New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-04-08
THE TARIFF On SUGAR.

We ind the following in DeBow's Review for
April which, BY the way, is an exceedingly interest
Ing number:
An intelligent friend in Louisiana asks rs The fol-
lowing question:
. That ,soa . 90 r.s ssd., e de .sgars ssa,
aid utsrssss = he q q lie s
Answer In the rapidly increasing consumption
q sugar, and the limited supply there Is reason 70
system Of ee trade for under the highest tariffs the
lowest prices have been reached but admitting the
reverse, Il might be argued that the planter would
lind more than compromising advantages IN the neces
sary influence Of free trade in reducing the onerous
taxation which the protective system levies upon
the Industry and wealth Of the country, and which
Is not by the amount that comes into the
Golfers d the Government. On this point our friend
will do well to study the able paper Of the Hon. W.
Boyce, Of South Carolina, in the Review for July,
1865.
A very satisfactory reply. We take it, all things
dispassonately weighed and considered with an eye
single to practical results that the sugar interests
would not be terribly damaged by repeal OF the
duties. The demand is SO rapidly charging and the
prospect that it will continue to augment sure,
that there is little probability any federal legislation,
whether favorable or nnfavorabe, would materially
affect the sugar culture either way. Free trade
might, for time, interfere with sugar-t might not
bring 30 high price in former seasons-but this
would be to very considerable extent csunter.hal
aRced by the beneficial results which would flow from
the opening Of ports to Unrestricted free trade
Besides, as is very suggestively remarked above
under the highest tariffs the lowest prices have
been reached !" and it is not straining legitimate de-
duction to premise that fair prices may be maintained
with no tariff 1t all. The laws Of supply and de-
mand have infinitely more to do with the rates which
great staples rule at than any and all things else
This is proposition. clear and ncontrovertible and
from ii we argue that all mertorious products afford
themselves the best other words stand
on their own bottom. OF course we are opposed to
repeal of the sugar dutes-the only Southern pro-
duct that reaps any advantage from the revenue
laws Of the Government this fact, nevertheless
does not in the slightest manner interfere with the
statement Of facts made in the quotation above, or
with what we have just observed ourselves.
Besides the sooner the sugar planters prepare for
repeal Of the tariff that article the better for them
selves 1t is bound to come OF, and before many
years at that This is certain as anything can be
liable to be affected by the action of the future It
would have been taken of years ago but for the fact
that the Northern and Northeastern protectionists
used it as cloak to obtain Southern support to their
odious system which puts millions and monsof dol
lars of Southern money annually into their bottomless
pockets. Now, however, they are becoming so strong
by the acquisition of new freeso States-one or two
more will probably come in at the next session Of
Congress they are talking about Increasing the
tariff on Northern products and taking it of of South
ern sugar! They have worn the veil Of hypocrisy
about long enough and when it has fully answered
their purposes, it will in or two sessions more
they will throw it aside altogether, and laugh derd
ingly and contemptuously at their dupes
Senator Wade, Of Ohio, the great Abolitionst,
said that the North the master and lord" Of the
South, and that the sooner she acknowledged the
supremacy Of her lord and master, and made the
best of bad bargain, the better it would be for her
Things point, with sad significance, towards realiza
ton Of this ilLomened prophecy.