Newspapers / The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, … / March 28, 1828, edition 1 / Page 2
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Domestic i 1 v n m of Con-ess such measures as heithe comrnun.ty Deyonu ... pIC, in 11 III U ui yuyt y-r A111 fl 1 tn nnv m time ot war: National Revenue. We have been '.nnlitelv favored from Washington Citv, with a pamphlet copy of the Report of the Committee cf 'Ways and Means on the state of the Public finances embra cing a statement 6f the National revenue nnd exDenditure of 1827: some remarks on the Public frebt; and an estimate of the revenue and expenditure for the year 1828, and for future years. We have selected the following passages, which we deem most interesting: "In forming an estimate of the probable amount of the revenue for future years, the portion of that revenue which will be derived from sources other than foreign commerce, is, comparatively, so inconsiderable, and so little liable to fluctuation, that the Committee propose to confine their inquiries exclusively to the probable in come from the customs, and to the effect produced; and likely to be produced, by the existing and con templated regulations of the du ties on imported merchandise. And, in the first place, the com mittee cannot concur with the Se cretary of the Treasury, in the opinion expressed in his annual report, that, "to suppose the tariff of 1824 is at such a pitch as to affect injuriously the interests of toreign commerce, would be con trary to analogies afforded by the history of other commercial na tions, and, thus far, to the experi ence of our own." On the con trary, the committee can see no thing in those analogies, or in that experience, to render it at all doubtful, that fqreign commerce is injuriously affected by every imposition laid upon it, even for the purposes of revenue merely; and that prohibitory duties, in the very nature of things, must dimi nish foreign commerce to a great er extent than they build up and eusiain the substituted produc tions of domestic industry. Differing, as the committee do, with the Secretary of the Trea sury, as to the effect of the tariff of 1824, on the commerce of the country, they are constrained to differ with him, still more deci dedly, as to the effect of a further increase of the duties on foreign merchandise. And here it may be proper to remark, that the on ly authority under which the Se cretary of the Treasury acts, in presenting his annual report on the state of the finances to Con gress, is a law which expressly enjoins it as his duty to prepare a report "containing estimates ofj the public revenue and public ex penditure, and plans for improv ing and increasing the revenues, from time to time." Whether the recommendation of high and prohibitory duties, professedly and exclusively designed to encourage domestic manufactures, by exclu ding those that are foreign, and inevitably tending to impair and diminish, instead of increasing and improving the revenue, be a substantial observance or a direct violation of the authority under which the Secretary acts; and whether it is not calculated to im pair constitutional responsibility of the Executive, for the Presi dent to devolve upon his subordi nate officers, the hiffh riutvnf "rn. commending to the consideration'' shall iuduc necessary and expe-. dierit" it is, the province rather of the House than of the commit tee to determine. , ... . The committee will here make a single remark on the compara tive effects upon the revenue, of the schemes presented by the fce cretary of the Treasury, and the Committee on Manufactures, re lative to woollens. Though the duties proposed in the latter scheme, are more equally laid up on the different qualities of goods, and are less in amount, this com mittee regard the difference as being merely a nominal one; the duties, in both cases, rising, with very unimportant exceptions, to the point of ultimate, not distant, and, in most instances, immediate prohibition. Duties which a mount to 5G per cent, will result in prohibition; and those which amount to 281 per cent, can do no more. It is obvious, therefore, that the duties proposed by the Committee on Manufactures ran ging, principally, from GO to 80 per cent, arc as effectually prohi bitory, as the more unmeasured impositions proposed by the Se cretary of the Treasury. The importations of the de scriptions of woollen manufac tures, which fall under the opera tion of the high duties recommen ded by the Secretary of the Trea sury, amounted, in 1827, to up wards of six millions of dollars. A recurrence to the analysis pre sented by the committee, will show that the great mass of wool lens embraced in the scheme of duties proposed by the Secretary, will be chargeable with more than 100 per cent.; a considerable pro portion with more than 200 per cent.; and but a small quantity with less than 70 percent. The committee, therefore, think they are quito within bounds, when they assume five millions as the amount of woollen manufactures that will be excluded, and speedi ly excluded, if the duties recom mended shall be imposed upon the foreign manufacture. They believe it may be assumed, with equal confidence, that a duty of live cents the square yard, in ad dition to the existing duty, on cot ton manufactures, will exclude the foreign manufactures, to amount of $3,500,000. When to these prohibitions, those of raw wool, bar iron, and hemp, are added, it will not be extravagant to estimate the curtailment of foreign com merce, by the proposed duties, at ten millions of dollars, within a few years after their imposition. Making every allowance for the increased rate of duties that will be collected on the remaining im portations of the articles under consideration, the committee can not estimate the annual loss of re venue, resulting from the duties proposed by the Secretary of the Treasury, at less than $4,000,000. And here the committee cannot but pause for a moment, to con template the singular and extra ordinary spectacle of an officer who presides over the finances of a nation, recommending a scheme nnnnl to anv m time It will be perceived by the House, thnt thft nnmmittce have no farther entered into the consideration ofj the proposed duties than was ne cessary to ascertain their ultimate and permanent effect upon our foreign commerce, and, of conse quence, upon the public revenue. They have not permitted them selves to be seduced by the exam ple of the Secretary of the Trea sury, to depart entirely from the financial view of the subject, and to enter at large into the discus sion of the policy of protecting domestic manufactures by prohi bitory duties; a policy which, whe ther it be wise or unwise, just or unjust, must inevitably impair the productiveness of our present sys tem of revenue to an extent that will render it difficult to avoid a resort to internal taxes in time of peace. That this will be the pro bable fruit of the system of pro hibition cannot be disguised, how ever confidently it may be denied. It has been shewn that the propo sed exclusion of foreign cotton and woollen manufactures, raw wool, hemp, and iron, will dimin ish the annual income from the customs four millions of dollars. If to these articles be added fo reign spirits, molasses, and iron manufactures, in conformity with the views of the Committee on ther the destruction of the fn wouitj not put in jeopardy the nr oviotonnn r ly impairing, noui uie motive f preserving, and the means of Jr taming, our institutions. I'Yiipnciirn .. JL IIVj therefore, believe that the fU sentatives'of the People arc call ed upon, not only by consider," tions connected with the nation! wealth and revenue, but by eve consideration which gives vata? the union of the States, to rpia the recommendation of the Seen tary of the Treasury, and arre the progress of a system, the p sible consequences of which American can contemplate iiiuiiiuiuueu. ittbottm$t)y FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1328. Mails. We understand that another derangement has been made in the mailt between this place and Halifax sosooa as we can understand it fully, we ail! endeavor to conform to ituntil then, our patrons on that route must bear with us patiently. Congress. In the Senate, on the 20th inst. the resolution offer- Manufactures, a further reduction ed some weeks since by Col of the revenue to the amount of Johnson of Kentucky, relative to one million and a half, may be con- fixing the period of adjournment fidently anticipated. When it is for the 8th of April next, was perceived that a revenue of called up by Mr. BRANCH, and discussed at length, being strenu ously advocated by that gentle man and Mr. Johnsoa. There- Lrirr nnn nnn i i n ou,uuu,uuu, acrivea irom im posts, is thus subjected to a dimi-j nutioh of $5,500,000, at a single blow of the prohibitory system a solution was finally laid ontheta system which our own experience ble, many Senators objecting to demonstrates to be naturally pro- it on the ground that it was ill gressive, making each advance advised to fix the time of adjourn the basis and the instrument of ment at present, when there was extending still farther its desola- so much business of importance ting encroachments upon our com- to be acted on, and when they merccand revenue it appears to could not with any degree of ac the committee that only a very or-'curacy say at what precise period dinary share of forecast is requir-; they would be enabled to get ed to foresee the ultimate conse- i through it qtiences mat must result, at no The bill for thn benefit of the North-Carolina Institution for the instruction of the Deaf and Dumb passed the Senate on the 11th inst that distant period, from the progress of this system. If these views rest upon any just! iounuation, it is quite evident that the prohibitory system, now propo sed, will postpone the commence ment of any such works of internal improvement as Congress may deem expedient, until very nearly the middle of the present century. The committee take it for granted that the public mind is definitively made upas to the policy of disbur dening the nation of the public debt, with all practicable despatch. It is not to be presumed, therefore, that any attempt will be made to arrest the payment of that debt, by diverting the sinking fund from its plighted purposes, to any other purposes, however important, ex cept tor the support of the establi shed institutions of the country. The very nature of our country, and the ends for which this Gov ernment was obviously created, indicate foreign commerce as the object of our care, and source of of revenue, which, at tbc ea.no our revenue. It w,,s principally t.roe that ,t will diminish the na- to protect foreign commerce that . . --. 1 1 i . .. .1 ' . t Union was oriinnullv formed: mini, wm increase mc burdens of and it may well be doubted, whe- The Tariff bill principally sorbs the time and attention the House of Representatives. of Petersburg, March 21. State of . the Market Cotton, J 13 9 cents- Corn, U to con, 7 to lh cents Lard, 7 tj 7i cents Apple brandy, 30 tool cents Peach 65 to 75 cents. Business continues to be dull, afi; we perceive no alteration in Prl' ces, except in Cotton: for withstanding the small quantity coming to market, the last Eur0 pean accounts being unfavorable there is an apparent decline bcre of i per cent, on the best quality and per cent, on inferior.' Presidential Extract of a W' ter from the Hon. William Crawford, dated Wood La Gth March, 1828: "I think with you, that the peo ple have determined who shoula be President, and I should be M last man in the U. S. who wouW wish to unsettle that determine
The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.)
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March 28, 1828, edition 1
2
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