The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1867-01-12

IN the United Stag5s This 81 eauul 10 an
"s5sssnsnt.eft@eng to thirty per cent upon
tue cost of produstion- burden which
would be al@gether without excuse If it
"ero to rest upon any home interest This
u 50 apparent, that those ,yho have defended
tie tax have based their arguments upon the
ground that American cotton was without a
rival an the markets Of the world, and there
fore such an exaction could not interfere at
all with is foreign Consumption, and must
be paid By the alien purchaser
70 show the error Of thai position com
mittee Of the New York Chamber Of Com
'Deree, consisting Of Gye eminent citizens
drew up report, which was perfectly unan-
swerable in its Conclusions, and was unani
'nously adopted By tilu5 body The com
inIttee were afterwards instructed 10 pre-
pare memorial to Congress urging the
abolition of the tax. This document was
prepared and presented for adoption at a
special meeting of the Chamber recently
called for that purpose TO the astonish-
ment Of those who ordinarily attend the
sessions Of this body, the meeting on this
occasion was packed with class of politi
cal partisdhs, who have done so mach dur
ing the last three or four years to destroy
the representative character OF this Board Of
Trade. Speeches were made in opposition
to the memorial by some gentleman who
were far more Jealous than well Informed
and by others from whom no such opposition
could have been expected Sneers were
uttered against the committee who had pre-
pared the report, although one Of them, A.
A. Low, Esq, who is also president of the
Chamber, was absent from the country, and
courtesy might have suggested different
course toward one who had given the sub
ject SO much attention. Sharp criticisms,
with more ill-nature than point were made
upon the statistics prepared by the commit
tee, although. these were furnished from his
own records by the well-knOwn Matthew
Maury, ESQ, who was one of the fathers
of the Chamber in the days of its widest in
fuence and greatest usefulness, before it had
degenerated into political machine In
short after treating the subject with the
fippancy peculiar to the performances of a
juvenile debating society, the majority pres.
SAAS AAAAN IAaC AANAAgAldA viii ALS DClull2lilAS
upon the table, and the whole matter was
thus indefinitely postponed This was a
signal triumph for the friends of the tax, and
was brought about by the unusual gathering
of those members whose faces are only seen
in the Chamber on such special occasions,
and whose names are not much known in
connection with the commerce of New
York
This probably closes the history of the
memorial but it by no means disposes Of
the question thus summarily dismissed from
the attention of that assembly. With all
proper difference to the gentlemen who were
in such haste to stultify their record and
gdisown the former deliberate action of their
body made after consultation with the wisest
heads in the country, we venture the asser-
ton that the tax on cotton will prove to be
very serious mistake. 1t is true, as that
3 committee asserted, however unpalatabIe the
truth may be, that American cotton does not
hold the position i'll the necessary supply of
the world which it occupied before the war
The spinners did not simply learn to do
without it, but they provided, to great ex-
tent a substitute for it in the growth of
other countries. This production was
everywhere stimulated by the eager demand
+, and the enormous prices which were paid,
until, at the close of the rebellion, the
largest supplies came from other countries
and if our fields had never yielded another
bale the world would not have been greatly
distressed by the failure
In the two years which preceded the war
the European markets took IS per cent. of
their supply from this country, and but Is
per cent from all other quarters This was
so far changed that after the close of hos
tiGties it was found that other countries pre-.
duced go per cent of the cotton thus used
while America furnished but 40 per cent Of
the supply.
The theory then held by some that the
foreign was used only because American
could not be obtained, and that its use would
be abandoned the moment supply was
offered from our fields, has not been sustained
by further experience. The foreign staple
has not been obliged to wait for market
until our crop was exhausted nor has its
price depended upon its relative proportion
to the yield from the States The cottons Of
Brazil, India, and Egypt are now produced
in large and annually increasing quantity,
and have established a recognized position in
every important market When it became
apparent two or three months ago that the
crop of American cotton would fall below
the larger estimates which had been current,
the consequent advance in prices at Liver
pool was far greater in India cotton than it
was in cotton from the United States.
In view of these undeniable facts, it would
seem TO be the dictate of sound policy to
recover, if possible, the prestige thus lost,
and restore to American cotton the lead of
European markets, There never was a
more inopportune moment for the imposition
"a