Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-04


ment by duties on imported merchandise,
but insist that il is neither expedicnt nor cen
stitutional to impose any such duties on I'M
ports but for purposes of revenue. and that
no discrimination is admissible with a view to
the protection of domestic manufactuT, s.
But there is still another class of political eco
nomists, or rather of practical business men.
in this country, who hold the opposite aO
these doctrines; who hold that the CONNER
cial power given to Congress by the Consti-
tuition was intented to beexcercised not mere
" to countervail the commercial policy Of
other nations, but to establish commercial
policy of our own, founded upon the partGu-
lar circumstances in the condition of our own
country; such policy as would lead, in the
first place. to the production within our own
limits, "a far practicable, of all commodities
of first necessity to our defence in time of
war, and our subsistence both in time of peace
and war, that being an essential condition OF
independence; such policy as, in the next
place, would toe calculated to develop every
latent or neglected resource of the country.
and call into action and stimulate every NOR
al and physical element of productive indus
try to the highest point of attainable skilland
excellence.
How the foreign commerce of the country,
small as it is in value compared with in
ternal trade and production, if left free from
affect the latter and the greater interest,
may be shown by few facts and considera-
tons.
No great arrangement or fuctuation in
the currency of the country nor any CONNER
cial revulson has ever been brought about
but in conneXion with excessive importations
of foreign products. There may be specula-
ton and overtrading to a considerable extent
at home, the circulation may be occasionally
Inpp SaH hax Cafa ITnI lint hA GRO
internal machine production is a selt-adjust-
ing one if left to its normal operation. Those
who speculate widely and over-trade suffer:
but there is no general crash or stoppage OF
business, unless there be an explosion from
abroad. Take the example of the revulsion
of 1887, one of the most ruinous the country
has ever passed through. The value OF the
imports of foreign merchandise in 1884 was.
in round numbers $l26 000,000j in 1886 they
rose to $3.50 900, 900; showing an increase in
two years of sos 100000. No wonder that in
1887 there was general crash. Many
ingenious suggestions have been made to
relieve foreign commerce from any RESPONSE
bility for the revulsion of that year; but there
stands the fact of an increase in imported
goods Of fifty per cent. in two years. Let us
now see how the case stands in relation to
the recent revulsion. In the year ending
30th June, 1855, the imports WIRE, in round
y
30th June, 1857, they rose to S36O.0O0 600;
showieg an Increase in two years of S14S, 600
900. Is il. therefore. wonderful that general
crash followed this enormous violation Of the
laws of regular trade? When it is considered
how important il is TO the active and SUCCESS
ful prosecution of all the arts of production
TO maintain a currency at once sound, steady,
and abundant, and that it is impossible TO
maintain such Il currency without an adequate
supply at all times of the precious metals, we
may be able to form some estimate Of the
extent of the injuries inflicted upon the
country by an ill-regulated foreign commerce;
draining II Of those Indispensable commodities
or causing them to be boarded in banks or
private Golfers, forcing n rapid contraction OF
the circulating medium, superinducing fall
of prices. depreciation of property ruinous
to debtors, a general loss of confidence and
destruction of credit. the utter prostration of
many impo tlnt branches Of individual enter
prise, and the depression of all. But, how
ever grievous the consequences of these
occasional reVulsions TO the general
prosperity, they sink into comparative
insignitcance when cOntrasted with the
permanent obstacles interposed by an i'll
regulated aud inadequately restricted foreign
commerce to the full development of the in
dustrial resource of the country. The native
energies of the people will in few years
commercial revulsiou; but they can never be
displayed in their full proportions under the
perpetual incubus of an essentially vicious
and injurious commercial policy.
l have before stated that the value of
foreign products in 1857 must have been
$3.50, 900 900, instead of being no more than
the S360.000,0 900, as shown by the custom
house accounts. | found this conclusion
upon these facts and circumstances. The
value of the products exported in the year
1857 at the place of export or shipment was,
in round numbers, 1852 600, 900; while the
value of the imports at the place of export
from the country where produced was, i'll
round numbers, only $3.50 900, 900. Neither
the Increased value of the exports in the
foreign market, the interest on the capital
invested by the merchant, nor the profits
upon the inward adventures, or the wages of
mercantile industry are represented in the
amount of imports; and it not being so re-
presented where it should regularly appear,
it would seem that the foreign trade of this
country is carried on without any profit or
rather at loss. American merchants do not
engage in foreign trade on such terms. How
different the returns of the British foreign
commerce! 1t appears from the accounts re-
turned to Parliament of the foreign trade
of the United Kingdom for the year 1856 that
the declared or real value OF the British and
Irish exports was ell5.S90, S57, or 1919 .454.-
2s5; while the declared value of the imports
of the United Kingdom, for the same year,
were G172. 654,S23, equivalent to 1868 PA
lis. and showing an excess of imports over
exports of more than forty per cent. after de-
Quoting e23 0000 900 of imports exported TO
foreign countries. On the same authority
am authorized to state that the excess of i'm
ports over exports. in series of years has
averaged forty per cent. If the rate of re-
turns on foreign trade carried on by American
merchants should be equal to that of the
British merchantS-and | cannot see why it
should not be-then the value at the port of
delivery of the foreign merchandise imported
into this country in the year ending the 3Oth
OF June, 1857, should be stated at S505 246.-
1917. Allowing similar rate of increase in
the annual, amount of importations stated in
the Treasury report, il will result that in the
last ten years $500, 100000, or nearly one
thousand million dollars worth of foreign
products have been imported into the United
States more than appears in the custOm-hOuse
returns or in the Treasury reports; and in the
same time the frauds upon the revenue must
have exceeded one hundred and fifty million
dollars an amount sufficient to construct
railway to the Pacific. The people of the
country. not even the President himself nor
the officers of the Government, who have
more particular interest in the subject than
others have no means of knowing the
amount of the foreign merchandise brought
into the country at any time. Nothing could
be more conclusive than this extraordinary
deficiency of information upon so importanta
subject, that our whole commercial system
Is essentially blind, deceptive, and founded
upon false principles.
In the absence Of all reliable custom house
returns, showing the amount of our import
trade, and when credit enters so largely into
all mercantile operations, il is easy TO see how
the country may become extensively involved
by over-trading aud the currency and the
whole machinery Of production suddealy dis
ordered without any previous warning; espe-
cially when the state of foreign exchange Is
Cd as any Indication eifher "a vnrn HE