The New York Herald Newspaper, March 27, 1844, Page 2

“ trade,” the better it would be consider- pe ee By ne means, intended to be asserted that all the citizens of either of these sections of the country entertain opinions, or take positions, as extreme as those here stated. On the contrary, it is believed that if any, in fact, do, a very small mi- nority in either section, whether as a matter of ciple or of expediency, would wish to see the SeSalation of Congress take either of these extreme forms; and this reference is made to the manner of advocating these Seponied claims and rights sometimes resorted to, for the purpose of drawing the palpable inference, that any degree of earnest- nese in ing such extremes, even in debate, can- not be likely to hasten an approach to that mean upon which alone wise and just legislation can be based, when interests really conflicting are to be affe It is not to be doubted that the opinions enter- tained in every section of the oan try as to the form and policy of a proper tariff law, are honestly believed to be such as the true interests the section where they prevail naturally dictate, nor that those interests are in- tended to be faithfully maintained and de.ended by every representative of them. When, however, interests 80 extended, 40 various, 80 diversified and so conflicting, a3 the interests culture, com- ‘merce, and manufactures, throughout this wide- read country, cannot fail to’be, in reference to the distribution of taxation between them,—when such interests must all be seriously affected by a ‘single law, no advocate of either of these great interests, or of any branch of either, can reasonably expect, or should expect, that the peculiar interest which’ he represents shall be alone consulted; or its relief from burden, or its direct advancement, alone considered and provided for. Nor can it be matter of just disappointment or surprise, if a law so partial shall have passed, or shall hereafter pass, that it ismade the subject of constant Spusation an chuaiy: Any legislation (and especially any such legislation as our tariff laws) to be permanent,must be just; and to be jus ,it must have the nearest at- tainable approach to equality of action upon all the Breat leading imterests of all sections of the coun- i so far as those interests are affected by the aw. These are principles which none will dispute.— Itis their application to the details of a tariff bill which will furnish the ground for disputation, as it has the ground of difficulty in the action of the committee, and must in the action of the House.— Still, when advocates equally confident, and equal- ly earnest and sincere, are ready to demand, on be- half of every interest, that it shall be peculiarly fa- vored in the formation of any bill; and when each is seen to contend, aot merely that his opponents do not understand and correctly comprehend the full and true bearings of a proposed law upon the particular interest he espouses, but that they are equally mistaken as to the proper manner of pa- tronising the interests they themselves favor, it would seem to be at least possible that all who take these extremes may be partially in error; and it must show that much is to be yielded, on all sides, in a spirit of generous concession and har- mony, or that no legislation can be reached, which can give quiet and peace and satisfaction to the country, or permanency to the legislation itself. Under the fall force of these impressions, the com- mittee have entered upon the difficult and responsi- ble duty of revising the present tariff law, and re- commending ex ensive modifications of it. It has been their most earnest intention to avoid the ex- tremes above alluded to, and at least to proceed riff of 1816, though intended by many of its support- ers to be a revenue measure, was strongly protec- tive upon many articles, as a reference to its pros visions will show. Yet the manufacturing interests were not content with the protection it al — Those who were established desired larger profits ; and those who wished to h new branches of manufacture, desired an extension of the bene- fits, or fancied benefits, to their interests ; and the tariff of 1824 followed, apparently designed to ac- complish these objects. Still, satisfaction on the part of some of the manufacturing interests was not manifested ; and in three years ‘the woollens bill,” so called, providing almost exclusively for the benefit of the manufacturers of wool, to the exclu- sion of the agricultural and other great interests, was brought before Congress, The agitation of this measure roused the attention of the country, and produced the suspicion that the manufacturers were seeking to protect themselves at the expense, and to the ree pope of the farming and planting inter- ests ; and the result was, the tariff law of 1828—a law which has ever been considered as a “ protec- tive” as contradistinguished from a ‘‘ revenue” ta- riff, and which, upon its passage, received from one of the prominent advoeates of the manufacturing interests the severe appellation of the “‘ bill of abo- minations.” —_ i ‘ During all this period a heavy debt was pressi upon the country, and its extinguishment woul abeors any s@plus of revenue beyond meeting the ordinary expenses of the government ; though itis beliey.d, from what the committee can learn of the history of that time, that considerations of reve- nue had very little to do with the formation or pas- sage of the tariff bill of 1828, and that the extreme of protection to all interests constituted the govern- ing principle in that legislation. Combinations of circumstances in this country and in Europe made thislaw productive of revenue beyond the anticipa- tions of any who speculated upon that subject at the time of its passage ; and the tariff of 1832 was the result. The law was evidently intended as an adjustment of the duties upon a permanent basis, but the impulses which had been fiver. by the pre- vious legislation were too powerful to be sufficient... ly controlled by it. Surpluses of revenue continued to accumulate in the public treasury ; the debt dis- appeared, or means for its final extinguishment were pussessed ; and the discontents against the high duties were rather increased than abated, by whet was considered an imperfect and insufficient remedy for the evils complained of. This state of things produced the ‘* compromise act,” so called ; which, acting gradually and si- tently, leftthe public mind in a state of apparent aut in reference to legislation upon the tariff,while that action was producing consequences not less important to all interests, public and private, than the changing legislation of Congress has produced atother periods. The first evil—and a fearful one it was—was the vast annual surpluses of revenue, occasioned by the very gradual reduction of the high duties “upon imports, and the enormous sales of lands which characterized that period. It_ will be a long time before the country will forget the expansions of currency, the monstrous abuses of credit, the speculations, corruptions and frauds growing out of that riod. It is not pretended or believed that our legislation upon the subject of the tariff produced th state of things here referred to ; but merely that its action, at that period of pecuniary excesses, happened to be such as to favor and promote them. No safe arrangement of the previous high rates of duty could, perhaps, have avoided this injurious re- safely, if they should be found not to have advan- ced as far into the correction of existing errors as the House may suppose justice and sound policy require. andes F It is not the object of this report to attempt a dis- cussion of the great questions connected with politi- cal economy, the laws of trade, and the like, which surrounds this subject. These questions have been so frequently and so fully discussed in Congress, and are now undergoing that discussion, so much more ably than this committee could hope to give it, and so much more fully than the reasonable limits of a report would permit, that they feel ex- cused from entering upon it. The committee have endeavored, however, not to forget that the duty they are called upon to dis- charge, isto measure, from the best information they can obtain, and according to the best judg- ments they can form, the extent of taxation which it is necessary to continue upon. the people of the country, 1n order to secure a certain supply of money to the public treasury, to arrest the further aceumu- lation of a public debt, and to provide the m ans oa an early paymentof the debt already contract- e They have already stated the grounds upon which they determine that additional revenue is necessary to secure these objects; and their examinations of the present tariff law, and of the import tables, have demonstrated to them a proposition which they be- lieve is not controverted in any quarter—that, to ob- tain increased revenue trom the imports charged with duties under the existing law, the rates of duty established by that taw must, in the general, be re- duced. The same examinations have fully satisfied them—as they believe the fac’s they present with this report will satisfy the House—-that equal justice to the whole country, to the whole people, and toall the great interests of both, imperiously requires a re- duction and eqnalization of these rates of duty. Still, the committee have proceeded upon ile as- sumption that it is the settled and unquestioned de- termination of the country, as they believe it to be its wisest and soundest policy, that so much reve- nue as cannot be derived from other present exist- ing sources, and as shall from time to time be found necessary to defray the expenses of the government, and pay off every public debt constitutionally con- tracted, shall be raised by duties upon foreign im- ports. This has been the policy and the practice of the government in time of peace, and when our for- eign trade is exempt from the hazard and embar- Tassments of a state of war, from its institution to the present time ; and so successfully has this course sustained us against the crushing influence of en- during debt, and oppressive and odious internal tax- ation, that a change of the policy is not, in the judg ment of the committee, to be contemplated. They have seen no evidence to satisfy them that any con- siderable portion of the people would even submit to a change from this mode of levying the necessa- ry fede reyennes, to that of internal ta: tion, of any description, or in any form; less that they have formed so strong an at- chment for perfect protection upon the one side, or perfectly free trade upon the other, as to desire to adopt either, at the expense of this rich and otherwise exhaustless source of revenne, and the transfer of millions of dollars of annual taxes to their manufactories, their workshops, or their farms. To obtain revenue “‘to pay the debis, and pre- vide for the common defence and general weltare of the United States,” was tne object for which the constitution conferred upon Congress the power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises ;” and while a neglect to lay the taxes necessary to accomplish these objects would be the omission of a duty, on the one hand, the imposition of such rates of duty as should! prove to defeat revenue, would be an equally clear abuse of the power, upon the other. Tse committee hasendeavored to gov- ern itsaction by a constant reference to the object of this grant of power, and so to measure its recom- atLons as Hot intentionally to fall into either of these errors, Suill, its members are well aware of. the defects in their information, and in their practi- | acquaintance with the great interests involved ir action, and they do not pretend to believe, oreven hope, that they have avoided all errors.— On the contrary, they consider it more than proba- ble that experience may show that such a tariff bill as they recommend will, in practice, in some parti- culars, violate the rules by which they have intend- ed to be governed; that some duties, reduced as they propose, may still be too high for revenue du- ties, and that others would bear raising with advant- age to the revenue. It ts so difficult to tell what will be the effect of any tariff law upon the trade of the country, until experience has developed its practical effect, that the committee have not ex- pected to accomplish more thay pproach to a standard, w » Improved and perfected by the les- sons of experience, may finally be seen to be just and equitable to all interests, ‘and may, there fore, meet the apprebation of an intelligent and patriotic people, and thus become some what permanent No complaint has been more universal, or, as the committee believe, better founded in fact, than that which comes from the manufacturers,the merchants, and all other classes of business-men interested in the matter, and relates to the frequent and extreme changes and flactuations so constantly experienced in the legislation of Congress upon the subject of the tariff. The eauses of these changes, and of their extreme character, appear to the committee to be most apparent ; as it does also that those who most camplais of the changes, and are the most deeply aflected by them, are themselves, to a very great extent, the authors of their own misfortunes from this source. Those interested in having high rates of duty imposed upon what are known as “ the pro- tected articles,” take the extreme position upon that side of the question ; and whenever they find a Con- grea, the majority of which is willing to favor their peculiar interests, or whenever combinations of cir- cumstances present the opportunity, urge the esta- blishment of rates of daty manifestly prohibitory, to an extent destructive of revenue, injurious to trade, and burdensome to the country; and which caenot, therefore, in the nature of things, remain long without exciting discontent, remonstrance, and change. Upon the other side of the question, those who believe themselves to be peculiarly in. jared by high daties, whenever a dimunition or an Increase ot revenue calls fora reduction of the tariff, or the discontents against extreme and hibitory duties have become predominant 1 public mind, and govern the action of a parts lat Congress, are equally liable to take the ‘other ea. trem>, and to establish rates of duty #9 low to bring an empty treasury, a necessity for av iy ‘rease of the tariff, and a consequent fluctuation to the opposite extreme, _ A glanee at our more modern legislation uyor this subject will illustrate these positions, The ta- = sult; and the deposite with the States of more than twenty eight millions of the surplus revenue, was the strongest declaration on the part of Congress of its conviction of the existence of the disease, and of the agency of its legislation to give it strength and expansion, as it was an effort on its part to change the direction of that agency, and to provide the appearance of security for the public treasure against the crash which it was seen must soon fol- low the wild excesses. The crash did come, and its blighting eflects equalled the picture which the most vived imagination had drawn of prostration, distress, ruin and bankruptcy. The influence o! this sweeping reaction was less sudden, though not less certain, upon foreign commerce, than upon do- mestic interests ; and, as the high duties were but gradually reducing, and were not reduced to the established limit under the operation of the com- promise act, the public treasury was not absolutely closed, though it has been seen that annual deficien- cies of the accruing revenue were experienced from the time of the revulsion in 1837 These have necessarily increased, as the reduction of duties under the compromise act have proveeded, until the final fall of every rate of duty to 20 per cent, or under, on the 30th of June 1842. The sudden and heavy reductions of duty on the 3lst of December 1841, and the 30th of June 1842, (being the last un- der that act,) were well calculated to alarm the fears of the manufacturing interests, if not to press severely upon their business ;_and in the face of an unsupplied treasury, and a rapidly increasing public debt, it was to have been expected that they would make a further eflort for renewed protection. It was to have been hoped, however, as the commit- tee think, that the sad experience of the past, it not to their peculiar interests, certainly to their country and allits other great interests, would have induced them to moderate their wishes, and only to ask such duties as the wants of the braeity should promise to make permanent, and which would therefore be reasonably satisfactory to the whole country. This effort was made on the part of the manufac- turing interests, at the annual session of Congress of 1841, ’42, and resulted in the tarifflaw now under the consideration of the tommittee. If the duties established by this law be the duties prayed for by the manufacturers, (of which the committee know nothing, beyond theirappearance in the law,) one of two conclusions must certainly follow: either that they have mistaken the practical effect and mea- sure of value of the specific duties imposed, and of the minimums used, when this mode of enactment is adopted to regulate the duty; or, that modera- tion, which the committee would have hoped for, and’which they think would have been so wise and salutary, as well to their interests as to all others, cannot have prevailed with those connected with several important branches of manufacture, to any very great extent. It cannot, certainly, be claimed that Sone neEty, for this law was even to be hoped, as the most solemn declarations of these whose votes made it a law, proclaimed the exces- sive duties it imposed, and gave assurance of the earliest practicable modification. When it shallbe seen, uyon a comparison of the rates, that quite a number of the duties under this law are even high- er than were the duties upon the same articles un- der the tariff of 1828, neither these declarations of those who gave reluctant votes for the law, nor a proposition thus early to modify it, can create either surprise or disappointment. he committee have givensthis brief and imper- t_ sketch of the history of our legislation upon this important and difficult subject, to render intel- ligible their regret at the commencement of ano- ther round of this extreme legislation. It is true the circle which they have described, embracing the period from 1816 to 1841, promises to. be, re- duced to a right line, and, instead of graduations of ascent and descent, we seem more likely to step, directly, from extreme to extreme. ‘This first step is from a maximum rate of d of 20 per cent., to above the elevation of the tariff of 1825; and it re- quires nothing but the experience of the past to force the assurance upon all, that, if the exces-ive duties imposed by this law. shall be adhered to, and all reasonable modifications resisted effectnal- ly in this Congress, a period of continual and in- creasing agitation will be endured until the assem- bling of another, only then to witness a retrograde movement, probably as extreme and as direct as this advance was sudden and complete. This agitation, and this repetition of fluctuations from extreme to extreme, the committee most pro- foundly deprecate. No interest can prosper, and every one must suffer, under them ; and it has been- their earnest object and purpose, in the modifica- tions he recommend, to avoid a necessity for either. Fence, instead of framing a new bill, they have preferred to propose action upon the existing law; and, instead of acting upen that, by a uni- form and horizontal rule, after the manner of the compromise act, they have preferred to act, in de- tail, upon every duty which they suppose requires increase or diminution, and upon every provision of the law which appears to them to require amend- ment. The inducements to this course of action ve been various. The committee prefer to show ifically, upon the face of the law, the change which is made. Then, a very large propottion of the duties proposed to be reduced are specific, some of which are changed to ad-valorem duties, and others are retained in a specific form. And a third inducement has been, that the committee did not think it expedient to bring all the high duties to one level, but to act themselves, and [eave the Ifouse to act upon each important article, or class of articles, separately; and to determine the rate of duty proper to be imposed upon it or them, with- out an embarrassing connection with any other ar- ticles, involving diflerent interests, It may be objected to this course of action, that the reductions proposed are too sudden, and wold Which the ee process would compel it to tra- Yel to reach the same point. It is prompt medi cation which the committee think most expedient to prevent the accumulatepn of those business dis- eases which, as in 1882, will resist 1 and le- rate remedies; and the strengthening of those dis- contents, which, reachin a point beyend resistance and restraint, will be almost certain to carry the work of reduction to the opposite extreme. It may also be objected, 1! we change from specific to ad-valorem duties is an impolitic change, as rendering the collection of the duties more diffi- cult, and leas cert There is some strength in these suggestions; and, wit an aintanoe with every branch of manufacture perfectly minute, it might be possible to impose specific duties which would be just and equitable, With the informa- tion in the possession, or within the reach of the committee, however, an arrangement of specific duties, whieh would not do what the present law does—tax the cheap and plain article, worn or by the middling and poorer classes, just as much as the fine and costly article is taxed, which the rich only can purchase—would be entirely impoesi- ble. Such is the effect of the minimums in the sent law regulating the duties upon cotton fa- rics, and upon gome other articles. Such is the effect of the specific duty of $2 50 upon the pound of silk goods.. Whether the fabric be firm and heavy, and plain and strong, such as is worn in cominon life, and by all elasses of eociety, or be the richest satins or the finest laces, every pound in weight, cost what it may, ($5 or $30,) must pay its tax of $2 50—in the former case, fifty per cen- tum ad valerem; and in the latter, eight and a third per centum. Such is the effec: of all the square yard duties upon flannels, baizes, carpets, and the like; and, indeed, upon many articles named in the present law. ‘This, as the committee think, is not a violation merely, hut a perversion of one of the principles which should govern this le- peace, If discriminations are made between the various qualities of goods of the same general description, they should clearly be in favor of the cheaper and more common, and against the finer and richer qualities; and most especially when the duty is imposed upon articles of clothing—becanse discriminations, when made, should be in favor of the poor ag against the rich, and in favor of a ne- cessary as against a luxury. The. coarser and cheaper woollens and cottons are necessaries; and so may be the silks, to some extent; while the finer and richer articles of all these fabrics partake much more of the character of luxuries than ne. cessaries. So the poor must have the coarse and cheap articles ; while the rich may have them, or the finer and richer, at their pleasure. The committee have already made use of the terms “protection” and “free trade,” without giving thoze definitions of them which have and will govern that use in this report. And as the terms have become technical, as connected with legislation upon the tariff—without, as they think. being always very clearly defined in the minds o those who use them, and certainly not in the minds of those who read and hear—they feel bound to give the sense in which they use them, and in which they wish them to be understood when found in this paper. This they find it the more necessary to do, because they believe the practical meaning given to the terms, in the different sections of the country, are very different ; and because their de- finition of the term “ protection” will show their understanding of what should be considered a re- venue, and what a protective duty—a point u| which they wish to be clearly ‘ande?stood, whether or not the House shall consider their definition sound and correct. ' : They begin, then, by stating that they censider the lowest possible duty necessarily protective, to its extent, though it may be imposed with the single view to revenue, and may be a revenue duty, in the strictest sense of those terms. Commencing at this point, they think that the duty upon any given article should be considered, and is properly called, a revenue duty, so long as an increase ol the rate will increase the amount of revenue de- rived from the importation of the article. This eonclusion is based upon the simple fact, that, up to this point, the way to increase the revenue from the given article is to raise the rate of duty ; and, although the degree of Foecnen afforded, by the duty 1s increased with the increase of the rate, yet that is an incident, and an unavoidable incident, and cannot change the nature and character of the duty, as a duty to raise, to increase revenue. Pass that point, and raise the rate of duty so high that its prohibitory action diminishes the amount of reve- nue collected under it, and its character is changed. The protection afforded by it is increased, while the revenue it yields is diminished; thus giving protection as its chief fruit ; and revenue as the in- cident. Continue to raise the rate until the prohi- bitory action of the duty becomes perfect, all im- portation of the article cease, and no revenue is realized from the duty. Then, certainly, it cannot be considered or called a revenue duty, and its ex- clusive object must be prctection. It must be, therefvre, a protective duty, in the strict sense of the term} and, in the opinion of the committee, it is clearly entitled to that appellation from the point where its prohibitory became paramount to its re- venue powers, and its increased rate ceases to in- crease the amount of revenue collected under it. This conclusion is founded upon the equally simple fact, that, at this elevation, the way to increase the revenue is to diminish the rate of duty. The power “to lay and collect duties” has been carried be- yond its object of obtaining revenue ‘* to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and eneral welfare of the United States;” and a re- duction of the rate of the duty only will restore the exercise of the power, to that object. The under- standing of this committee, therefore, is, that while ery duty is necessarily protective to its extent, yet every duty is to be considered, and 1s properly denominated, a revenue duty, the rate of which yields the largest amount of revenue from the im- portation of the article upon which it is imposed, or the rate of which is below that point, so that an increase ot the rate would produce an increase of the revenue ; and that every duty is be considered, and is properly denominated, a protective duty, the rate of which is so high as to diminish the amount of revenue derived from the importations of the ar- ticle apon which it is imposed, and the rate of which requires to be reduced to increase the reve. nue. And when a given amount of revenue is de- sired to be raised upon any given article of impor- tation, the committee regard the lowest rate of duty which will effect the result as the true and legitimate revenue duty. : This will show what description of a law the committee would denominate a revenue, and what a protective tariff; and to what extent they would give the one character or the other to any given jaw. The protection afforded under a revenue tariff, thus defined, they would denominate inci- dental ; and, if the revenue be required, they can- not see that the consequent protection can be a subject of grievance or complaint on the part of any interest. The protection afforded by a protec- tive tariff, according to the same definition, is di- rect and positive ; operates to diminish or destroy the revenue; and constitutes, as the committee believe, an exercise of the power to lay and collect duties entirely indefensible in principle and policy, and often furnishing broad ground, for just com- plaint. The terms ‘ pense protection” the com- mittee understand to be synonymous with perfect prohibition; and, therefore, entirely destructive of all revenue, because prohibitory of all importations ‘The terms ‘‘ free trade,” in their broad sense, tne committee understand to be equally inconsistent with the idea of a revenue from imports, because they suppose that trade, which is perfectly free, cannot be burdened with any duties not imposed to furnish facilities to itself. Ta this sense, they are assured the phrase is understood in some portions of the country, when used in connexion with legis- lation of this’ description ; and the advocates of a system of free trade are supposed to be also advo- cates of a change of one system of revenue from duties on imports, to internal taxation, direct and indirect. The committee believe that, if any hold these views, much the largest class of those who call themselves friends of free trade do not attach to the terms any such extent, and only intend to be understood by the free trade they advocate, so much freedom of trade as may be enjoyed under a system of duties arranged with sole reference to a supply of the public treasury, and the rates estab- lished as low as the economical wants of that trea- sury will allow. : Tn the same manner, the committee have reason to suppose the terms “* protection,” ‘friends of pro- tection, and of the protective system,” have attach- ed to them a very diflerent signification, as used by diflerent persons, and especially in different sec- tions of the country. One calls himself a friend of protection, and understands and intends only that incidental protection afforded by a revenue. tariff, as the committee have defined such a tariff | An- other uses the same language, and intends by it an arrangement of duties with primary reference to protection, leaving revenue as the incident—carry- ing the rates of duty to partial or perfeet prohibi- tion, as the interest to be protected shall seem to require ; in short, intends a protective tariff, a3 the committee have defined such a tariff. These wide- ly different meanings given to the same language be better made more gradually. To this the com- mittee reply, that this law, having been in opera- tion only since the 26th of August, 1842—now but ear and a half—if important and permanent ications are to be made, in their judgment they should be made as promptly as safety to all the great interests involved will permit, Time has not yet been allowed for new establishments to grow up, to any great extent, under the encour ment held out by these high’ duties. The law has not been in operation sufficiently long, permanent- ly to have changed the course of trade into a con- formity with its policy. And existing manulactur- ing establishments will be more benefited by a prompt redaction to a reasonable and stable starcd- ard, than by a continuance of the present rates, (1 ‘year ortwo, under constant agitation. By such a trade will be sooner left to accom. If to the new state of things, and wil saved the many years of suspense through modate | and the same phrases, in the same sections of coun- try, by persons entertaining these different opinions, and not srr aay expressing themselves j the same general language, give rise to greatly mis- taken impressions in other sections where the terms “ protection” and ‘prohibition’ are held to, be neatly, synonymous, and cause the friends of only that degree of protection as is consistent with a Wise and fair arrangement of a revenue tariff to be as widely misunderstood as are those who call themselves friends of free trade, and yet only mean it in that modified sense which the committee bave explained, and which is also consisteat with a fiir revenue tariff. Ifthe committee a cannot fail to bes the means upon t incidenta' protection undera revenue tariff, and of free trade subject to a revenue tariff) is not so broad as{to cause differences which should be ir- ight in these remarks, it at the line which separates t s vexed question (the friends of resoncilable, or to excite feelings wi disturo the harmony of the Union. the exertion of the taxing power only to obtain re- venue “‘to pay the debts, and petal for the com- mon defence and general welfare” of the country. —Both consider duties imposed upon imports as taxes imposed upon the people for the benefit of their treasury—not as a bonus conferred upon one class or ipterest in the community, at the expense of all the others. And both must concede that these burdens should be imposed in a manner to be as little felt, and to do as little injury us possible to all the citizens and all the interests of the country. Their only differences, therefore, must arise as to the articles to be charged with duty, and asto the distributions of the rates of duty upon the articles tobe made dutiable; the necessities of the public treasury being always, with both, the measure of taxation. pe The extremes in this controversy—the friends of perfectly free trade, and of perfect protection— though at an immeasurable and irreconcilable dis- tance from each other, so far as tradefis concerned, are nearer than the means, as respects the revenue, as either system is alike perfect destructicn to that. Certainly, if no duties for revenue are imposed, to leave trade free, no revenue can be realized; and it is equally eertain, if such rates of duty be establish- ed, to secure perfect protection, as to prohibit im- po! ions, the seme result, a5 to revenue, must be af fe i xperienced, A trade perfectly locked up by pro- itory duties, can no more yield revenue than a trade perfectly free from duties; and either of these eye carried perfectly out, must equally preduce the necessity for internal taxation \e supply the public treasury its loss of the revenue from the cus- toms. The committee have intended to proj modifications to the existing tariff law, A in if adopted, would constitute it a revenue tariff within the rules they have before laid down. Still, finding agreat proportion of the most important duties much above what they believe to be the revenue limit, and anxious not to fall into the opposite ex- treme, but to consult all the interests to te aflected by a reduction of the duties, asfaras that can be done consistently with bringing back the rates within the revenue principle, they have preferred rather to stop short of, than to fall below, the rates fixed by that principle. Not pretending to be able to determine the exact point to which the rates of duty upon any of these articles may be carried be- fore revenue will be diminished, it has been their intention to approach that line cautiously, and to be sure not to oross it. The strong reductions to be made, in many cases, has seemed to them to render it fae tu and proper that, as to those in- terests, the highest rates, consistent with the reve- nue, should be suffered to remain, until experience under the law so amended, shall determine whe- ther the necessities of the treasury are likely to re- gelke the continuance of such duties. itd with these modifications, a surplus of revenue shallot be experienced as one of the practical effects of the law, then will it be far better that these high rates have been suffered to remain, than to have reduced them below the requirements of the trea- sury, again tobe raised at the hazard of a renewal of prohibitory duties, and repetition of changes. If, on the other hand, the rates proposed to be re- tained shall prove to be above lat are necessary for revenue, the ascertainment of that fact must furnish information upon which a further reduction to the proper revenue point can be much more safely and certainly made than at present. ‘The committee desire, however, that their views of principle and p toy pom this point may not be misunderstood. Yielding, as they have done, by their action, all the incidental protection which a high revenue tariff can afford, they must be dis- Cony understood to assent to the continuance of that degree of protection, only upon the condition that the demands meen the treasury shall require the high duties, and only so long as that neccesity shall continue to require them. Whenever a re- duction of the public expenditures, or the payment of such portions of the public debt as can be paid off, or both, shall present a surplus of revenue— then, Sp ony clays and before the evils attendant upon a superabundant revenue shall be again visited upon the Sonny in excessive expenditures, dan- gerous and mischievous deposites, or distributions to the States, a further reduction of the duties should be made, to what shall eppear to be the re- venue standard. In this way the proper point for a stable and permanent system of duties may be reached, without further fluctuations from extreme to extreme, and without any fature violent change very materially affecting the course df trade, or the incidentally protected interests. That the com- mittee have mistaken the true revenue point, in some of the rates of duty they prepoee, they repeat, is very possible ; and experience may point out some further moderate changes, to bring the law within the principles to which it has been their ob- ject to limit it. The duties proposed to be retained upon iron and sugar, are retained in specific forms, and the rates ad valorem may still be too high for the revenue rule. {fthis shall prove to be so, the error of the committee will have proceeded from the peculiar character of the interestsinvolved, and the very high duties which have been imposed upon them under former tariff laws. The former is an article so essentially connected with all the public defences of the country,and so indispensable a neces- sary in time of war, that the earnest desire not to diminish the incidental protection which a revenue tariff may extend to it may have caused the com- mittee to err in the opposite direction; while the latter article has become so essential an agricultural staple in an important section of the Union, in ad- dition to the extensive manufacturing establish ments connected with it in other sections, as to have excited the same desire, and perhaps led the committee into error. Still, independent of the compromises of opinion, unavoidable in framing a bill the object of which isto lower the rates of duty and to increase the amount of revenue, the com- mittee believe there are no twe of the protected articles which will bear an equal amount of daty, without a decrease in revenue, as sugar and iron. The committee have examined the tables of im- portations, the rates of duty under the former tariff jaws, and the information they have been able to collect from the importing merchants, with all the care and attention they are capable of bestowing upon them, and have acted according to their best judgments formed upon such information. Tt may be expected of the committee that the will make an estimate of the revenue to be real- ized under the rates of duty they propose to estab- lish; but they feel ‘humeelves wholly incompetent to do so to any useful purpose. They have looked over some of these estimates made by their prede- cessors upon occasions like the present, and com- red them with the facts subsequently ascertained from the practical operation of the laws in reference to which they were made They have also examined estimates of revenue made by saga- cious and able and experienced Secretarirs of the ‘Treasury—and that not under new, but unchanging legislation—and compared them with the revenue actually realized; and, in both cases, they have found the variations so wide, the disappointments so great, and in directions so various and opposite. that any detailed estimate they could form, in re ference to the new rates of duty they propose, would not, with themselves, have the least autho- rity, and should not, with the House, pass for any thing more than vague conjecture. he importa- tions, since the present law went into operation, compared with the importations of several previous ears, satisfy the committee that its provisions must be extensively prohibitory ; and the rates of duty they propose, compared with the rates under for- mer tariff laws, and with the revenue realized un- der those laws, have produced the belief in their minds, that the present law, modified as they re- commend, will, even in the present state of trade, (now only gradually rising from the most severe depression,) when it shall have had time for fair action, yield sufficient revenue, together with that to be derived from the lands and miscellaneous sources, to meet the ordinary expenses of the Go- neers gradually to extinguish the public lebt. The prominent facts upon which the committee have based their action, and formed the opinion last expressed, they have placed in tabular form, as far as that was susceptible of being done within a moderately narrow compass; and those tables and statements they annex to this report. It may be believed—as, indeed, the fact may turn out to be—that the revival of trade will be :o vigorous as, even under the existing law, to furnish the requisite amount of revenue forthe present and the next fiscal year, other than for the payment of those portions of the principal of the national debt which willbecome payable within those years. In- formation which has reached the committee since they have had this subject under consideration, and which is reaching them at the present time, tends to this conclusion. If, however, it shall be supposed that this more promising condition of the revenues, under the pre- sent law, supersedes the duty of modifications of that law, the committee are able to draw no such inference from the premises. On the contrary, if the fact shall turn out to be, that trade can so far force itself up, against the excessive duties im- posed by law, as to et the treasury with revenue, it will the more strongly prove to them the injustice of the law, and the imperative character of the duty of its prompt modification. The com- parative import table annexed to this report will 1- ustrate the prohibitory character of the present duties much more strongly than it can be done by words, and, for that reason alone, the duties should be reduced ; because it is palpable that, upon ma- ny articles, they are above the revenue standard acd the revenue will be more than compensated fora diminution of the rates, in the increase of trade, and, consequently, in the amounts of re nue from it, Again: if it shall be contended that trade has languished under these very high duties, until the wants of the country will force importations to 1! ordinary and usual amount, irrespective of the dn- ties, this argument will go too far, and prove too much. If well founded, it will prove that a surplus of revenue must be the speedy and unavoidable consequence of retaining the present rates of duty; ; and that a modification of them is as imperious! mecegsary, as it is to avoid a repetition of the pd consequent upon am excess of revenue—evils, as the recent experience of the country proves, not surpassed by any other which unwise, unjust, and excessive legislation has visited wpon an enterpris- i ople. : ng prowe in this aspect of the case, every interest but that of manufactures must demand a modifica- tion of the existing rates of duty. Commerce must demand it; that, relieved from its too heavy fetters it May again + into healthful and steady and prosperous life and action. Agriculture must de- mand it; that, commerce being again revived, it may find a market for its surplus Beyond the domes- tic consumption. And, in the deliberate judgment of the committee,manufactures should not be un ex- ception, butbhouls demand a reduction of these duties. Many of them are confessedly tar high- er than any manufacturing interest demands; while the duties whichgthe committee propose to retain in the protected articles, are, as they believe, abundantly sufficient tor any of those interests al- ready established in the country. That branch of manufacture which cannot sustain itself against fo- reign competition under a protection of from twen- ty-five to thirty dollars upon every one hundred dol- lars ip value of its‘production—must be very sickly —almost too sickly to authorize higher taxation upon an industrious people to sustain it. ‘The committee proceed to explain the tables and statements annexed. The first is a statement of the Hegister of the Treasury, taken from Senate document No. 45 of the present session, showing the imports and exports of the year ending on the 80th September last, made from returns received at the treasury, as far as such returns had been re- ceived on the 13th of Taunary last, when the decumeut bears date; and from an estimate of the Register, where the returns for the last quarter of the year covered by the statement had not been received. That the Register consi- dered the statement substantially accurate, the committee infer from the language he uses; and they suppose, therefore, that no very important re- turns were behind. This statement the committee mark A, and it shows that the whole amount of imports upon which duties were chargeable for the ew ending on the 30th day of September last, wus ut $48,789,934; of which $4,363,440 in value was re-exported with a drawback of duties, leaving but $44,426,494 to pay duties to the treasury. The se- cond table (marked B) is a comparative table of imports. The first column shows the average im- portations of the three years 1837, 1838, ana 1839, as the valnes are given in the import tables prepar- ed atthe Treasury Department The articles are named in the margin, following, as nearly as it has been possible, the order of the bill, und the desig- nation of articles named in it. The results placed in the first column of figures are obtained by tak- ing the value of imports of the article named in the margin, for each of the three years named, adding them together, and dividing the amount by 3; thus obtaining the average imports for the three years. The second column of figures is. composed in the same way, from the importations of the three years 1840, 1811, and 1842, and shows the average import of the article named for those three years. The third column of figures shows the ac- tual importa of the same articles for three quarters of a year, commencing on the Ist of October, 1842, and ending on the 30th of June, 1843. The returns of the imports of the fourth quarter of that year had not been received at the Treasury Department when this statement was called for bythe commit- tee. The object of confining the call toso late a period, will be seen to have been to get the actual importations under the present tariff law. The committee would have eos the importations for one whole year, because the comparison would then have been direct and simple. But it will be recollected that the present law was ap- proved on the 26th of August, 1842; that the period between that time and the 30th of September after, would be included in the accounts of importations of the quarter ending on the last named day; and that the law, though taking effect at its passage, could not have been known, go as to be in any per- fect operation, before about the Ist of October. Hence, it was impossible to go back beyond that day ; and the statement for the three quarters of a year comes up as far as the returns would permit, when it_was prepared at the office of the Register of the Treasury. The comparison will, however, answer all the purposes of erring a general judg- ment as to the practical effect of the present law upon the importations, if it be borne caretully in mind that the averages presented in the two first columns are for whole years, and that the actual importations presented in the third column are for three quarters only. The time covered by this comparative table is from the commencement of the year 1837, to the middle of the year 1843. At the fecnnine of this period, but two of the gradnal reductions of duty under the compromise act had taken place ; at the close of the year 1837, another of these reductions took place ; at the close of the ear 1839, another; at the close of the year 1841, halt the remaining excess “bove 20 per cent; and on the 30th duy of June, 1842, the residue of that excess. From the Ist of July to the 26th of Au- gust, in the last named year, no duty exceeded 20 percent, The great revulsions consequent upon the speculations of 1835 and 1836 took place in May, 1837, when almost every bank in the country eus- pended specie payments, and business of every de- scription received a shock from which no branch has yet perfectly recovered. Asa necessary con- sequence, trade has, during this waole period, as a eneral remark, been irregular, light, unstable, and feeble; though there are believed to have been pe- rieds, of very short duration, which the remark will not properly characterize. Ot the value of a comparative statement of importations during a time of so many adverse business influences, of such marked business irregularity, and of sucl: con- stantly changing legislative action, the members of the committee are no better judges than the other members of the House ; they present it, and the facts and circumstances which surrounded the period, and leave the inferences to each mind which shall examine the table. 5 i The fact of the great falling offin the importa- tions of many important articles, as well as in the aggregate of dutiable importations under the pre- sent law, will be apparent ; and whatever other in- fluences may have aflected the trade of the coun- try during the various years, it will be difficult to believe that the high duties under the present law have not had a powerful effect, if not the chief agency, in producing the result. The accounts of importations under the various tariff laws do not permit the comparison to be made as strikingly or as minutely as could be desirable ; because the present law classifies the articles, and imposes the duties, in many cases, so aeeeeoy: from the for- mer, that the comparison can only be made as to a general class of articles, and not between the va- rious qualities and descriptions of goods which compose the class. The third table (marked C) has been prepared for the double purpose of show- ing what the present law is; what duties it, infact, imposes; and what changes in those duties the cominittee propose to make ; exhibiting, as to eve- ry article, the rate or amount of the duty under the present law ; the rate or amount proposed to be re- tained ; and the amount of reduction or increase of every duty proposed to be changed. The margin of this table will show the names of the articles in the order in which Wi are named in the present law ; and the same order is retained, so far as the articles are named, in the proposed bill. The first column presents the duty upon each article as fixed. by the present law, whether ad valorem or specific; and when specific, the ad valorem rate also, which is equal to the specific duty. The only data diffi- cult to be obtained for the composition of this ta- ble, have been the ad valorem rates which are equivalent to the specific duties imposed by the law. The cemmittee have resorted to two modes to obtain these data. The first,and that upon which they base the table, was a call ide the Treasury Department for a statement of the actual importa- tions of the three quarters before mentioned, as shown by the returns from the custom houses.— Finding, as they did, that those returns after the quarter ending on the 30th of September, 1842, would not permit them to extend the call for @ whole year, the st: tement was required toembrace the names of the articles of import, as fully as they were kept by the collectors ; the values where the duties are ad yalorem under the present law, and the quantities and values where the duties are spe- cific, together with the amounts of duty actually paid, or charged and to be paid uponsuch importa- tions. In addition to this, the statement was re- nired, further, to give the rates of duty fixed by the present law, where the duties are a valorem ; and where they are specific, the rates fixed by the law, and the equivalent rates ad valorem, calcula- ted upon the value of the import for the three quar- ters, and the amount of duty paid upon it. Such a statement was obligingly furnished under the per mission and direction of the Secretary of the Trea- sury, and has been, toa very great extent, the guide af the committee in the proposed reductions where the duties are, by the present law, specific. This statement appears to them so valuable and go prac- tical, being based upon the actual transactions of three quarters of a year, under the o, eration of the present law, that they propose to annex itto thisre- port ; and they feel the more strongly bound todo this, becanse it is made the basis of the ad valorem rates, as equivalent to specific duties given in the first column of the table they have formed and are now describing, ‘The. second column of this table exhibits the rates of duty proposed to be retained by the bill reported by the committee, whether ad valorem or specific. The third column presents the amount of reduction for each duty, as fixed by the present law, which the committee propose to make in every case where they SN pa any redue- tion; and the fourth columa exhibits the amount of increase, in the few cases in which they. propos e to increase the rate of duty beyond that fixed by the present law. The fifth column presents the re- sults of the efforts of the committee, by a second mode, to learn what ad valorem rates are in fact equal to the specific du imposed under the pre- sentlaw. ‘This mode was, a resort to the import. ing merchants for statements from the actual trans- the law. A general circular was sent to the ipal importing houses in several of the } commercial cities, and the information communicated has been various and important.— In relation to the actual ad valorem rates of duty, equivalent to the specific duties, and the duties af- fected by the minimums under the present law, made frem the bills of purchases and accounts ¢ charges, the committee observe that the merchant rates usually exceed very considerably, those given in the treasury statement to which they have re- ferred. This, it is presumed, proceeds from the fact that the merchant statements are usually inade from a single invoice bill, iobebiy selected be- cause it is @ bill of goods of such quality as will show istinctly as any other the severity of the astys while bm fyeeery: statement Saxe a gene~ ral average rate upon the importations for th quarters of a year, of all the qualities ef the ane general class of g 4 For the same reason, a3 is supposed, the state - ments received from different houses as to the tuai ad valorem rate of duty upon an article ofthe same general denomination, Hier PU 4 differ seye- ral per cent. The statements of the merchants by no means extend to all the numerous articlesnamed in the table, but are rather confined to the mere important classes of articles. The differences be- tween these and the treasury statement do not ap- pear to the committee to be such as to invalidate the authority of either, but rather to con as to general accuracy, and, in any event,to afford the fullest evidence thar the ad valorem rates of the treasury ‘table are not above the actual: racticable rates under the law. The differences. tween the merchant tatements themselves, Fr der it impossible to present a single rate in the fifth column of the committee’s table, with justice to the merchants who have so generously coine for- ward to give information, or to the information iven. The committee have, therefore, where there are varying etatements, placed in the columa the highest and lowest rates found in apy of the cemmunications touching the same articles,so that it will give the range of mercantile calculation and mercantile experience. The fourth table which the committee annex, (marked D,) is the trea ury statement, already described as furnished from the office of the Register of the Treasury, and authen- ticated by that officer. A reference to the remarks explanatory of the firat column of table C, will eu- percede the ara 4 of any further description of this statement. A few observations, however, in reference to some entries in the table, exhibiting results which, at first sight, wou!d seem to impair its force und weaken its authenticity, are consider- ed to be necessary. Upon a reference to the arti- cle of pie lead in the present law, it will be seer. that the duty is specific—3 cents per pound. The value of this article in our principal cities is believ- ed to a from 3 to 4cents, showing the duty to be equivalentto an ad valorem rate of about 100: pe cent—probably rather over than under that rate ut not very far from it. A reference to the trea- sury statement will show that in these three quar- ters of a year, 290 pounds of pig-lead were import. ed; custom-huuse value, asreturned, $3. This lea paid the duty of 3 cents per pound, whith upon 290 ounds, was $3 70, equal to an ad valorem rate of bo0 percent. This is an actual transaction, but not a natural one.# The importation was doubtless casual, and not in the course of any regular trade, as the amount of the importation shows that there isno trade. The value placed to this lead may be its cost for that accidental purchase, but it is not at all the mercantile or market value of the property; and hence the extravagant result, upon a compari- son between the value and the duty. So the entry ag to the article of barley shows the importation of 1,701 bushels, valued at only $106—hetween 6 and 7 cents per bushel. The duty upon barley is speci- fic—20 cents per bushel; which, upon the 1,701 bushels is, $340 20, equal to an ad valorem rate of 320 per cent. Here, again,the transaction wes ac- tual, but most unnatural. The value was unimpor- tant to the collector, because the duty was speci- fie;-but itis spperent that the value bears scarcely a relation to the market value of merchantable bar- ley, while the importation shows that there is no regular trade in the article. This was probably damaged grain, and purchased for a nominal price, because the purchaser eupposed that it would war- rant, the payment of the freight and the duty.— Again: upon the other side, the importation cf rye was 9 bushels, valued at $8; this being above the ordinary market value of the grain. The duty is specific, 15 cents per buehel—only $1 36 upen the 9 bushels imported; equa! to an ad valorem rate of 16 pet. cent., while the real rate of the duty must be from 20 to 25 per cent. upon the ordinary mar- ket value of the grain. The committee poii:t out these instances as examples. There may be a few others, of a similar character, both upon th- one side and the other of a true presentation of the value of the existing duties; but they believe that all such instances will be found to arise where there is no regular trade in the article, and that they should not, therefore, be held to weaken the force or accuracy of this statement,when the trade is regular, and the articles of those of ordinary import. Bellefontaine. [Correspondence of the Herald.) Be.Lerontaing, Onto, March 18, 1st. Adam Horn, the Murderer—Railroad—The Wyan« dots—Politics. Thalt at this village, en route from Cincinnati to Sandusky city, to which point I am bound with a view to visit different portions of the Wolverine State. There is nothing especially peculiar to this place, except that it was the place of confinement of the notorious Adam Horn, who paid the penalty of his crme upon the gallows at Baltimore. Out of curiosity, visited the jail, an old dilapidated building, now tenanted by an old man who recent- ly stabbed a brother-in-law, and whose trial wi!l be on the tapis at the approaching April term. The jailor’s wife, an old goggle-cyed, pursy looking cua- tomer, afforded me an unusual amount of intelli- gence concerning her former ledger, (Horn,) and expressed a great deal of surprise at his escape ; while it was plain that a brace of rats might liberate an inmate at a moment’s warning. This place is intended as a depot for the Mad River and Lake Erie railroad, extending from Sandusky city via Siffin, Trenton, Bellefontaine, Rubana, and West Lib to Springfield, upon the National road—where it is to connect with the little Miami Railroad from Cincinnati, and thus form a connecting line of railroad from the Queen city to the lake. This road passes through the most fertile lands within the borders of Chio, and, when completed, will pour a flood of wealth to Pus city and Boston, which now takes the Southern’ markets. I am somewhat sur- prised that the capitalists of New York have not directed their attention to this road, which has been laboring under temporary cmbarrassments, now * removed by an act of the recent legislature. Forty miles of the northern end is completed—frem § fin to the lake—and J learn from a gentleman re- siding here, that about twenty-five miles of the road have lately been put under contract. | learn from the same source, that that part of the road completed, pays a dividend of ten percent! IE this be true, and I doubt not it is, an investment in this road would be as good as any, or better than any public improvement with which} am familiar. The Mad River valley has, certainly, some of th finest lands it has ever been my privilege to ex- amine. Costly and substantial improvements have been made upon the farms ; and in West Liberty I observed one building presenting an imposing ap- pearance, and fashioned after the moet improved style of architecture. I called at the I aper printed in this Forwarded it to you. ogan Gazette office, thé only lace, purchased a paper and the editor isa “Jersey blue, ¢ and possesses a large fund of self-conceit with a well developed intellect, which producessome well written and pungent articles. This is the region occupied by the Wyandots in ancient times, together with some other tri and my host informs me that there are numerous « quarter bloods,” ing here, who in the duties of social and civil government. The Clerk of the Common Pleas is a descendant of the Wyandots; and the wealthiest, and some «f the most respectable are of this class of persons. There are numerous isolated lakes scattered all over thie _ (Logan) county, which are productive of genuine amusement, on acconnt of the fine bass and trout with which they abound. I saw a bees this nor- ning, which would weigh at least ten pounds. In- stead of preducing malaria, as we would sup ose, the water is sweet and healthy; and, on thie ac- connt, many of them have been bought up by capi- taliets in Cincinnati, who have erected the rmost delightful summer residences upon their banks Some of them area source pr pron to their owners, sles become extensively known; and, c¢ quently, the constant resort of the pleasure-hu angler. * My ears are ringing with the din of politica! tur- moil. The whole of Ohio seems to be, on the qua vive upon political subjects. Both parties have already nominated their gubernatorial candidstes, and the war is waxing very hot. The, democracy are destined to be defeated at the coming fall elec~ tions, unless they make some efforts to hen! the difficulties, engendered by a discussion of the Uank question. ‘It is affirmed, with some show of trith, that the democratic candidate has changes his opinions upon the bank question since his ner ina- tion, with a view to reconcile the cont ing parties, The whige are united upen Hay am Bartley, their candidate for Governor. 1 shndder at the concussion which will follow upon the cust- ing of the votes of the great parties of this iighty State. With the democrats it will be a struggle to regain Inet power; with the whigs a battle for cherished principles, ‘The Legislature having «d- journed on last week, there will be nothing to dik