New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-06-09
DUTIEg EXPLAINED.

understood by many readers tnht somo'hi"s
more than the very brief reply he desires seems
appropriate.
To the Editor OF The Tribune.
SIR: What is the difference between specific and ad
vaorem duties and for what purpose, or intended pur
pose are the former sometimes the latter ana
sometimes both duties imposed on the same artelef
Ihave asked some 'Old-tme Republicans employedi In
the Office with the question. but they have not DecR
able to give any very definite information. 50 ask TIE
TRIBUNE. very brief statement would greatly oDhBe
Ne,c- York, Nav "a, 1884. YOUNG REPUBLICAN,
Ad-Valorem according to vauo) duties are of
some named percentage Of the value of imported
goods at the place of shipment. Thus there s an adj
valOrem duty of 80 per cent on wO0llen cloths. III
the price abroad rises those duties become larger In
amount, on each pound or yard imported; thus, II
cloth sells at 81 per yard the duty Is 80 cents on
each yard If it sells at 81 20 per yard the duty Is
AZ cents on each yard. Bnt when the foreign price
falls so that the competition from o7erlsaded for
eiq markets il most to be feared the duty shrinks
in amount Thus, when the same cloth sells AT 80
cents per yard the duty shrnks to Is cents on each
yard. Consequently the defence against the loOdng
of our market with foreign goods is least under TINS
form of duties precisely when the danger IL greatest
Specific duties of a fixed sum per quantity
imported Thus. there is specific duty of Sl7 per
ton OH steel rails duty of gig cents each square
duty of 5 cents on each pound of ground spices.
These are all specific duties, and remain the same
on the different grades. whether the foreign price
of goods within that grade rises falls Those
duties become relatively heaviest when foreign
prices are nnnaturay depressed, and SO afford the
greatest defence to the home market just when
there il greatest danger of an injurious INVASION
of foreign goods. Not very long ago. the cost OF
steel rails in London $50 per ton; then the
specific duty of $17 would have been 81 per cent OF
the foreign value, Now the same rails have fallen
to about $22 per ton, and the speclhc duty IS
nearly 80 per cent of the foreign price. In tho
unnatural and extraordinary depression abroad,
the duty serves to prevent the unloading of the
surplus stocks of Europe upon our already over
crowded markets.
Hence specific duties arc generally preferred. as
offering the most wholesome defence to home in
dustry. On most articles, too, such duties are by
far the most convenient and sure the quantity can
be seen and measured, but about the value in for
eign ports there may Ije any amount of fasehoOd.
IL happens as to classes of articles, however,
that specific duties bearing any reasonable proper
ton to the worth of goods cannot be levied, be-
cause of the almost infinite number and variety of
the goods to be specified. Thus under one clause Of
i've lines in the present tariff there included at
one common ad-vaorem duty many different
things, ranging all the way from hairpin 10
steam engine, that in official publication no less
than three kadred and tcsre classes of articles
enumerated as known already to come under that
clause An attempt to fix specific duties for all the
articles coming under that one clause would take
Congress year or two would involve endless litiga
ton and serve no good purpose
But there are also ad-yalorem duties on some ar
tIcles and specific duties on the same articles
Thus on woollen cloths costing above 50 cents per
ton thereto 10 per cent al vaorem. Legislators
and economists generally regard these mixed or
complex duties with dsfavor, and yet IN some
otherwise In woollens, for instance, the cost
the duties on wool levied for the protection of the
ol-grower and these amount to so many cents
on each pound of wool used No ad-valorem duty
can be devised that Will equitably compensate to
the manufactures for this increase in the cost of
his material; the specific duties, of so much to tho
pound of manufactured goods, are the only prac-
ticabe approximation. But the manufacturer needs
some defenceon account of the greater cost of labor
in this country. That defense cannot be put in the
form of specific duty because the number of articles
that may be manufactured IN each class Is beyond
reckoning and the labor expended in working up
one pound of wool into the finest fabrics is inn
measurably different from the labor required to
make cOarser goods of the same weight. To meet
this difficulty d-valOrem duties are added and in
convenient and perplexfng the complex duties
are the Tariff Commission concluded, after long in
yestigation that 1t could not safely dispense with
them In such cases.