New-York daily tribune., 1861-07-16

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after providing the means of s>"pPort Dg hie' ou
Of S5 an acre whereas the acre "' hi@'acou
setts contributes out OF gross prodL."s oi S9'
| and that of Lancashire, out Of 500 w,Nf'n
cabbages. and potatoes, peas. and strawberiTS
rai-ed for the supply of the neighboriog market.
Looking at all these facts. need we wonder at
the facility with which France and England,
whose farmers find market at their doors. OBJ
tain their present enormous revenutsf or. at the
difficulty experienced by Que various administra-
tons in obtaining tho comparatively trialDg sums
required for their support? We think not. The
f,rmor established protection until they had
created home market for their farmers, and
had thus given value to their land, and we have
been 20 uuwise as not TO follow their example.
British free trade tends to increase the tax of
transportation aud to destroy the value Of land
and thus tends to annihdate the power to Obtain
a revenue from direct taxation. How, then, does
1t affect those taxes on consumption on which we
have been accustomed to depend for the means Of
maintaining our National GOVERNMENT Does the
power to pay such taxes rise or fall ia the in
crease or decrease In the value Of land, and in
the power to contribute directly to the public
treasury Let us inquire.
The Lancashire acre is capable of yielding pro-
duets that will command in the market $40 in
gold, which sum its owner can readily exchange
in Manchester for 800 yards of cotton cloth.
The Massachusetts acre ia capable Of command
lug little less than half the quantity, or perhaps
600 yards. The Iowa acre gives busbel OF
corn that will exchange in Manchester for little
lees tban 20 yards, but when this latter has
reached bis door, he finds that be can obtain
IN exchange for another busbe little more
than single yard-gving him but sixty or seventy
yards in return for the labor employed upon an
acre Of bis land. Looking, now. at all these facts
we find that tax on consumption equal to half
cent per yard Of cloth might amount Ill
England to eight dollars an acres n Massachusetts,
to three dollars; aud in Iowa, to sixty cents. In
the two ffst Of these, such tax, heavily az it
might be felt, could be paid; whereas in the last
trivial it would TO be, IL could not. by
any possibility Be collected. TIE power to pay in.
direct taxes thus grows, or declines, with the
growth, or decline of the power to pay those
which are indirect The people who manage cur
Governmett annlhlate, a. far as ia their power,
the power to pay the one aud are then surprised
that they should find it ficut to collect suiicieLt
revenue by means Of the other
OF all the departments OF industry, there are
few whose proximity tends 80 much as do those
of glass aud iron, toward increase in the value
of land, and 10 tho power 10 contribute TO the
nH fba
ton manufacturers may send their products to
distant markets, but the coal, the ore. the lime
stone, and the sand must remain in the ground
useless aud inert, Unless tbe market for them be
close at hand. OF all, too there are none the
value OF whose products Is 30 exclusively the rep
rescntatisc OF the local labor employed in their
prcdu. n tho labor being in its turn the repre-
sentative Of the food consuiped by men employed
in the various operations required for extracting
from the earth tho crude materials, and ia 90
f1shionng them as to it them for human pur-
poses. II is safe to say that every dollars wortb
of non ond glass produced at home does more
toward giving value to land. aud toward enabling
our people TO contribute toward the public reye-
nue., than ia done by five, il not even ton, dollars
WoIbu VI Cotton kVOuaf uhu 1tti rhahbo ~ eag,
those two great commodities ave been spccinlly
selected by Mr.. Chase to bo in measure deprived
Of the moderate protection Afforded to them by
the morrill, ratiif--while he leaves cotton goods
tirely untouched. In doing this, he has certainly
made great mistake. and we cannot but hope
that he may reconsider the question: aud deter
mlne to rrtrace HE steps. Every dollar that lie
may obtain by means of reducing those branches
of manufacture must bo accompanied By. u
lose Of Eve in tho consequent dmioUtiOn O.:
the power of land aud labor to contribute TO the
public revenue. The larger the production OF
iron, cool, aud glass, the greater must be the
ability Of our whole people to purchase wooden
aud cotton goods. coffee, tea, aud aIk..
throughout the world the power to contribute
to the support of Government exists in the direct
ratio Of tue power Of the farruer to make his
exchanges in n neighbOring market, aud in the
inverse ratio Of his dependence upon foreign
markets.