Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1863-03-26
THE CURRENCY AND THE RATE OF IMPosTs

DcmOci01o nioJoiiy III cnC PoPuASA SA~NSN " saAS
next Congress- predicts that that majority will at
tempt to make certain alterations in the present
tariff, with view of bringing it into closer con-
formity with the ideas of :" free trade" 1t avows
the opinion that the Democratic party is now
divided into two factions" the one consisting of
"Peace Democrats" and the other of "War Demo
Gratis" But both of these divisions will, it thinks,
unite in supporting policy which looks to re-
ducton Of the existing rate of imp: ststhe "Peace
Democrats" because " animated by the hope that,
by diminishing the revenue from imports, they will
embarrass the Treasury and contribute to national
while the War Democrats, controlled by the old
dogmas of the party, probably really think that the
tariff is oppressive and should be repealed to the
end that the revenue from imports, under wiser
and more generous system, may be increased"
1t is in view Of such probable concert of action on
the part Of these two wings that the Chicago Tri-
bune says:
" Both are wrong. The tariff Is not question that
stands by itself The proper regulation OF the scale OF du
ties depends upon certain facts which lie behind the trade
and the statistics Of manufacturers and these
relate to the volume Of paper money and the facility with
which that volume may be increased diminished Hence
until legislators shall agree to sliding scale of the Duties
which shall 60 up the amount of bank paper increases
and go down that amount decreases tariff legislation
the merest charatanry upon which proessed statesmen
ventured. And single illustration will prove what
say Admit that 10 time Of peace, iron master Of
Pennsylvania at work when the bank ssues two hun
dred millions Of dollars under tariff Of twenty per cent
ad valorem, ia Of moderate profits what will be his
condition. when uner an increase Of one hundred millions
In the volume OF paper wages rent cost Of material and
substance thirty per cent The mar
gin of profit is cut off The duties which served as mode
rate but sufficient protection useless; aud he is
PEELED either to put out his fires submit to bankruptcy
as the price of the attempt to do business at loss"
We do not venture any predictions as to what
the Democratic party may undertake to do in the
next Congress conditions of prediction not
seeming, in our judgment, to be sufficiently solid
to authorize, at this early date, any very trust
worthy conclusions. But we have no doubt that
the reasoning of our contemporary is sound when
it argues that the tariff is not question that
stands by itself, but is to be viewed in its relations
to the currency. We think, however, that the
Chicago Journal looks at only one side of the ques
ton when it considers the effect of an increased
volume of currency only in its tendency diminish
the profits of manufacturers. The alternate expan-
sion and contraction of the currency in which du-
ties are paid tend to raise or to lower the actual
rate Of those duties; or if, as under our existing
revenue regulations, the duties are paid in me-
dunn which has a changing value as compared
with the popular currency it is obvious that the
fixed rate of the duties is really converted into
sliding scale, bearing more or less heavily on i'm
porters.
Like our Chicago contemporary, we have before
adverted to the fact, often dsregarded BY pub
lie men, that SO intimate and necessary is the con-
nexion between the tariff rates imposed by Con-
gress and the existing state of the currency Of the
country, that the former should never be regulated
or readjusted unless with particular and primary
reference to the condition of the latter at the time
any such changes made 1t must be apparent
to any rejecting mind that, with currency con-
stanty subject to alternate expansions and contrac
tions, it is equally unsound and hazardous to re-
model the schedules and rates of our tariff laws
with simple regard to their arithmetical reduction
or increase as compared with those of preceding
system; for, in the mean time, the expansion or
contraction of the currency may have introduced
the most important elements into the calculations
which snoulu DC mdoe In OIuST 10 estlmate WIN
any probability the expediency or probable effect
of each particular modification. If the circulating
medium of the country we're q stable quantity, or
even if the rate of its expansion were capable Of
asccrtainment and limitation, it might be prudent
to revise and regulate revenue laws by simple
comparison of the results and workings of the poll
cy which it was proposed to alter and amend but,
80 long as that medium remains variable and un-
known quantity or element in the account, any
such changes become doubly dangerous if made
without to the contemporary condition of the
monetary affairs.
From this view it naturally follows that the same
legislative power which is alone competent to regu
late the revenue system of the country should also
be invested with sole authority over the national
currency, since that power cannot be intelligeptly
or safely exercised over the fvrmer unless the lat
ter be equally subject to supervision and control
And hence the wisdom which marked the conduct
of the trainers of the Constitution, who 10 the same
section of that instrument, have ordained that Con-
gress, on the one hand, shall have p1wer "to lay
and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and cxciscs,'
and "to regulate commerce with foreign nations"
and on the other, correlative with these grants
of jurisdiction, has further delegated to the sam