
$4,000 Tbs. 100000 pigs $4,000 lbs
In the following years under the tariff of 1872 the
domestic production grew steadily. With the growth
Of domestic competition the price at which this impor
tan commodity supplied to the consumer gradually
fell so low that it had become important item OF ex-
port and was used ballast for ships trading China
India and other countries England included The
trade of 1856 was fellows:
- n
75s5 ibs. 7s566o pig ls,s25gS5 los
We see thus that the way reduce the revenue to
raise and not diminish the duty The price of lead in
this city that time b per H. but Mr. Walker
assured Congress that it was three cents mOre-the
whole amount duty-than would be underree trade
and accordingly the duty reduced TOGO per cent al
ralorsm The consequence of ibis that those who
were engaged in mining ceased TO feel any security
TO the future, andas they had scratched out
the mineral that could be obtained without expensive
machinery they abandoned the mines and the product
ion has since steadily decreased with constant increase
in the dependence foreign markets shere shown
i7 1886 5 asSc}' a!93ss lbs.
1ssl-52.... 81. 54i5sslbs. 267,56l 1920 lbs
Competition with the foreign producer having been
diminished b. the action Of the tariff Of SIG the price
has steadily risen and the consumer pays tree as
much as he did under the proecrc tariff lSi2, while all
the increase goes to the foreign producer who is there
by enabled to take bonds in payment and thus help
to augment the surplus in the treasury. The value OF
the lead imported in the two years above given exceeded
three millions OF dollars and the duty thereon was
100000 Now. had the duty remained as it was in
1915 is il not clear that that money would not have
reached the treasury Had it SO remained is it not
clear that steam engines would have been erected
throughout all the vast region of the West and that
lead would now be supplied TO the extent of millions
of pigs and cheaply that could be exporting TO
all the regions of the earth in place ofexpOrtng bonds
Would not this have tended to keep the receipts OF the
treasury downo the expenditure and would not great
y have diminished necessity for selling bonds, as well
as the power Of the English lead producers TO buy them
Would it not have tended to lessen dependence on
English bankers To these questions there can be
meme but al affirmative reply.
Lead is now high and we possess it in quantity that
is absolutely unlimited and yet the arrangements for
working it are limited in extent, because of the abb
seuce OF security Every sees that tho future u
most uncertain and that before be- sink his shaft
and erect his engine there msy be change abroad by
which he will be exposed to the market inundated
with lead paving scarcely any duty whatever-ior tho
foreign Manufacturer values his product on enter
ing it at our eusto,n-house, at whatever price
best suits him. Under existing circumstances,
it il seen that our market H. and must continue to be-
tie one to which will be sent the surplus product OF
Europe to BE sold at any price that can be obtained for
it and therefore it is that go paying high prices,
part bonds and part cash-for commodity that we
could produce at home for less than the cash we pay
while avoiding the necessity for mourning debt Is if
to increase the difficulty, Congress is now probably to
he moved to reduce and perhaps abolish the duty and
thus every movement throughout the country rem
dered more and more uncertain. With every dimna-
ton of confidence in the future dependence upon
the foreign manufacturer must be increased, with
increased power on bis part 10 fix the prices
He las already added to his price all that was re-
linquished BY the treasury, and what he now claims
we are forced to pay, and to pay the treasury too
whereas in 1856 We paid neither him nor the treas
ury He holds bonds for many millions that would not
have been needed had mined our own lead and the
treasury holds gold large amount that wOnld never
have been paid had been forced TO abandon
own mines and 90 abroad 70 look for lead. We sec
here the process BY which the surplus has been made
70 accumulate The higher the foreign prices, the
larger our taxation for the benefit of foreigners, the
bonds they buy and the more rapidly does the
surplus accumulate Diminish the foreign prices BY
tie adoption Of policy that viii produce domestic
competition for the supply Of market and the
consumer viii be more cheaply supplied while their
y6'rT purchase bonds and necessity for selling
them vii both disappear In next will look at
iIou il is relations with the surplus revenue.