New-York tribune., 1868-06-30
THE WAREHoUSING SYSTEM
,rs HOSTILITY TO AMERICAN INTERESTS AND

INDUSTRY.
The Committee on Manufactures IN the eiaDoihto
report recently presented by their Chalrmah' bh
Morrill, state that the waTehOusng system Is part vi
the free trade policy nauguraed by the low tarin oi
1885, that it was passed seven days after the low
tariff act recommended by Secretary walker WIN
two objects: 1st To make this country the ryal OF
England as a center for the distribution of the com
merce of the world. 3D. TO afford foreign manutac-
tprers and CAPITALISTS facilities for commanding our
markets. For these purposes the system allows the
foreign shipper importer of goods to place them IN
public or private bonded warehouses, where they
NAV remain three years without payment OF the
duties or of any interest thereon and subject only 10
an additional charge of 10 per cent upon the uutes
they remain more than year the duties being pay
able only uDon the Withdrawal of the goods for use
An imported goods may be imported. stored for one
wear at the cost of the Government without Iei oI N
terest and TetXported without payment OF tne % 9u-
ties SO far as the system was designed 10 make
America the rival of England as the center Tor the
distribution of the commerce of the world, IT mas
miserably failed In lS2Q on the estaDIlsiem4I 'd4 G m
warehouse and TecXpOTted was only S5OOOOOO; III
1860 it had barely increased TO SG5OOOOO gam OF 80
per cent in 10 years and 1t now does not amount 10
$1,000 600 on total export foreign and domestic TN
1861 of $500000 CO., or less than per cent OF our eN
ports Ii is therefore totally insignificant as means
of adding 20 OF developing our foreign commerce
England, being already the entTepOt OF the foreign
commerce of all nations, established the warehouse
W
For, by facilitating in her ports the exchange oi All
foreign products. she shares in the profits OF the eX
changes made In them while there, ana also ai0rds
her manufacturers, merchants, ana people, as wen as
their customers. fuller assortment IRON winch 10
buy. BypossesSing this fuller assortment her manu-
faCtuTeTS can buy their raw materials cheaper ana
sell their manufactured goods more adyantageOusy
than those of other nations The system is valuable
as an aid 10 an industrial supremacy already eStaD
liShCd through her prominence IN her domestic
manufactures Were the latter struggling Tor exist
against foreign competition, with the dlsad
vantageS OF dearer labor heavier taxes ana hleneI
raw materials to contend against. the WarehouSlhg
system would seriously embaTTass the domestic IN
dustry of the country. Such has been the e1eot III
the United States For official reports show that
about half the goods entering this country enter the
warchOuses-thOugh only per cent of them are ever
retXpOred-and throughout the year 1868 there were
StOre in the warehouses an average OF $42.903,I IA
worth Of imported commodities, on which there are
due to the Government over $2O0O0OOO of duties
THIS is equivalent to a standing loan by the Govern
meut of S20.OO0OOO to the foreign manufacturers
and importers of these goods without IN
tercst, favor which IS IN no OT OTaHI w. SllaleH anJ
by the American manufacturer. VI !he, goouS
tIus stored by the Government for their foreign
producers fully $20,00O0O0 are of kind, such
as iron, wool, and textile manufactures, winch COM
pete directly with OUT own manufactures. MANY OF
these goods not legitimately imported by the
class OF MERCHANTS who once made the name of i'm
porter honorable but sent by foreign houses CON
signed their agents OF statesmen III New-lork OF
other port, of course lnyoced at cost OF al some
nominal figures, cOntdentially understood between
the foreign owner and his resident agent, so as 10
swinde the Government of its revenue, and under
mine the business of the legitimate importer Inc
business of introducing foreign GOODS Jhus passes
into the hands Of mere commercial parasites or snug
gles who pay hardly any duties, no rent or interest
taxes have property or interests III TINS country
and when they have made their fortunes here, mainly
by destroying our own industry, ana robDing our
Government they return to their own country to con-
gratulate themselves over the national stupidity Of
the American people in failing to protect their own
industrial interests. Say the Committee. u.,,...
system gives the utmOstactes for the operations
Of these agents The goods are stored In warehouses I
American goods. The duties are not payable unIl the
them by sample the mode usually employed and practi-
caly are generally paid out of the proceeds realized from
the greater part VIII be hereafter shown being IN re
ay supplied by the Government. The genuine importer
cannot compete with one VINO Is really ONLY cohsgee,
and who has facilities for cOlusOn with bis principal IN
invoices which arc shown to be frequently fictitious
and fraudulent by the weknOwn fact that the goods can
TaScs TSS st stated papSSle EVIL Of thus direction Of
import trade through foreign channels is such sys
tcmaC evasion OF laws would be scOrned
frcrbts are diverted from American shipping the decline
our navigation interests being largely due TO this ntu
ence; and still greater evils that the concentration OF
gives the foreign the control of prices there and
lacS S1y home hdhstrS in the power OF who ar
Interested 70 prosrate m aogstheT I1e power % Spr %ei
sing American industry Is consideration "hlch DE de
known that few hundred thousand dollars worth o.
goods may be sold as TO AFFECT the prices not Only OF
so that they may inlc loss ten times as great as h(
whole amount OF the sales SO great commercial sensi
yeness I'm respect prices that the arrival OF un
usual quantities Of goods affects prices before they
sold. Under the waTchOuSlng system a reservoir Ol
goods accumulated, to he poured upon the market at
le sign Of improved prices in our domestic products
They held by their foreign keepers
like gray hounds in the leash
Strainiug the
to be let upon home manufacturers whose fate
10 be hunted like haTes in their own thicketS II
there a in prices in NewYork the first advantage
Is takOn by the foreign agent who lies In wait IN the am
bush which the cOnfding Governments has built for his
sally point. The only defense which our manufacturers
Is place their stores and commission houses also
in NewYOrk. thus adding only further burden OF rents
and commissions TO the weight under which they are
suffering. If the opinions Of practical men are 70 be
relied upon it is impossible to overesmate the evils
hicted upon our home trade aud production by this
policy, which is not merely OF favor 10 the foreigner
but OF positive hostility to our own industry TIE figures
themselves are more eloquent than words TO depict THIS
goods all the time IN warehOuse This stupendOus mass
OF merchandise il perpetuay impending over our domes
tic trade and production and the keys or the LOCKS and
chains which arrest its fall are in foreign and hostile
hands.
While the Committee believe that the warehousing
system must ultimately be wholly abolished they at
present recommend, a remedy for the evils above
set forth, only the passage of act providing that
on the entry Of any goods the owner or his agent
shall declare whether they are for consumption or
export and shall be bound by such declaTatiOn and
that, on Withdrawing any goods for consumption,
the shall pay interest at per cent on the du-
ties for whatever time payment thereof may have
been deferred. Such an act seems as reasonable and
lust as it is simple, and hope II will pass. The
Committee preface the practical portion OF their re-
port with elaborate argument, showing that pro
lection 70 American industry is the fixed policy of
the American people; that it is sanctioned by public
sentiment, by the Republican Platform OF 1860, by
various conventions Of merchants and manufaetur-
ers, by our early statesmen-Frankln, Washington,
Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, jackson, webster,
Adams. Ciay-by the action of the Ist and many sub
sequent Congresses, and by AL industrial nations
Great Britain, France, Germany Rnssia, Austria, and
Belgium. They trace the rise and growth OF our own
manufacturers showing that they are the offspring