Smyrna times., 1857-11-04
The Tariff and the Currency.
THEIR MUTUAL DEPENDENCE.

81 have seen:
== "lt is generally supposed that the impo
oy trade OF the country can be regulated by tar
"' alone. This idea is fallacious. In order tn;
law of the kind may be effectual in it's oper,
" ton, whether for purposes of revenue or prt
lection, or for both together, it is indispensable
that the tariff and the currency should be s
.st adjusted as to act harmoniously. An exansina
- ton OF the statistics of our finance and com
f. merce for long series of years ast,will show
that contraction of paper circulation has lin
tied lmportations under low tariff, while OF
u the other hand, an expansion of that kind O.
u money has increased our imports in spite of q
II high tariff. The manner in which this effect
Is produced is sufficiently obvious In the first
r place. an inflated currency, caused by excessive
b bank issues, causes, simultaneously with IA
clIlty OF consumption, an advance of prices
\ This fact naturally occasions an influx of TO-
E reign goods. The supply is stimulated by de-
, mand' while the repressive influence Of Gus
toms tax is counterbalanced by the more than
equivalent appreciation in the market value of
the imported merchandise.
In the second place, the sounder and hiober
standard value of the currency of the exporting
country, as compared with ours, tends most
powerfully to discourage our own productive
interests by securing monopoly of the home
market to the foreign producer. 1t will be
borne In mind here, that we paw for all import.
ed goods III specie. This being so. il is mani.
Test that, with a mixed currency, having great
redundancy of paper, causing an extrayarant
lhhatlon OF prices, we buy the manufactures of
Europe, as rated by currency that is worth.
Intrlnslcally, much less than the one with which
we pay for them. In other words, we purchase
ut exaggerated paper prices and settle the bills |
IN gold and silver. The consequence is. that |
goods which are bought for one paper dollar. |
cost us one dollar in gold, the price being mea- !
sured Oy the paper money of the United States.
and payment exacted in the specie funds of the
country. BY this perncious course of trade.
we are not only continually paying three or
tour prices for every foreign product we con-
S"ihe' but are being drained perpetually of the
only valuable part of our currency.
1T would be bad enough if the mischief
stopped here. But it goes further. While the
precious metals regulate the value of our com.
merclaI dealings with the world and an inordi-
nateiy inflated paper currency governs those
among ourselves, cur country will be most
attractive market for foreign manufacturers TO
sell IN, but wretchedly bad one for the sale ofI
our own fabrics. The domestic manufacturer
has, obviously, at least two formidable disod.
'aAtaGes 10 contend against in his struggle with
the foreign manufacturer for possession of the
American market. Firstly, he kas to pay for {
'aDor al rate OF wages estimated by curren- !
" greatly deprecated below that Of Europe,
with whose manufactures be has TO connate; :
and secondly, he is obliged to sell his products 4
u the nome market for prices nonnaly equal, Il
II least to those charged by his competitor.
"hlle accepting, under compulsion, a currency
TWO or three times less valuable in fact. Than
mat received by the foreign producer That is
o say, while it costs the capitalist in Mancbcs. "
er certain price in English curreucy, to pro.
luce yard of cloth, it costs the capitalist in
Massachusetts three times that sum, in Ameri-
ian currency. to make the same piece of cloth
uti IN addition to this inequality in the cost of :,
PRODUCTION, the New England man must take -
ne paper dollar for the product for which the
Manchester man is paid, in the same market a.
ne gold dollar. With these facts before ne. il -
er'alnly needs no argument to show that a :.
arm, OF the most prohlbitory character, can -
ford no ettectual protection to domestic MANN
lc;urlng industry, SO long as Europe has a al
urrency maintained at a specie standard, and n
he United States one that is enormously de- be
reclated below that standard by a redundant NJ
aper circulation. 1t is very certain that We to
nay make what currency we please Cor our OF
elves, but we cannot make it for the world ec
And herein lies the fatal operation of the thng fl
-he cost we produce at, and the price we sell N
t. are hctitiously inflated, as compared with of
he foreign measure of Values and hence we si
re undersold at home, and driven out of the
larkets abroad, by foreign competitors. In
ountry where metallic currency has been So III
lr superseded as to have ceased to regulate do. o.
iestlc valuations, the substituted currency be- De
ONES, In effect, the controlling standard, for "
he place, of commercial exchanges. u
" But as.this is only of local application, it is y"
pparent that, as between the community hay ''
1g such an anomalous currency, and other d
ommunities, specie standard of values must
overn in all reciprocal transactions. This be. N
ng So 1t appears that thatfor which we, with gi
ur paper money, must demand three dollars. Sc
Stlmated by American prices, Great Britain va
nay sell for one dollar, and yet, being paid in ne
aper or its specie equivalent, she will, in re. G
lity' receive fully as much at her price, in tn
DIN, as we will receive at our price, in Anreri.
an bank bills. ''H ...'' -
I'm this view of the matter then, it seems :,
ery clear that until our financial system is re- n
nrfned. il will he nffarlu unir "a a.. 81. 49, W