The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1857-01-23
The DUTY on Sugar,

The large accumulation Of the surplus rev
cnnc III the National treasury, which promises
hy the close "f the iiscnl year the Both June,
1853, t" amount :63,O00,ooO, la. Impressed
upon all parties tl" necessity of reducing the
duties upon im,nr,s. 70 elect tina, object,
ri,hrrhy increasing The number "f articles up.
on the free list, or hy lcsscnug the per ccntagc
upon dutiRblc articles, various schemes haze
been introduced into Consrcs, l.y Mrss,s. Camp
hell, LctclIcr and B"ycr. There is a disposition,
it i. said, upon the part of the mcmhcrs t"
take some decided action during tho present
session, and Mt least TO effect a partial rc,luc,
ti"n, even though an entire rratiu.tn,en. be
no, made. Eut whilst the Northern manufuc
turcrs are forced by necessity to yield SOME
thing, nothing more clearly shows their grasp.
ing. selfish and inconsistent policy thnn tho
clamor which has been raised by the Tribune,
aud other leading organs for the nLoli
'on Of the thirty per cent duty upon sugar.
1t would bc difficult to show upon what
principle it ia proper I" impose u duty upon
imported cotton arL woo,n Goods, for tn"
boli>h the duty Will = designed to protect
tnc SiiGhf-EroWin1 - - I. afiouS pfcicNts
have been assigned, l,;;' they amount to no
more at last than that the interest to u" protc,.
ted in the one ease i, >"rthcrn. and in the 9th.
or Southern slave lahor; anil that the North is
disposed t." support a tariff SO long as it bcnc.
fits them, and no longer.
|, il alleged that that the production of su
gar at the South is in depressed state that
=, l,o l:,;. A..
whole country for tn" purpose Of rrolonring II
sickly existence t" this branch "f industry
;" far, however, is this from being the case
that it appears that during the past ten Years
the Louisiana sugar crop has averaged tw"
hundred and sixty thousand hogshcnls, equal
t" 2>6 ,00o, 900 pounds; which is more than one
third of the total amount consumed in the Uni
ted States The sugar crop has been subject to
gr,,a, tluctuation yet it has rapidly increased
In 1910 the crop WAS only cighty.scven thou
sand hu.sheads. Owing to succession nf bad
harvc~ts, and the deterioration Of the cane
the produce has decreased since. until the crop.
of the last year amounts to onl ly one hundred
THOUSAND h"gshcads. But as measures have
been taken TO obtain fresh supply Of cane
with an average season, it is probable that the
production will recover from the late .prrs
SION This ut least is 40 time to add to the
depression by making imported sugar duty
free.
Again it is sail, that at the present high rri-
ccs, tie sugar crop needs no protection. If
this were true, is it to be expected that the
gacions planters vii! go largely into the bnsi.
ness, with the knowledge that by 80 doing they
will reduce the prices to destroy their
profitsl How long arc the present high prices
to continued Here, az in every other branch
of industry, the price depends upon the ratio
between the demand and the supply. The
large crop Of lS5:; brought down the prices So
low that the consumption has enormously in
creased. The production in the meantime has
been checked by the decline in rric. and the
the unfavorable harvests. The consumption
still increasing, the prices must still increase,
until, by the stimulus given to production, and
the check to consumption, the supply and de-
nnnd arc c1nalizcd. The present high prices
cannot be long naint aincl and but for the
fnlurc of the Louisiana crol's would probably
have declined before this.
1t is supposed that the abolition Of the duty
of 30 per cent, would lead to reduction of
the price to that extent. But should that meas
ure put an end to the production of the 1885,
100000 pounds of Louisiana sugar, md We
should be thrown upon foreign countries for
our supply. the prices would be greatly cn-
hanccd. Cuba charges All export duty on SUI
gar, which is regulated by the prices here.
AS long as we have dutes upon imported
cotton, WOODEN. iron. coal &C., there is no rca-
son that sugar, the only Southern product
which is protected should not enjoy the bcnc-
fit Of the tariff subject Of course to an equit-
able reduction for the purpose of diminishing
the revenue.