The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-12-09

unbounded resources, will, within the period
of another year, restore state ofwholesome
industry aud trade Capital has again ac-
cumuated ia our large cities, the rate of in
terest is there !, cry low confidence is grad
ually reviving, and so soon as it is discov-
cred that this capital can be profitably en-
pfoyed in commercial and manufacturing
enterprises, and in the construction of
railroads, and other works of publicand pri-
vate Improvements, prosperity will again
smile throughout the land 1t is vain, how
ever, to disguise the fact from ourselves,
that speculative initiation of our currency
without corresponding imitation in other
countries, whose manufactures come into
competition with our own, must ever pro-
duce disastrous results to our domestic man
ufactures. No tariff short of absolute pro-
hibition can prevent these evil consequences.
In connection with this subject it is proper
to refer to our financial condition. The
same causes which have produced pecuniary
distress throughout the country have so re-
duced the amount of Imports from foreign
countries that the revenue has proved mad
equate to meet the necessary expenses of
the government. To supply the deficiency,
Congress, by the act of the 23d December,
1851, authorized the issue of s., 900, 900
of treasury notes and this proving made
quate, it authorized, by the act of June l4th,
1858, a loan of $40, 100000, to be applied
to the payment of appropriations made by
law No statesman would advise that we
should go on increasing the national debt to
meet the ordinary expenses of the govern
mcnt. This would be a most ruineus poll
cy. 1t would be ruinous to continue to bor-
row besides, it may be proper to observe
that the incidental protection thus afforded
by revenue tariff would at the present ma
| ment, TO some extent, increase the confidence
of the manufacturing interests and give a
fresh impulse to our reviving business. To
this surely no person will object. In re-
gard to the mode of assessing and collecting
duties under strictly revenue tariff, | have
long entertained and often expressed the
opinion that sound policyrequires this should
be done by specific duties in cases to which
these can be properly applied They are
| we'll adopted to commodities, which are us
| ually sold by weight or by measure, and
| which, from their nature, are of nearly
equal value. Such, for example, are the
articles ofircn of different classes, raw sugar
and foreign wines and spirits.
In my deliberate judgment, specific du-
| ties are the best, if not the only means Of
securing the revenue against false and fraud
| ulent invoices, and such has been the prac-
| tice adopted for this purpose by other COM
mercial nations. Besides, specific duties
| would afford to the American manufacturer
the incidental advantages to which he is
fairly entitled. Under a revenue tariff the
specific system is a sliding scale, to his dis
Advantage under it, when prices are high
and business prosperous, the duties rise in
amount, when he least requires their aid
| On the contrary, when prices fall, and he is
struggling against adversely, the duties are
| diminished in the same proportion, greatly
to his injury. Neither would there BE-
danger that higher rate of duty than that
intended by Congress should be levied il
the form of specific duties. 1t would be
easy to ascertain the average value of any
| imported article for aseries of years, and in.
stead of subjecting it to an ad valorem duty
at certain rate per centum, to substitute IL
its place an equivalent specific. By such al
arrangement the consumer would not be in.
| jured. 1t is true he might have to pay
little more duty on a given article in one
| year, but if SO, he would pay little less il
another, ana in a series of years these wOulC
counterbalance each other, and amount t.
the same thing. So far as his interest il
concerned, the Inconvenience would be tri
fling when contrasted with the additional Sc
curity thus afforded against frauds upon thu
revenue, in which every consumer is direct
ly interested. l have thrown out these sug
gestions as the fruit Of my own observation
to which Congress, in its better judgment
will give such weight as it may justly de
serve.
In relation to the transit route across tn
isthmus, the President say the government
has no objection to demand for fair com
pensation, but insists that hereafter the rout
shall not be closed by an arbitrary decree 0
the government of Nicaragua. He recon
mends Congress to pass a law, authorizin.
him to employ force to prevent the obstruc
ton of closing of the transit by lawless vic
lence. A similar necessity exists for tn
protection of the Panama and Tehuantepe
routes.