New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-08-21
tariff, from which this statement is taken, pre-
sents the following noteworthy points,

tariff, from which this statement is taken, pre-
seuts the following noteworthy points:
1. All raw materials of foreign production used
in French manufactures, imported direct from
Great Britain. are made free of duty. and raw
materials of the kinds produced in France, such
as silk and wool, are also exempted. This pol
icy puts the French manufacturer upon an
equality with the British, as to materais which
France does not produce it also en-
braces those of native growth and proddc-
ton, on the clear ground that the best protec-
ton aud encouragement Of the home producers
of those articles is effected by fostering the do
mestic manufacture that gives them home
market. France understands the doctrine aud
policy Of protection better than any other nation
and n this treaty all that she has learned
since the days of Colbert, receives practical OK
preston for those who know how to read and
render it. Our Congressional ProtectiOnists have
been too much possessed with the notion that
tho higher the duties they could pile up, and the
more generally they could apply them, the better;
and our free.traders, mistakiDg defensive duties
for taxation, have helped them to perpetrate much
laundering mischief. For instance, the tariff OF
1876 charged 30 pei cent upon all foreign wool, en-
bracng both the finer and coarser qualities which
We do not grow, as we'll as the medium quality,
which We do. Our wooden manufacturers, thus
charged with 80 per cent more for their material
than their foreign rivals, were crushed, and their
establishments were generally changed into cotton
factories, for which they had the chief material
free of duty. The effect upon the woOl-growers
was just as disastrous. They could have no
foreign market for their raw wool, and the
greatly diminished demand at home checked their
enterprise and prOportionally lessened their
profits upon what was left to them. Even the
Morrill, tariff is sadly at fault here. 1t charges
three cents per ID upon all foreign wool, costing
more than 10 cents and not exceeding "a cents
per ID, aud Q cents upon all costing above
"A cents at the port of expectation. The French
Government makes no such Dlunders affecting at
once the agricultural, manufacturing, and COM
mercial interests Of the country, and equally in
furious to them ALL The Golden treaty is az
sound on this principle of protection as the
science and experience Of the French Cabinet
could make il.
III. In all the list of metals and manu-
features Of metals the French tariff has but one
article charged with an ad raiorem duty, every
other being assessed and levied by weight, meas
ure, or pumber-geuerally so many francs and
ceutnes upon the kilogramme, or 100 kilo-
grammes GEO ib avoirdupois). This is another
of the essential principles in the protection Of
domestic industry-being the only means Of
escaping the miscbiefs of und.r-yaluatiOns and
fluctuations in foreign prices, as well as the best
available method Of resisting combinations OF
foreign traders TO break down our manufacturers by
market eluts at ruinously low prices The Nor
rill tariff retains more than five hundred articles
charged with ad ralor,m duties; in the French
schedules there are not above fifty in an aggre-
gate Of $500 descriptions of merchandise; and
these are in all cases such as do not admit OF
being weighed, measured, or counted, with any
! tolerabe approximation to the value. half n
dozen excepted, upon which the duties are but
! little more than nominal. England aud the
Governments composing the Zollyerein, under
stand this point, aud observe it as carefully as
| the French Government. I'D roioTsms ara every
where repudated, except in the United States,
for the fraud and fuctuation inseperable from
4 them. l. .',ss,s;,'s'
III. The classification of textile fabrics
according to tie quantity and quality OF labor
employed upon them. and the adjustment OF
duties to the protection of the manufacturing
interest, is finely exc Dphhed here. The rates o.
duty on various articles Of the same genera
description, as well as upon different kinds, ar,
governed by the principal of protection, without
-ooard to values or 70 resource. The idea o
taxation is rigdly excluded; and that of prOtec
ton, simple and pure, is never yitiated BY it.
The French Government seems TO have the no.
tion that the people will be able to support il
revenue by internal taxes, and those heavy GUS
tom duties which are of the nature of excuses,
| aud can have no other effect than aiding the
exchequer. In accordance with this principle,
pig iron, which has much of the character OF
raw material in France, is put under lower
duty than We charge upon it, and railroad bars,
nearly two dollars per tun higher; sheet iron,
employing more labor than bar, is charged IL to
16 dollars higher per tun, and from 50 Al to
So 90 above the rates in the Morrill, tariff. On
steel of all kinds the duties are about equal to
ours, while the material for its manufacture is
decidedly lower. On cutlery, not otherwise pro-
vided for, it charges 20 per cent ad ratorem,
as sufficient defense against English competition.
On manufactures Of tin the duty is higher, while
| lead and manufactures of lead are Gre ATTY lower