Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-02-15

fell off It had ceased to be profitable. Corn or
hogs took its place. Does it occnr to the Com
missioners, whose report object to here, that
there as net profit at which cotton industry may
still cease 10 pay, and at which it will. therefore,
decline disappear? That commodity is, it is
true, quoted in the market ut from forty to fifty
cents Ter pound; and WILL grant, continue to
carry some such price for greater or less length
OF time to come. Bat -four, pork beef, double
now what they were before the war; coffee, sugar,
clothing and other elements entering into the net
cost of cotton production, cost. compared with
these happy days treble So far these items of
its cost enable to judge cotton cannot be held to
be Man arbitrarily proftta6e ut the rate of
about twenty-five cents per pound. But SPECIAL
circumstances of its cultivation Mt present suggest
that to reach its ordinary protabess, the price of
the staple must lie set still higher.
| The capital wliicl tie planter had sunk former
iy in its growth cost him nothing, whereas that
which he employs burdens him with enormous
interest which amounts to Il fax on every pound
! he grows And the labor now ut his disposal, may
be fairly held to be less steady, less active and,
therefore, very seriously less productive in its yield
| His heavy taxes to the Federal Government and
his probably equally heavy taxes for restoration
the nreck of public things in his State and couI-
ty, constitute other items of special burden which
represent i'll effect, certain rate per pound on his
cotton All these taken into consideration add
ditiOns to the rate of twenty-five cents per pound
deduced from the price of the necessaries of labor
! there u.s. ut least, doubt whether, under the
present circumstances around 1t, the cotton indus
try of this country can be maintained at a prlce
much below that which it actually bears. What
then, though all that remained hand since the
time of Stare labor may have borne very we'll the
burden of two cents, if thatwhich We might other
wise expect next year, shall sink under the load OF
five cents
| But, assuming the profit on cotton culture at
its present rates to be even twenty cents on the
pound, the proposed tax is actually of twenty
five per cent on income A rate of taxation so
high has never yet in the experience of public
| harm NV GiIJCfU
country.
The general objection to the exceptional policy
of taxes upon exports applies with unusual force
| to that proposed on cotton. AS protection
to industry of the character in foreign coun-
tries, the five cents proposed to be levied on our
cotton is, neither nor less, than protective
duty in France and England i'll favor of the cult
vaton of that staple in Algeria, Egypt, Brazil and
India. It places bonus of five cents additional
profit on the labor of the ryOt who tolls in his cot
ton field in the East. Now, there is nothing bet
ter known among gentlemen who understand the
subject, than the climate and the soil not the
reasons which have given American fbers control
of the market, much their cheapneSS
| All the companies in England concur in the
statement that staples equal to the oest American
can be grown in many parts of the globe, but that
their production in these parts cannot be main
tanned at the American prices The worlds depre-
citation of fbers during the war, led to large
expansion of the culture in foreign countries but
that result was checked by the constant appreher-
sion that peace would, at any moment, throw lis
again into the competition, The export tax for
such it virtually is of five cents per pound will,
during its continuance. involve the stimulus,
by high prices to the substitution that has goue
on for the last four years of our cotton industry,
by the fosteraee of cotton industry Egypt, India,
eli ceteru tax Of i've cents is continuance of the
causes that have thus endangered our control of
the cotton markets of the world and if even one
year of its operation do not produce such result,
will certainly transfer that control permanently to
foreign rivals.