Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1858-12-28
The Treasury Report and the Tariff.

lue urSb lHluB buaI stilhcS HtIeutlou AZ t"S 'e
cent Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, Is
The direct antagonism between Mr.. Cobb's views
upon the the important question of the tariff, and
those presented by tie President in his annual
Message. TheSecretar5, clinging with unyield
ing tenacity to the "ad oalorem" doctrine, ar
CUES at learned length in its favor and reiterates
the stale and often retuted dogmas against spe-
cihc duties aud discrimination in favor OF nome
The President, on tue other hand,
with bolduess and independence as becoming
to his high position, as the sentiments are con-
sistent with his political principles and past con-
duct, recommends specific duties and discrm-
nations in favor of American interests. "Un-
der which King" the majority of the Democra-
cy will enroll themselves is yet to be seen.-
Whether liking Cotton" with his chivalrous and
high toned subjects from the eite plains OF the
South, will be able successfully to withstand the
furious onset of the serred hosts led from the
dark mountains of the "Key stone" State Dy MS
sooty majesty, liking Iron," is an event con-
cealed in the future, which we are not prophets
enough to foretel. Neither is it our province
to undertake to compose such strltes." WHAT
ever may be the result of the stricken he!d
the country may find some consolation IN the re-
Election that it is scarcely possible for Democrat
ic ingenuity to devise worse tariff than that Of
1857. The great object of its trainers was that
it should afford no protection to American INDUS
try, and its practical operation demonstrate:
that it yields no revenuei
! We rejoice, however, that the President has
so far thrown off the trsmmels OF party and dis
regarded the teachings OF platforms, as in pa
per so grave and formal as his annual Message
to recognize the fact that the mechanical, manu-
featuring and agricultural interests of the eoun
try are worthy of and entitled to receive some
consideration at the hands of Congress in Their
efforts to re,adjust the tariff.
But to return to Secretary Cobb's Report
! His entire argument on the tariff is predlcatet
on the thread bare error that the price OF all ar
ticles of foreign growth or manufacturers lncreas
ed to the consumer by the amount OF the dut!
imposed on them, upon their importation into
the country. This doctrine is reiterated IRON
day to day by the advocates OF free trade IN the
face of the conceded, because iudisputable
fact, that all articles OF home manufacture which
have been steadily protected have regularly fall
en- in price. The effect of protection to home
manufactures as illustrated in the history OF oul
country is, that in very large number OF cases
the foreign producer or manufacturer pays lhs
entire duty, or in other words he is compelled
TO sell the products OF his skill and industry &c
the importer at reduced prices; aud where the
foreign producer does not pay all the duty IL Ii
divided between him and the consumer In eVei
varying proportions. Thus the tobacco growers
| of Maryland and Virginia are compelled to sell
their crops at prices much below what they
would otherwise get, but for the enormous du'
ties imposed upon 1.-The weed by England anu
France and some other countries OF Europe
That the tobacco growers were well convinced
of this is shown by the fact that they were few
wears ago holding Conventions IN order to In
duoe our Government to use its influence win
the rulers of foreign countries to have the duties
on their great staple reduced OF repealed No
man doubts that repeal or reduction ofthe duties
imposed by England and France on tobacco
would have the effect of Immediately raising Its
price in the hands of the producer.
All the eloquence aud ingenuity of all the Tree
trade members of Congress, backed BY Secre'
tsry Cobb, would be insufficient to convince
single farmer of this county that the tariff iof
freight imposed upon his flour by the Railroad,
for transportation to Richmond, is paid by the
consumer 10 that city and not by himself; or II
the Railroad could carry it for nothing that he
would not get seventy cents more per barrel Tor
! il than he does now. We have introduced this
bomely illustration to show that all the charges
of getting an article to the market where it is
consumed, does not necessarily enter into and
constitute part of its price to the consumer.
THE EVENING OF LIFE; or Light and Comfort
amidst the Shadows of Declining Yeats, by
Rev. jeremiah Chaplin, D. D. Boston, Gould
L. Lincoln.
This is new and enlarged edition OF an In
teresting and valuable work, being u compilation
of many good things, written by good men, and
designed to throw some CLEANS Of sunshine upon
the pathway of those whose steps are fastening