New-York daily tribune., 1866-02-19
INITIATION FALLACIES.

lows:
I've know that at some time we must resume specie
payment butu9on the theory that this resumption nns
be immediate thus depriying the American manuiae
turer of the benefit OF the premium on gold, how can
We avoid tie conelusion-n 1 think-that we
either must have:
81. a higher Tariff than we now have or
az. We must repeal the Internal Revenue act; or
'J. Close up all the American manufactures ana
thus give foreigners all the market.
1.-The reason arrive at this conclusion is because
tbe Tax Commissioner Report represents beyond
doubt that the Excise Tax now levied ana coeeteu
bears heavier on the American manufacturers than the
Tariff does on our English competitors even with seid
at 50 per cent premium.
Now if this be the proper conclusion would 1t not
bc better to aqea5 e TGriJ alter he Tlt 6W bJofe
"a sing the Loan bill
"One thing more. Why is it that this country docs
no; need as much circulating medium as England or
France
II fit does then why contract ~ hENloN'
AnNrers by The TriJrne
l. In 80 far as our present Internal Revenue
or Excise laws exact of American producers,
whether Of Manufactures or of anything else,
higher rates than are imposed by our Tariff on
the importation Of rival products from abroad
We presume there is not one man living who
will not readily admit that this exaction Is
wrong and should be promptly corrected,
either by the reduction of the Excise, or the
increase Of the Import duty or both. And
there i, not a man living who even doubts that
the present Congress will do this. No Con-
gress ever intended thus to discriminate against
our Industry; and, if any such anomaly exists,
it is an oversight, which any Congress, required
as ours was, TO raise large sums promptly by
novel taxation, might have fallen into. This
Congress is morally certain before adjournng
not only to correct any such blunder, but to
secure ON every point an advantage OF 20 to 80
per cent. to Home production over Importation
Then what sense in parading the alleged (and
we think exaggerated) anomalies OF our Rev
enue system as impelimenss TO speedy Resump-
tionl
H. We entreat Kenyon to clear his mend
of the nonsense that the present debasement oil
our Currency somehow benefits our Home
Manufactures. He might as well urge that a
dlirvman could Mt make cheese as cheap a. his
neighbor. without watering his milk extensively.
A duty of %, 80, or 40 per cent. on an article
imported is just 90, 30, or 10 per cent.-that Is,
so many hundrcths Of the cost Of the article
whether our Currency be sound or inflated: II
is not varied one hair by the fact that the Cur
rency is 40 per cent. below par. The American
producer pays 40 per cent. more for his raw ma
erial, his labor, and everything else, and charges
80 per cent more for his products, than lac would
do if our Currency were at par with specie
that is all. IL our manufacturers were TO petit
ton Congress 10 reduce the yard measure 10
two feet in order to enable them to compete
with foreigners in the production Of fabrics,
KENYON" would, very naturally, think they
acted Ike fools yet he acts on that very princ-
pie in assuming that our Currency imitation is
Of any benefit whatever 10 American producers
III. Now asto this country need OF an ample
Circulating Medium-that is another irrelevant
matter pitched in where il has no business. No
one can have read thi journal and not know that
We favor an ample Circulating Medium, and
that we believe in having II mainly constituted
OF PAPER. We would be the last to say tha, no
man should measure fabrics by any other than
a gold yardstick: what We insist on i, that your
yards.ick, whether OF silver, lead, copper iron,
wood, gutta percha or bamboo, shall be just as
ioag as a gold one and shall be at al times sub
lee; to comparison Herewith and adjustment
thereby. Whoever goes about insisting that
we can't all keep gold yardsticks-as if that
were at variance with our POSITIONS either
very dun or not very honest. And Il he should
90 about insisting that We ought to buy and
sell by yards,ick which is to-day thirty inches
long, tomorrow twenty-five, and next day
twenty -four or twenty-seven, because erery man
is nj allie TO Keep gold yardaiet, he would be
even more roguish than stupid.
Understand, now, that We don't insist on an
exclusively metallic Currency, nor on restricted
Currency, nor on a contraction Of the Currency,
but on q Currency whereof each dollar mans
dollar, and that not an indefinite but a def.
mite amount. If Gold were as plenty as chips,
our business could not well be conducted with
out Papcr-wc cannot well receive payment
from our distant subscribers in coin. Only
make their issues secure ard convertible at
viii into coin, and we are willing that there
should be as many banks as school-houscs, and
each at liberty to issue notes at discretion. But
public confidence is the vital element OF a Paper
Currency and to talk Of postponng Resump-
ton to some indefinite period in the remote
future, is to is to shake confidence and under