The Cresset, Volume 1, Number 1, New Albany, Floyd County, 8 March 1828 — Page 1

THE CRESSET. VOL. I. NEW-ALBANY, SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1828. NO. I.

THE CRESSET.

DUTIES ON IMPORTS. Extracts from a report of the Committee on Manufactures. The first subject which will be found in the bill, is that of iron, and considering the importance of the article, as one of both national and individual necessity, the changes in the present rates of duty are comparitively very light. An increase iipon "iron in bars, not manufactured, in whole, or in part, by rolling," of from

ninety cents upon 112 pounds, to one ct. per pound; upon "iron in bars, manufactured in whole or in party by rolling,'' of

7 dollars per ton of 2240 pounds; and

upon 'pig iron," 12 1-2 cents per 112 pounds, beyond the present rates of duty;

are the most material change upon this article. Some amendments in the exist - ing law, when evasions of the present duty have been discovered to exist by defects in the wording of the law, and some additions of duty upon particular descriptions of iron, and upon particular manufactures from it, complete the provisions o this subject. The next subject in order, is that of wool and woollens. To these subjects the greater part of the testimony of the witnesses has been directed, and the Committee have used every effort in their power to obtain precise information as to the facts as they do actually exist in relation to the interests both of the wool grower and the manufacturer of wool. The real importance of these subjects to those sections of the country where wool is grown, and in which the manufactories are located, the feeling which has for some time agitated the public mind throughout the whole country, in relation, on the one side to the necessity of further protection to them, and on the other side, to the injurious effects which such a measure would have up the purchasers of woolen fabrics, have all conspired to induce this exertion on the part of the committee — They have therefore made the examinations of the witnesses, upon these subjects, as minute as possible, and perhaps, in some instances, they may appear tediously so. Indeed, many of the questions put to thie witnesses will afford abundant evidence that the committee had not suffi-

cient practical knowledge upon the subjects before them, to enable them to make a series of interrogations, the answers to which would place the testimony taken in the clearest light. And when the members of the house shall have examined the evidence relating to the manufacturer of woolen goods, the committee cannot doubt they will be entirely convinced that none but a person intimately acquainted with the various operations, could have drawn out a series of questions upon this subject, susceptible of clear and intelligible answers. The time of the committee did not authorize even an attempt to do this, and, therefore, the examinations, and particularly of some of the witnesses first examined, will appear, as they were really taken—the one answer, in many, if not most instances, suggesting the subsequent question. It will also be found, upon an examination of the testimony, that the manufacture of woolens is hardly susceptible of being reduced with-

in the limits of exact mathematical calculation, so as to enable the committee to arrive, with this kind of certainty, at the amount of duty which will furnish full protection, and, at the same time, will not go beyond that point. Certain positions, however, they believe to be proved by the evidence they have taken, which furnish great assistance in approaching to correct conclusions. In relation to unmanufactured wool of domestic growth, the committee consider it to be fully proved that the present prices, in our markets, are unusually low, and the sales very dull; and that these effects are produced by the combined influence of the large importations of foreign wool, and the excessive importations of foreinn woollen goods. Contrary to the opinions of some of the witnesses, the committee are strongly convinced that the provision of the present law, permitting the introduction of foreign wool, costing not exceeding ten cents per pound in the foreign market, at the almost nominal duty of 15 per cent, ad valorem, does admit, wool, paying this duty, and invoiced at and below this price, which, in quality and use, materially conflicts with the common native wool of this country. The opinion is strongly corroborated

by the presentation, by one of the witnesses, to the committee, of five different specimens of foreign wool, imported into, and during the last fall selling in, the Boston market, at from six cents to fourteen cts per pound. The foreign invoices of all these wools were at a price not exceeding ten cents per pound, and consesquently

paid but a duty of fifteen per cent, ad-

valorem. At least two of these specimens of wool, the committee believe, when properly cleansed, would clearly appear to be equal in quality to the com-

mon native wool of the United States; and the very rapid increase in the impor - tations of these low qualities of wool, since the passage of the tariff bill of 1824, furnishes the strongest reason to conclude that they are supplying the demand and answering the uses which the coarse wools of our county would, in most cases, well supply; and that the foreign article is sought, because, by means of the very low duty it now pays, it can be obtained at a less price than the domestic. There are also strong reasons for believing that, by importing several qualities of foreign wools in the grease and dirt they are invoiced at a price not exceeding ten cents per pound, when, if the same wools were cleansed, as the foreign wools usually are for the market, they, would necessarily invoice at a much higher price; and that, in this way, the spirit of the law of 1824 is, to a very considerable extent, evaded. This law of 1824 imposed upon wool, costing in the foreign market a price exceeding ten cents per pound, a progressive duty, commencing at twenty per cent ad valorem, and ending at thirty per cent, ad valorem. This duty reached is maximum on the 1st day of June, 1826. The question, then, as to the manner in which these low priced wools could be effectually reached, without imposing an exorbitant duty upon the higher and finer qualities, was first to be determined. And the bill, herewith reported, will show that the conclusion of the committee has been to impose a specific duty of seven cents per pound upon all foreign wool, without regard to its quality, and to retain, at the same rime, the ad valorem duty, with a proposition to increase it from thirty per cent., the present duty, to forty per cent., and to make it progressive, at an increase of five per cent per annum, to 50 per ct., and applicable to all kinds of wool : these alerations, it adopted by Congress, will operate, proportionably. more heavily upon the coarse than upon the fine wools, but the committee suffer little apprehension from this fact, because they consider it satisfactorily proved that the capacity of this country to produce wool is only to be limited by the demand for the article; that the manufacturers they have examined are using much the largest share of the finer wools; that the coarse wools of this country are little sought, because foreign wools of a coarser quality, and answering the same uses, are procured at lower prices; and that, in the assortment of the wools of the sountry, for the purposes of manufacture, a large share will fall within the low ranges, and will fairly supply the place of the coarse imported wools. And the committee will not disguise the fact, that it has been their intention, in the bill they should report, to extend every protestion, which the nature of the case would admit, to the grower of American wool. If they have not done this, they have erred in judgment, and have not accomplished their own intentions. If the duties they have proposed upon unmanufactured wool are too high, and shall thus prove injurious to the manufacturer, and not beneficial to the farmer, then they have mistaken the proportions which the relative cost of the wool and the fabiic will warrant, and have thus been led into unintentional error. In relation to the additional protection required by the manufacturers of woollens, the committee have found themselve most in need of specific information. The law of 1824, imposing additional duties upon imports, was, at the time of its pasage, no doubt, believed, by those who framed, and by those who supported it, sufficient, both in its provisions, and in the amount of its duties, to afford a fair protection to this important national interest. But experience has shown that this belief was fallacious, and that the operation of this law has disappointed both those who passed it, and those who sougtit its passage. Former laws had also passed, with the same intentions, and had failed to realize the expectations of those who acted under them. The knowledge of these facts it was which induced the committee to propose a mode, heretofore untried in this government, of obtaining precise information upon which to legislate. They have been indulged by the house in making the experiment, and although the information collected may not be as precise and detailed as a greater allowance of time, and a wider range of examination, might have made it, the committee fo believe that certain positions may be assumed from the testimony, as fully proved, which will afford much aid in deter-

mining the defects in the existing laws, and in applying the proper remedies to those defects; and they cannot but hope that this information, coming from per-

sons intimately acquainted with the subjects of which they speak, and given under the solemn sanction of an oath, will have greater weight than the ordinary information upon which former laws upon these subjects hare been passed. The following positions, as relating to the manufacture of woollen goods, the committee believe themselves warranted in deducing, from the evidence they have taken, and they depend upon the evidence and opinions of the witnesses for the soundness of them. 1st. That the manufacture of woolen goods in this country, is at this time, a business laboring under severe depressions, and attended with loss more severe

upon the finer qualities. 2d. That these depressions are owing, in a very great degree, to the excessive and irregular importations of foreign woollen goods into our markets; thus causing a fluctuation in, and an uncertainty of price for those goods, more injurious to the American manufacturer than even the depression of price which these importitions produce. 3d. That the difference between the

prices of wool, of the same quality, in this country and in England, is, at the present time, about fifiy per cent, in favor of the latter country.

4th. That the cost of the raw wool in this country is about one-half of the cost of the fabric, when prepared for the mar-

ket, as a general rule applying to most kinds of cloth. 5th. That, if the cost of the wool and the cost of the foreign materials used for

dying, were the same in both countries, the process of manutacturing the wool into cloth, fitted for the market, can be performed as cheap in this country as it can in England. 6th. That the present duty upon wool-

len goods does not furnish the desired protection, and that no reasonable duty can be effectual, unless it be a specific square yard, instead of an ad valorem duty.

With a general reference to these positions, so far as they could be made applicable to the subject, and with a proper regard to the whole body of the testimony taken, the committee have proceeded to detail their propositions for the alteration and increase of the duties upon woollen goods. The law of 1824, with certain exceptions, enumerated in the act, imposed a duty of twenty five per centum ad valorem upon foreign woollen goods, imported into this country, the actual value

of which, at the place whence imported, should not exceed thirty-three and one third cents per square yard; and a duty, after the 30th day of June, 1825, of thirty three and one third cents per centum ad valorem upon those costing more than thirty three and one third cents per square yard. The exceptions from the duty of thirty three and a third per cent were blankets and worsted stuff goods, upon which a duty of twenty-five per centum ad valorem was imposed; and from the goods paying a duty of twenty-five per centum ad valorem as costing less than thirty three and one third cents per square yard, were excepted flannel and baizes, which were to pay a duty of thirty three and a third per cent. The committee have proposed to change all these ad valorem duties upon cloths, to specific square yard duties, making the same exceptions which are made in the act of 1824. Some of these exceptions the committee have left unaltered, and others they have proposed a small increase of duty upon. The article of blankets now pays a duty of 25 per cent, ad valorem, and they propose to increase this duty to 35 per cent. This they have done, because they think the testimony warrants them in the belief, that, if the manufacture of blankets

is encouraged in this country, they

can be made here as cheap, in reference to the quality of the blanket, as they are now imported, and that, in this manufacture, a consumption may be found for large quantities of our native wool. The

committee also consider blankets an article so essentially necessary for the soldier as to become an object of national policy,

and a necessary for which we ought not to be dependent upon any foreign country.

The propositions of the committee as to the alteration and increase of duties upon woollens, generally, are as follows: 1st. Upon all manufacturer of wool, or of which wool shall be a component part, the actual value of which, at the place whence imported, shall not exceed fifty cents per square yard, a specific duty of sixteen cents upon every square yard.

2d. Upon all manufactures of wool, or of which wool shall be a component part, the actual value of which, at the place whence imported shall exceed 50 cents

per square yard, and shall not exceed $1 per square yard. 3d. Upon all manufactures of wool, or of which wooll shall be a component part, the actual value of which, at the place whence imported, shall exceed 1 dollar per square yard, and shall not exceed $2 50 per square yard, a specific duty of $1 upon every square yard. 4th. Upon all manufactures of wool, or of which wool shall be a component part, the actual value of which at the place whence imported shall exceed $2 50 per square yard, shall be deemed to have cost $4 per square yard, and, at such valuation, shall be charged with, and pay a duty of, 40 per cent. ad valorem. 5th. Upon all manufatures of woll &c. the actual value of which, at the place whence imported, shall exceed $4 per square yard, shall be charged with, and pay a duty of, 45 per cent. ad valorem. It will thus be seen, that the propositions made by the committee, if adopted, will give a considerable increase upon the present rates of duty, in any event, and may give a very large increase, if the importations should not be regulated by the rates of the duty. Should they be so regulated, the intermediate spaces would be left entirely to be supplied by the American manufacturer; and this, it is believed, would not only furnish him a market for the great body of his cloths, but would enable him to compete with the foreigner, even at the prices at which the minimum principle does not operate extensively to increase the duty. The committee have not gone to the extent propsed by many of the memorials, in the regulation of these durites, but they have gone to the extent to which, from the evidence taken by them, they believe the prosperity of our woollen manufactures require. Hemp and flax, and some of the manufactures from them, have next claimed the consideration of the committee. The evidence which they have collected upon these subjects, though by no means voluminous, in their opinion, satisfactorily proves, that large sections of the country are capable of producing either kind of the raw material above mentioned, to any extent. So far as the committee have been able to learn, the State of Kentucky seems to have paid the most attention to the culture of hemp, and at this time, to possess the most extensive manufactories of the artical of any State in the Union: while the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey seem, as yet, to take the lead in the growing and manufacture of flax. Yet, there cannot be a doubt, but that the soil of either os these states, as well as many, and, perhaps, most of the other states, is well adapted to the growth of either hemp of flax, and that they only need the consumption in duck, cordage, &c of our extensive commerce, and of our growing navy, to give to these branches of agriculture, an encouragement which would soon make the raw materials, articles, not of import, but of export, and would supply the wants of our own country with as cheap and as valuable a fabric as is now obtained from foreign hands. Indeed, if there are any articles, the produce of agricultural and manufacturing labor, which more than others, would seem to claim the fostering care of Government, not as a matter of policy merely, but as a matter both of interest and independence, hemp and flax would seem peculiarly to belong to them. These are materials the growing of which brings into profitable use, not only the fertile lands of the country, but the active labor of the husbandman, and the manufacturing of which into the fabrics of most extensive untility, would seem to be so simple and easy, as not to require the aid of foreign skill in its accomplishment. And to our commerce in peace, and to our Navy in war, as well as to the common uses of all classes of society, materials and fabrics of more prime necessity cannot be named. The committee cannot here refrain from directing the attention of the House to the testimony of a very intelligent manufacturer of flax, which will be found to compose a part of the evidence herewith reported. From the facts stated by him, it would seem that the alleged inferiority of the American hemp and flax, when compared with the foreign, arises, not from any inferiority of either of the materials as grown in this country, but from not pulling or harvesting the crops at the proper time, and from giving them a dew, instead of a water-rot. The committee

solicit particular attention to this part of the evidence they have taken, and hope it may attract the particular notice of the farmers of the country generally. The principal additions which the committee have proposed upon these articles, are upon the manufactured materials, and upon sail duck. The increase proposed up-

on raw hemp, is $10 per ton, and that upon raw flax, is $9 per ton; and both are made progressive, until the duty shall be $60 per ton upon each; it now being $85 upon hemp, and 15 per cent. or about equal to $36 per ton upon flax. The proposition is to change the duty upon sail duck, from an ad valorem duty of 15 per cent, to a specific duty of 9 cents per square yard, and to regulate the drawback upon the article. The next subject in order, though not second in importance to the agricultural interets of the country, which has occupied the attention of the committee, in the draft of the bill they submit to the House, is that of a further protection to the domestic spirits distilled from grain in the United States. And here the Committee feel bound to inform the House, that it is not with any view to benefit the manufacturer of this description of ardent spirits, that they have at all entertained the subject. It is the interest, and solely the interest, of the farmer who grows the grain from which these spirits are distilled, which renders it a subject at all worthy of the consideration of Congress, as connected with the protection of the industry and substantial interests of the country. But, if the most extensive farming interests of these United States, the grain growing interests of almost every section of the country, are subjects of importance, then surely, the protection of domestic spirits, distilled from grain, cannot be unimportant: For it is a fact, too weell and two generalIy known to require a repetition by the committee, that this manufacture has, for a number of years now last past, afforded almost the only market for the coarse grains, in the interior of the country, These grains are of so bulky and so heavy a nature, compared with their present market values, that they will not bear transportation beyond a very limited distance, even when water communication is afforded; and where this means of transportation is not enjoyed, their ability to reach a market is restricted with extremely narrow limits — But did not even this insuperable difficulty exists, it is equally certain that our large market towns do not, and have not afforded even a tolerable market for these grains in kind, for some years last past, nor do the commitee see that there in any prospect they will do while our foreign relations remain as they now are. But convert these grams into spirits, and a partial market is afforded, not profitable, it is true, to the enterprise of the farmer, but better than an entire loss. The Committee refer the House, for evidence to support these positions, to the testimony of the witnesses who have been examined upon this subject. A perfect remedy to the farmer for these evils, they do not believe to be within the reach of Congress. But partial relief world seem to be very plainly presented. Our tables of imports, for the last six years, show a very regular annual importation of foreign spirits from grain and other materials, varying from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 gallons, a very small share of which is re-exported, and the residue is consumed in this country, and, consequently to that extent, limits the demand tor the domestic spirits. The Committee are aware that the time has been when the whiskey of this country would have been a very unacceptable exchange for foreign spirits to the higher classes of consumers. But they do not believe that that objection can, at this time be alleged. Such has been the advance in skill & experience in the art of distilling, whiskey of this country has become a very palitable and a very fashionable, as it no doubt is the least injurious liquor. The Committee therefore cannot suppose that the comforts, or even the Iuxuries of our citizens, will be much restricted or materially affected by such an increase of duty upon foreign spirits as will reduce the quantity imported. But as inseparably connected with the subject of foreign spirits, is that of spirits distilled in our own country, from foieign materials. Although the committee have no means of ascertaining the quantity of this kind of spirits, at present distilled in the United States, yet, from the large importations of the material from which it is made there is strong reason to conclude that the number of gallons must be somewhat greater than the whole number of gallons of foreign spirits imported. The importation of molasses into this country, for the last six years, has ranged from 11,