Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-06-17
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NAszT1zas, Jans y, 1857.
eursvrrH: have Rad vita sOns saisrost a. q
progressed, the dissuasion bes8e@ sosr paper asa
the Pariot with regard to the DstribuiOn QUESTION
and, in eonnestOn with it, that Of the Tariff which
last being question in Rhih have always fsls
great interest havs eonalndsd to give aone hints
on the subject Is an answer to the absurd assertion
that the tax tariff on imported goods 6 paid al.
together By the rioh and that the peer msa Is net
Interested Ia it in aay say
Having bsen engaged for several years in tbs Il.
rest importation Of ell fOfsign goods in eur line Of
business, many Of which enter into every day son.
sumption, have thought Il might be useful to give
yOus PLATA statement Of facts. which every man ia
Tennessee can understand. On nearly all sur goods
which are Of foreign manufacture. We pay to the
United States Government duty of 30 per cent On
the original oOst in Europe. This We pay in gold;
and In estimating the cout Of foreign hardware we
always add the so per cent fer duty, and thereby
make 1t part Of the cost Of the goods.
Probably it win surprise the Patriot to tell him
that farmer does not plough bis ground in Tonnes
see to make his crop but what he uses foreign
trace chain and Of every chain he uses, whether
on his plough, his wagon, or any thing else. as
ser that not one per cent Of the chains used in Ten
nessee during the last ten years have been made
in the Unitod States. And So Of hoes another
item which the farmer must have to cultivate his
crop. 1 estimate that about oae-e,ghh are made in
this country, in the blacksmith shops, the other
ssBsa-siqbts are imported, and the consumer pays
the duty. So Of shot guns; how many men in Ten
nessee are too poor to own shot gun, pocket
knife or the knives and forks with which he eats his
meals? Not ons shot gun Of American make is now
sold in Tennessee. OF pocket knives and table
cutlery none are made here, except the nsr quail
iliss, such as erich men" uss. The medium and
lower grades are entirely Of foreign Importation:
and so on, with dozen items which can name in
my business alone, which enter into daily use and
consumption on the bumblsst farm in the State
And when you come to speak of the mechanics,
the case is even stronger. Not one blacksmith in
hundred in Tennessee but hammers his foreign steel
on foreign anvil, with = foreign hammer, and
screws 1t up in foreign vice, to smooth of with
foreign file.
And SO Of all other mechanical trades. A larg,
proportion Of the tools and materials used in nearly
all trades are of foreign manufacture.
On all these goods We pay to the government
duty or tax Of 80 per cent, with some few unimpOr
tant exceptions; or, to make the case 50 plain tina
all your readers can understand It: suppose ou
Government, instead Of collecting the duty on thes
goods from the importer had collectors all tn
country to go around once year and demand iron
the farmer his 30 per cent on all the chains an
hoes the knives and forks other items Of fOreig
manufacture he had bought during the year; o
from the blacksmith his 30 per cent on all the east
shear and German steel he had used and on all tn
tools, such as his anvil and vice, his hammer an
his files, which he had bought during this year.
In such case as this hsW long do you suppose
high tariff would stand Is an excuse for givin
away the public lands their proceeds to the States
But although this tax or tariff is not brought HON
to the farmer or mechanic in the way have stated
still it is one and the same thing. he PAYS Tn
TAX; the importer puts it the cost Of the artic
imported, and the "PoOy maa," If you please, psy
it actually, although it is presumsble he does N
know it, and if he resds only the Patrol, HI xEvE
WILL Yours, IMPORTER.