New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-09-15

|
1ne prejudice is honest; bus 1t Is fraud upon
'as popular understanding BY s.he propassDdists
OF iree-trade doctrines. Francs I'D Germany,
py tneir systems Of import duties, ms nothing
else or other than the defeNse of c~ir a.. uestio
industries against invasion BY foreign srsae,u,
ana tDey therefore adapt the charges in eyerR
case u the necessities of their own ipfnsttisr
conditions, excluding ihe idea Of taxation. and
holding the resulting revenue in the posi.sa, -
On ineident or an accident under she ruling pol-
icy of protection.
In tbs ZOlverein. our rule Of direct ratio
of duties to values is wholly and everywhere IT,
nOred. One example taken from the list we
have given may Suffice for it illustrates tho pol.
icy of the whole system in this respect. We
will quote it exactly from the official table:
Cotton textiles, unnixed or mixed with lnsp.
Gas also Hosiery and small ware, either Of
cotton alone, or mixed with wool, iacs, lawn,
&c., l centner (Il04 lbs. syeirdnpoh), 80
"Thalers," equal 10 $33 60 American msney.
Now centner of shifting worth cents per
yard, will measure 457 yards. making the duty
charged amount to 6a cents per yard, which 10
worth "a cents per yard, upon the ike estimate,
is found to pay ~ cents duty per yard, which
is 29d per cent cd ralorem; printed cotton.
worth 36 cents, pays only 50 cents per yard,
| which reduces the ad uatorem rate to 144 per
cent, aud very fine printed cotton, worth GO
cents per yard, pays 5 cents per yard, which 10
! but 81 per cent. al ratOrem. Here the duties
| are in an inverse ratio to values. The reassn
| being that, at the time the tariff was made, ths
| countries in the Customs Union were not ad-
yanced in the manufacture Of cottons to the iasf
qualiries these, therefore they put under light
| duties, and threw the defensive burden upon
those qualities which they were prepared to un-
dertake, expecting to find the lighter rates sde-
quate ss they should approach their manufacture.
Eighty -four per cent. is prohIbtory to people ss
even very early stage of manufacturing ability,
and 291, 14i and a., looking forward along thd
route Of progressive Improvement in skill, capital.
machinery, and popular enterprise, put into spe-
ciic form. and rendered permanent by interna-
tionsl treaties, and so, guarded from oil change
and fear of change, is well-managed protective
system. 1t throws q clear cross-llght upon the
principle that we look for in vain through the
twenty two general tariffs that We have had IN
the last seventy two years But let it be not ced that
the Germans put light duties upon those 6ne
I so,sd. which they could not manufacture cheaply
IN 1853. yrhen their rates of duty were last nd
usted, and wess unwilling to tax with heavy
duties in advance Of tnsJir capsbility to produce
them, while the French nearly or quite exempt
| them from duties, because they can keep their
OWE market, in spite of competition, neither
| of them intending to allow taxation to tsks the
place Of protection, or to carry it beyond tn
point OF an excise upon internal consumption.
The true rendering of both systems is, that ali
the rates of duty in them fall into two classes
one, the protective, pure aud simpIe the other.
the equivalent of the excise or internal tax upon
consumption, in harmony with their general sys-
tens of internal taxation, aud only so far and
for this reason looking to revenue.
The French tariff is distinguished for the minute
ness and conpe1ity of its cassfcations of articles
of the same general description, in the instance
of "a classes OF linens, and 1i0 qualities of cotton
yarns, under as many different rates Of duty. This
precision of computation exactly suits the state OF
the productive art in France; while the Zolyerein,
in the infancy of the manufactures which it has to
guard boldly throws every quality OF goods OF the
same general description, without regard TO cost,
into a single category with one rate of duty upon
the hundred weight (Prussian) for the whole,
though the range be from cotton canvass up to the
finest hosiery and laces. But it even passes over
all ths boundaries of classification to attain the snno
ends, in its one rate of duties upon the hundred
weight of all articles falling within the general
terms--hardware, ironmOngery and fancy goods.
which bring manufactures of the metals, ladies'
fans, perfumery in vials, watches, house-clockss
wax pearls, wigs umbrellas sewing needles, articles
ornamented with ivory enamel. or mother OF pearl,
with an endless variety of such like and unlike
articles into single description, and levies upon
them all alike, $33 60 per centner or 80 cents per
pound.
The free list Of the Zollyerein gives its testi-
mOny to the same purport as the dutied sched-
ules, and as unequlvocaly. AL the ores of met
ale, all the earths for pottery, all the raw mate
rsls of textile fabrics, all dyewOOds and colorng
material. are exempt from duty; and, what in
most remarkable, the raw materials OF native
growth and production are protested BY putting
their kinds Of foreign production into the tree
list. Germany, before the date of the Berlin and
Milan DEGREES, which bockaded Continental Eu-
rspe from 1906 till 1913, made the linens OF COM
merce for the worlds markets. The ZoDseren
fosters this branch of industry by exemptiug raw
fax add hemp from import duties, and, in like
manner, the wool growers of Saxony are secured