Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-02-17
NUMBER 81.
General Dur Green on the Tarin.
To the Hon. R. N. r. Husrrn:

The principle of the tariff of 1s4e" under
stand to be an ad valorem duty. / now proceed
to prove IL TO be unwise, and inconsistent with the
| obligations imposed by the constitution
| II will not be denied that one of the chief ends
OF the federal constitution was 10 form a govern
ment to be charged with our intercourse with for
eign nations; nor can it be denied that many
questions must arise which necessarily affect our
prosperity, and upon which the action of our gov
ernment should depend upon the relations which
exist between foreign governments and ours. Thus
Congress has power not only to ssreculate COM
merce with foreign nations, so as to protect our
interests and promote the common welfare. so far
as u can De done by proper exercise of that
power, Dut Congress also has power to declare war
II IL becomes necessary for that purpose It must.
therefore, be admitted that the power to urec,,.
/ late commerce" Is much more comnrebensiya
grant than the power to levy and collect dutiesn
The purpose OF this latter power is to create
revenue, and it is therefore subordinate and auxil-
iary to the power to "regulate commerce. with
foreign nations" If the power to levy and collect
duties be subordinate and auxiliary to the power
to regulate commerce, then the power to levy
ana collect duties should be SO adminstcredas as to
aid the proper exercise Of the power to "reguate
commerce" with foreign nations. For as each
power is separate and distinct grant, and both
are intended to promote the 'tgeneral welfare" Il
is the duty of Congress to administer each in such
manner as that each may aid the purpose for which
the other was granted Let US apply this prnci-
pie to ad yal0rem duties.
The constitution gives to Congress power To coin
money and to regulate the value thereof and to
!" fix standard of weights and measures.p The
purpose was to give certain and fixed standard
OF value regulating the exchanges and Operations
OF commerce, SO as to protect tho property of ind
ylduas and determine the relation between debtor
and creditor Gold and silver are by the common
consent OF nations, the standard Of value: and
hence all obligations for payment of money are held
to be payable in gold or silver Yet it is now adj
mited that the value of the property of commercial
countries bears relation Of thirty to one of their
currency 1t follows, therefore, that IL one COM,
mercial nation becomes indebted to another, under
an implied understanding that the debt Is Ia BE- n
paid in produce or property, and the creditor. in
stead OF receiving produce, demands and receives
gold and silver, the effect will be to dminis 80.
value Of the property Of the debtor g:ndad s Il
times the sum Of the payment thc e'anueu -
with foreign nations as to protect, as far as pos
sibe, from such contraction OF our currency.
VIII an ad vaorem duty do this 1t does the very
reverse. Take the case of railroad iron: say that
the price is sixty dollars per ton the duty WIZ De
twenty dollars. In case OF pressure IN the Lon
don Market and iron falls to thirty dollars per ton,
then the duty is but ten dollars. 1t needs no argu
ment to prove that there would be no such rcduc-
ton in price were IL not for some contingency Gre
ating an extraordinary demand for bullion in the
Bank Of England, and such sales, at this reduced
price, would not be made, were it not for the pur
pose of shipping our specie. The effect would be
that we would save fifty dollars in the price of
ton ofron and lose twelve hundred dollars in the
depreciation Of the value of property | refer you
to Mr.. Calhoun's speech upon the currency, where
he admits that the value Of the property of COM
mercial nation is thirty times the sum of its
rency and, If assume this data to be correct,
have demonstrated that an ad valorem duty Is not
only unwise, but most unjust, and utterly incon-
sistent with the duty imposed upon Congress by
the "power to regulate commerce with foreign
nations"
The coalition between Mr.. Clay and Mr.. Adams
adopted as the basis Of their party organization
high tariff and internal improvements high tariff
to collect large surplus revenue, levied upon the
commerce, paid for chiefly by southern exports to
be expended by combinations chiefly in the North
and West. This the South said, was unequal and
unjust and unconstitutional because was unequal
and unjust, and tending to corrupt legislation. You
will sure, admit that there is papable distinc
ton between tariff levied for the purpose of Great
ing large surplus revenue, to be expended by Con-
gress on local works of internal improvement and
a tariff intended to SC" regulate our commerce with
foreign nations as to prevent those periodical con-
fractions Of our currency which have caused such
ruinous depreciatons Of the value of property aud
each and all Of which can be traced to the extraor
binary demand for bullion, and the measures adopt
specie. spent the greater part oflS42 and 1s43
in London my chief purpose being 10 study formy-
| self the operations of trade between England and
the United States. knew that the theory of free
trade Is, that commerce Is reciprocal exchange Of
the products of labor, and wished to know why
demand for bullion in the Bank of England neces-
| sarily produced runous contraction of our cur
rency. became satisfied that as ours is the weaker
part of the British financial system, financial
crisis in England, whatever might be its cause
whether produced by overtrading bad harvest,
specuations in railroad shares, or Spanish Ameri-
can bonds, or South American or Mexican mines,
was always made to explode here and its worst
effects were transferred 10 us. | will give few
facts by way of illustration.
The refusal of Congress to recharter the Bank of
the United States compelled the shareholders to
accept charter from the State of Pennsylvania.
This made IL necessary to withdraw the branches
located in other States this mostly done by
sales Of the asserts in the branches, which were
chiefly paid for in the notes Of local banks. Had
the Bank Of the United States demanded specie,
most of the local banks would have suspended the
directors of the United States Bank therefore made
large advances on State bonds, and for cotton and
tobacco, and sent Mr.. Jaudon with the bonds to
London and Bddle and Humphries TO Liverpool, in
charge of the cotton and tobacco.
| The bank advanced some five millions In bills
upon London, to enable the merchants who had
suffered by the great fire to pay their British credi
tors. When Mr.. Jaudon sailed for London, Penn
sylyania and Maryland skies we're worth srtecnper
cent premium when he reached London, he could
not sell at any price, and | credibly informed
that the bank would have been protested had not
Mr.. Morrison, at the last moment advanced the
funds upon an hypothecation of his best securities
at per cent to enable Mr.. Jaudon to pro-
tect the credit Of his bank
| Do you ask why Mr.. Jaudon could not sell hi.
State bonds9 l reply that the interest on the
public debt Of the several European governmental
payable the greater part in London and the greater
part Of which is controlled by a few bankers, who
the agents Of these for the sale of
these securities, and also Of the principal fundhold
ers to receive and renves their dividends amounts
to about two hundred and fifty millions of dollars
per annum. These bankers said that if Mr.. Biddle
was permitted to establish an agency in London
for the sale Of six and seven per cents in compet-
| tion with their European three per cents, Mr..