Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-02-05
1890, THr CoTToyTAx.

The bill repeating the tax on cotton,
after being manipulated by three confer
ence committees, has finally been agreed
upon by both houses Of Congress, and has
been sent to the President for his action.
There is no doubt that the President viii
approve the bill The bill as finally
agreed to, exempts from tax all domestic
cotton raised after January !, 1868, and
admits free of duty all cotton from for
eign countries after November / 1868
This latter is a concession to some of the
New England manufacturers, who wish
10 use the cheap cottOns of India. They
demand that our ports shall be thrown
open to the raw material, bat that heavy
duties shall be imposed upon the fabrics
manufactured in England out OF this
selfsam cotton. Here we have prac'
teal exhibition of the selfshness OF New
England The manufacturers OF that
section want the cotton which English
capital and enterprise may produce IN
India. because It is cheaper than that
which can be grown in this country, but
they demand that the English manniae~
tnrer shall be practically shut ont from
the markets Of this country 1t was
stated by Mr. Sehneck, Of Ohio, in the
House of Representatives few days ago,
that this cheap cotton vas used by only
a few manufacturers in the production OF
coarse fabrics for grain bags ana
articles Of that kind, hut Senator
Smague Of Rhode Island, who as
largely engaged in cotton manns
features, stated in the Senate q few
weeks ago, that with this poor, despised,
short stapled, husky India cotton, a fab
ric is to-day produced by the skill and
labor of Englishmen equal to the best
fabric that American machinery has yet
been able:to produce" and he frankly
stated that ;'this is the cause of the
present depression Of the cotton manu-
facture in this country and throughout
the world" Thus Re see that grasping
New England is seeking to make this
cotton the product Of English capital
and enterprise, available in breaking
down the production of cotton in the
Southern States Give the New England
manufacturers this cheap cotton free of
duty. and they viii soon adapt their
machinery to its manufacture, and then,
with the high tariff on foreign manuiae-
tured goods which they demand, the high
priced cottons of the South may so beg
cling for a market Thus is developed
another feature of the policy of Radical
New England towards the South. The
industry of this people must be crippled,
SO that they may be impoverished to a
still greater extent By the time the
cotton crop of this year will be ready
for market, the "poor, despi5ed, short
stapled, husky India cotton, from which
Senator Sprague tells as is manufactured
quality of goods equal to the best
fabric that American machinery has yet
been able to produce viii be admitted
free of duty and compete with the high
priced cotlons of the Southern States for
the markets Of the North. The cheap
labor cf India is, it seems, to be en-
couraged by Northern manufacturers as
against the boosted free labor OF the
Southern States. This is not an en-
couraging picture to the planters of the
South, but it is the banquet to which
New England greed and Radical hate
have invited them. HftE
Upon all cotton grown previous to the
lst of January, 1868, the tax has still to
be paid This concession to the impoy'
erished labor of the South could not be
wrung from Congress- In this connee-
ton. the debate in the House Of Repre-
sentatiyes on the cotton tax, which we
reproduce in this mornings Union AND
DIsPATcH, will be read with interest and
nroft NV the Southern people.