Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-01-14
From the Charleston Mercury.
DIRECT TRADE,


From the Charleston Mercury.
DIRECT TRADE.
We are gratifed at the indications, in
various quarters of the South and South
west, that the subject of direct trade with
foreign ports is receiving the attention which
its importance deserves. There are a vare-
tv of schemes proposed to effect the subject
and we have hope that discussion will elicit
such information as will lead to the adop-
ton of the correct one. Policy and inter-
est alike demand that some system should
be adopted to secure to the South the legiti-
mate result of her industry, the accumula-
ton of which would give to her prosperity
and power to which she has heretofore been
q stranger
We are aware that the Government has
lent it's aid and influence to divert the CON-
merce of the South into Northern channels,
and that its present policy is in the same
direction. But what reason can there pos.
sibly be. that the South should not make
her own importations, even under the unf,-
vorablc circumstances she is placed in by
the action of the Federal Government
Our foreign importations arc now made
by the circuitous route of Northern cities,
where, in addition to the exactions of the
Federal Government, the most of which is
bounty to Northern manufacturers, they
are taxed with the costs of transportation,
profits to importers and dealers, insurance.
commissions, and numbcrlcss minor charges
all paid at the North, and to the North,
and all without justice or necessity, for all
arc but distractions from the returns of the
productive industry of the South.
We will illustrate: Let one yard Of
broadcloth, costing 4s. 3d., say one dollar,
in London, be intercepted on on its way to
the South III New York, and almost every
yard of cloth intended for the South is so
intercepted. The New York importer pays,
in duties to the Federal Government end
charges of importation, 80 per cent, en-
hancing the value of the cloth to 81 so per
yard. He sells to a jobbcr at 10 per cent.
profit, and the yard of cloth stands him in
ii IS. The jobber sells to the Southern
merchant, say at 90 per cent. profit, and
the price is now 81 IS per yard. This last
pays for transportation, &C., at least 5 per
cent, and the cloth, when it reaches him,
stands at 81 81 per yard. If he is satisfied
with 10 per cent. profit on his outlay, then
the Southern Planter will pay 1886 per
yard for an article for which he bartcrcd
the product of his industry at one dollar.
In other words, he is made TO pay $3.50
cents, when he received but one dollar. The
balance is absorbed by the Federal Gov
crnmcnt, principally as a bounty TO North
erll manufacturers, and By Northern mer-
chants and importers, to build up Northern
c;;irs. and TO be used as i means Of aggrcs-
sion against Tic very people who by their
Short.sishtcd policy, Permit it to be cxactcd
from them.
There is 10 escape for the consumer even
if he bartcrs with the North for Protection
has placed him there at disadvantage
equal to the amount of import duties on
fprci.u productions.
" !laL contributes mainI V to the contnu-
ancc Of the extraordinary trade between the
South and the North for foreign goods, the
returns for Southern exports, is the wart of
That information Of the condition Of foreign
markets, Or in tie price of the labor in the
nlar:; of the world where We dispose of our
products.
In Great Britain the pric. Of labor, The
Improvements in machinery inclndcd, may
be safely estimated at SO per cent below
that of the United States SO that, if We
were free to barter the products OF cur in
dustry in that country to the amount Of
$1,000, VIC shoi,id receive in return goods
that would be worth 5000 in this country
The North was not liz a condition to make
such barter, and this was equivalent to a
difference in the value Of the labor of that
portion of the United States as compared
with the South To remedy this disadvan-
tagc. protective Tariffs were enacted, and
forthwith the pricr of labor at the North
exceeded that at HE South, ard we were
shut ont trom our just advantages abroad.
And no.. i'll what manner do we barter
s2GG0 worth of our labor with Great Bri-
tain ; or What is the equivalent we receive
for forty bales OF cotton! The cotton reach
cs Liverpool, anI is sold for $4,000 and the
amount is invested in goods adapted to the
wants of the South. Aud it is invested in
these goods by q Northern importer, who
brings the goods to. New York, where the
Government cxacts about 40 per cent. in
duties. and 5 per cent had been previously
paid in charges. The account, then, stands
thus: 5 per cent off $4,000 leaves $500;
10 per cent. of S2lO0 duties are levied on
cost and clargcs) is $40. which taken from
$1,000, leaves $1,000. Next. the importer
sells these goods to the iobhcr in New York,
and decides that 10 per cent. profit over his
commission will compensate him for all his
trouble in he ping the South to do that
which she could very we'll do herself lie
accordingly sells the goods. adding his pro-
Its, 10 per cent. on S2l00. making *23l0,
OH which he charges 5 per cent, Sis. This
has to come oil The $1,000, and will leave
s045 rs the nett product which lie sends
you for your $1,000 worth Of cotton. And
with this sum you must go back and buy
your own goods at large profit, or North
ern goods at equally high prices.
This is merely ampltying the case of the
yard of cloth before quoted, and it excm-
plfps the sort of advantages derived by the
South from the operations Of the Federal
Government, and the manner in which
Soulhcrners manage their commercial.trans-
actions.
Tho fnct "a nnnuestionab1e that fba Sontb