New-York tribune., 1869-01-16

further OlfSctS arising HOm pt"oo anu i"'"i
taxation, and from the special internal revenue
taxes levied on our manufacturing classes as
producers, viz. the income tax, the taxes on
the manufacture of spirits, cigars, ana toDacco'
and the tax on all manufacturers sales. lt Is
clear that, after allowing for these additional
deductions, almost the entire protective clement
ia eliminated from our tariff, and 1t becomes
one for revenue mainly, if not wholly. 10 re-
duce il on those articles of foreign production
with which we compete is to give bounty TO
the foreign producer.
Mr.. Wells has succeeded in showing that
some salt manufacturers have made good divl-
dends. If he had gone into the magnificent
importing palaces of A: T; Stewart ID, b.
Clafin, and other merchant princes whose I'M
perial fortunes are the greatest ever accumu-
lated in single lifetime in any department
of human activity, he would have seen, IN their
more than regal architecture and lavish pro-
fusion of expenditure, the evidence of the far
greater profits Of importing the foreign mer-
chandise which competes in our own markets
with our rising and struggling manufactures.
They are not styled dividends" because the risk
of importing is so small and the profit so enor-
nous, compared with that of manufacturing,
that it does not need associated effort in order
to divide the risk, and, on the contrary, dis
dains to seek cooperation by any agreements to
divide the profits. Mr. Stewart has reaped q
fortune, in q single lifetime, such as mo ten
manufacturers in America combined have OBJ
tanned. No Commissioner of tho Revenue scents
out his profits as an argument against free
trade; on the contrary, all rejoice in his pros
al Of ha prlt
of the nation. Secretary McCulloch states in
his Report for 1865 that the average earnings of
capital invested in productive industry are 81
per cent. Our railroads, during the past year,
have earned 81 per cent on their cost. Very
little of the active mercantile capital OF New
York, especially that invested in retailing. has
earned in gross less than from 40 to GO per
cent, and much of it several hundred per cent
If our salt springs are reaping larger dividends
than the capital invested in them would be
worth in other industries, why do not our capt.
taists open and work the salt springs Of Vir-
ginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas2 If the
smelling of iron ore into pig iron is
source of excessive profit, why do not
capitalists rush to develop the vast iron de-
posits of Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and of
the AdirOndacksf For a hundred years it has
been known that as fine and rich deposits of
magnetic iron ore as the mines of Sweden and
Russia contain, suitable for the highest cutlery
manufacture and for railway use, are lying
undeveloped within hundred miles of Albany.
If the profits of manufacturing pig iron are
excessive, why is it that our capitalists so anx-
ious for these profits would never until during
the present year advance the capital required
to run a railroad into these mines, while any
required amount of capital could be obtained
for the importation of iron, notwithstanding
the tariff Why docs not capital seek with
more avidity those avenues TO profit, which in
the Judgment of our HamiltOns, WashingtOns,
Jeilersons, Jacksons, Clays, Websters, and
Lncolns, are of national utility
as vast as their growth is delicate and difficult,
and which have therefore been fostered with
special care 10y the statesmen of England,
France, Belgium, Prussia, and Russian 1t is
because the burden of non-protective taxation
has 80 offset the protective tariffs as TO render
our entire tariff system one for revenue only.
Hence Mr.. Wells can assert with truth, in his
Report, that an increase of the tariffs has not
materially checked impoltations. 1t Is because
the non protective items in our tariff together
with our internal revenue, State and local
taxes, have so increased the cost of our domes-
tic manufactures, and other industries which
we had endeavored to protect, as to offset the
portion of the tariffs designed to be protective,
and so preserve for the foreign manufactures
a hold on the American market stronger than
that of the American producer. But we re-
joice that, in some respects, it has worked to
protect our industry. The effects are yicible
in our success in subduing the Rebellion, and
in the continued forward strides our industry
is now making. n.S e.