Tariff of Duties on Imports.

upon imported merchandise, compared with the rates of duties proposed for the new tariff; and it is susceptible of the discrimination marked in the table No. 1, comprising the articles charged with specific duties; No. 2, comprising the articles charged with duties ad valorem, at the several rates of 12 per cent., 15 per cent., and 20 per cent.; and No. 3, comprising the articles that are free from duty.

It is another important view of the subject, connected with the details of the table A, that the rate of duty upon the tonnage of vessels of the United States, and of the duties upon the goods which they import, is less than upon the tonnage of other vessels, and of their cargoes. Thus:

1. As to the duty on tonnage. Ships or vessels of the United States entering from any foreign port or place, or carrying goods from one district to another district, are charged at the rate, per ton of

Ships or vessels built within the United

States, but belonging wholly or in part to the subjects of foreign Powers, entering from a foreiga place or port, are charged at the rate, per ton, of Ships or vessels of every other description entering from a foreign port or place, carrying goods from one district to another district within the United States, are charged at the rate, per ton, of And it may be properly here added that ships and vessels not of the United States, or not wholly owned by American citizens, entering the ports of the United States, are charged by law with the duty called "light money," at the rate, per ton, of

6 cts.

tion of the discriminating duties in relation to every foreign nation which shall abolish such of its discriminating and countervailing duties as are disadvantageous to the United States.

The duty on tonnage is payable at the time of entry; but, before the product of the duties on goods imported reaches the public Treasury, the collection is affected by the credit which the law allows to the importer, and the amount is liable to a reduction, by the allowance of drawbacks and bounties, as well as by the expense of collection. 1st. As to the credit for duties on goods imported.

On the produce of the West Indies, (salt excepted,) and on goods imported by sea from all foreign ports and islands lying north of the equator, and situated on the eastern shores of America, it is three months for one-half, and six months for the other half.

On salt it is nine months.

On Madeira, and all other wines, it is twelve mohths.

On goods imported from Europe, (other than wines, salt, and teas,) it is eight months for onethird, ten months for one-third, and twelve months 30 do. for one-third.

On goods (other than wines, salt, and teas) imported from any other place than Europe and the West Indies, it is six months for one-half, nine months for one-fourth, and twelve months for 50 do. one-fourth.

50 do.

2. As to the duty on goods imported. The discriminating duty imposed by law on goods imported in vessels of the United States is not made a direct charge upon the goods as specified in the table A, but it is charged generally upon the rate of duty imposed on the like goods, when imported in vessels of the United States; and it is uniformly an addition of 10 per cent. upon the American rate of duty, whether that be specific or ad valorem.

The discriminating duty is to be considered, however, in connexion with the treaties and acts of Congress which have subjected it to temporary or permanent modifications. Thus, 1. The Louisiana Convention suspended the discriminating duties for a period of twelve years, (which will expire on the 6th March, 1816,) in relation to French and Spanish vessels and cargoes arriving within the ceded Territory. 2. The convention to regulate the commerce between the territories of the United States and His Britannic Majesty will suspend the discriminating duties in relation to British vessels and cargoes arriving within the United States from the British territories in Europe, for a period of four years, commencing on the 3d July, 1815. And, 3. The act of the 3d March, 1815, has authorized the aboli-l

On teas imported from China or Europe it is conditionally, upon deposites, two years, subject, as intermediate sales may be effected, to payments at four months, eight months, or twelve months, according to the amount of sales, respectively. 2d. As to the drawback of duties on goods exported.

The general provision of the law allows a drawback of the duties on goods imported into the United States, provided they amount to fifty dollars, if the goods be exported within twelve calendar months after the importation to any foreign port or place other than the dominions of any foreign State immediately adjoining to the United States. This local limitation has been modified, however, so as to authorize an exportation, with the benefit of the drawback, from Louisiana to any port or place situated to the southward thereof.

To the general provision of the law for the allowance of drawback there are some exceptions: 1st. The additional duty of ten per cent. imposed upon goods imported in vessels not of the United States, is not the subject of drawback. 2dly. The right of exportation for the benefit of drawback is not allowed in the case of foreign dried and pickled fish, and other salted provisions, fish oil, or playing cards. 3dly. The rate of a half cent per gallon on spirits, with two and a half per cent. on the duties, and the rate of three and a half per cent. on the amount of the duties on all other goods imported, is to be retained, when they are exported for the benefit of drawback, as an indemnification for the expense accrued concerning them.

Tariff of Duties on Imports.

Tariff of Duties on Imports.

II. A statement of the general principles for reforming the tariff of the United States, including the means of enforcement.

sum of $200,000, annually
appropriated for three years
for the purchase of timber,
being
The Treasury es-
$3,838,071
timate being

2,716,510

The difference being
And the amount which is pro-
posed by the Committee of
Ways and Means to add to
the Sinking Fund, (raising
it from $8,000,000 to $13,-
150,000) -

1,121,561

5,150,000

8,121,561 $23,900,230

The tariff which has been thus generally reviewed originated in the year 1790, soon after the organization of the Federal Government. Notwithstanding the various alterations to which it was subjected during the long period of American neutrality, it certainly has not been left in a state adapted to the present epoch. The peace of Europe will give a new course and character to the commerce of the world; and the condition of the United States is essentially changed in population, in wealth, in the employment of labor and capital, in the demand of luxuries, or of necessaries for consumption, and in the native resources to supply the demand. These consideraThe annual revenue to be raised for the service tions forcibly recommend the measure of revision and reform which is now contemplated; the task, of Government, may then be stated in round however, is not more important in its object than numbers at the sum of $24,000,000, independent difficult in the performance. The means of in- of any provision for public institutions and pubformation are scattered and imperfect. Many lic improvements; such as the President has recconflicting interests and prejudices are to be recommended to the patronage of the Legislature; onciled; and, in the unsettled state of commerce, time to time, be induced to sanction; and such as such as the patriotism of Congress may, from much of any plan connected with its operations must unavoidably rest upon hypothesis, and be will at once enlighten, enrich, and adorn the tested by future experiment. In every effort, therefore, to diminish the force of these obstacles, an ulterior reliance upon the wisdom of the Legislature has been respectfully indulged.

In framing the propositions which this report will submit to the consideration of Congress for the establishment of a general tariff, three great objects have been principally regarded: 1st. The object of raising, by duties on imports and tonnage, the proportion of public revenue which must be drawn from that source. 2d. The object of conciliating the various national interests, which arise from the pursuits of agriculture, manufactures, trade, and navigation; and, 3d. The object of rendering the collection of the duties convenient, equal, and certain.

1. The report which the Committee of Ways and Means presented to the House of Representatives on the 9th day of January, 1816, furnishes a foundation to estimate, with sufficient precision, for the present purpose, the proportion of the public revenue to be annually raised through the medium of the customs.

It is there stated that the amount of the annual de-
mands of the Peace Establishment may be placed at
the sum of
$15,778,669

But to this sum it is now proper to add the general amount which is appropriated for the payment of the principal of the public debt, estimated at $1,850,000 The difference between the

Treasury estimate for the naval service, made upon conjectural ground, and the subsequent statement of the Secr'y of the Navy, made upon official documents, to wit:

The Secretary of the Navy's statement, after adding the

nation.

Upon the general principles of public policy, developed in the report of the Committee of Ways and Means, the supply for all the expenses of Government will be derived, in part, from internal duties and taxes, but principally from duties on imports.

Stating, therefore, the amount of demand for revenue$24,000,000

It

at

has been proposed to supply annually,
from internal duties and taxes, and from
the sales of public lands, the sum of
$6,925,000; that is to say, from the
direct tax on lands, houses, and slaves,
the sum of
$2,700,000

From the duty on stills the

1,200,000

400,000

150,000

175,000

the sum of
From licenses to retailers, (a
tax proposed to be modi-
fied) the sum of
From the duties on sales at
auction the sum of
From the sales of public lands
the sum of

6,925,000

- $17,075,000

It is here to be considered, that the report of the Committee of Ways and Means contemplates the abolition, or the reduction of duties or taxes heretofore pledged 66 to provide for the payment of the expenses of Government, for the punctual

Tariff of Duties on Imports.

payment of the public debt, and for creating a Sinking Fund," to an amount not less than $7,064,340: that is to say

To abolish the duties on furniture and watches, on domestic manufactures, and on distilled spirits, in $3,864,340

amount about

To abolish the additional duty on postage,
in amount about
And to take from the direct tax, in net
amount, about

the national interest may require the establishment of a domestic in preference to a foreign market, and the employment of domestic in preference to foreign labor, in furnishing the necessary supplies. And, again, the interests of foreign commerce flourish most when foreign commerce is the only medium to convey the natural 300,000 products of the country to a market, and to provide for all the wants of the people in the fabrics 2,900,000 of the manufacturer and the artist; but the national interest may require (contemplating equal$7,064,340 ly the state of peace and the state of war) that the people should be as independent in the reAnd for supplying this sum of $7,064,340, in sources of their subsistence as in the operations observance of the plighted faith of the Govern- of their Government. It must, however, be the ment, it has been proposed to make an addition aim of every just system of political economy to to the customs, equal to an average rate of forty-secure the national interest with as little prejutwo per cent. upon the products of the duties imposed prior to the act of the 1st of July, 1812, by which the impost was doubled (as already stated) during the continuance of the late war. If, then, the average annual product of the single duties on imports and tonnage may be estimated (and it cannot be prudently estimated higher) at the sum $12,000,000

of The addition of forty-two per cent. upon that amount will yield a sum of

5,040,000

$17,040,000

2d. The social compact is formed on the basis of a surrender of a part of the natural rights of individuals, for the security and benefit of the whole society. The Federal compact is formed on the basis of a surrender of a part of the political rights of each State, for the benefit and security of the whole Confederation. Hence, in the attempt "to conciliate the various national interests which arise from the pursuits of agriculture, manufactures, trade, and navigation," it is necessary to recollect that the common object of the nation will not invariably correspond with the separate objects of individuals, or of their professions, nor with the local objects of the respective States, or of the industry of their inhabitants.

Under the beneficent dispensations of Providence, the territory of the United States produces almost all the natural fruits of the earth; and, pursuing the subdivision of which labor is susceptible, the citizens of the United States are engaged in the cultivation of almost every art, and every science, within the scope of human knowledge. But the fruits produced, although they are the fruits of the nation, are not the same in every State; and the labor employed, although it be the labor of the nation, is employed upon very different materials, with very different results in the principal sections of the Union.

From these considerations are derived the principles of general policy by which the national character is formed, and the national interests are maintained. The interests of agriculture require a free and constant access to a market for its staples, and a ready supply of all the articles of use and consumption on reasonable terms; but

dice as possible to the peculiar interests of agriculture and of commerce.

There are few, if any, governments which do not regard the establishment of domestic manufactures as a chief object of public policy. The United States have always so regarded it. In the earliest acts of Congress, which were passed after the adoption of the present Constitution, the obligation of providing, by duties on imports, for the discharge of the public debts, is expressly connected with the policy of encouraging and protecting manufactures. In the year 1790 the Secretary of the Treasury was directed by the House of Representatives to take the subject of manufactures into consideration, with a view particularly to report upon "the means of promoting such as would render the United States independent of foreign nations for military and other essential supplies." In the year 1810 the Legislature again manifested a marked solicitude to ascertain the progress of the national independence in manufactures, by combining the business of the census with an inquiry into the state of the several manufacturing establishments and manufactures within the several districts, territories, and divisions of the United States. But it was emphatically during the period of the restrictive system and of the war, that the impor tance of domestic manufactures became conspicuous to the nation, and made a lasting impression upon the mind of every statesman and of every patriot. The weapons and munitions of war, the necessaries of clothing, and the comforts of living, were at first but scantily provided. The American market seemed, for a while, to be converted into a scene of gambling and extortion; and it was not the least of the evils generated by the unequal state of the supply and the demand, that an illicit traffic with the enemy, by land and by water, was corruptly and systematically pros. ecuted from the commencement to the termination of hostilities.

From these circumstances of suffering and mortification have sprung, however, the means of future safety and independence. It has been thought that, with respect to industry applied to manufactures as well as with respect to industry applied to commerce, individuals should be left to pursue their own course untouched by the

Tariff of Duties on Imports.

hand of Government, either to impel or to restrain. Without examining how far this opinion is sanctioned by experience, it is sufficient upon the present occasion to observe that the American manufactures, particularly those which have been introduced during the restrictive system and the war, owe their existence exclusively to the capital, the skill, the enterprise, and the industry of private citizens. The demands of the country, while the acquisition of supplies from foreign nations was either prohibited or impracticable, may have afforded a sufficient inducement for this investment of capital, and this application of labor; but the inducement, in its necessary extent, must fail when the day of competition returns. Upon that change in the condition of the country, the preservation of the manufactures which private citizens, under favorable auspices, have constituted the property of the nation, becomes a consideration of general policy, to be resolved, by a recollection of past embarrassments, by the certainty of an increased difficulty of reinstating, upon any emergency, the manufactures which shall be allowed to perish and pass away, and by a just sense of the influence of domestic manufactures upon the wealth, power, and independence of the Government.

Plated wares.

Iron manufactures of the larger kinds; shovels, spades, axes, hoes, scythes, &c.; nails, large and small.

Pewter, tin, copper, and brass manufactures.
Alum, copperas.

Spirits, beer, ale, and porter.

3d class. In the third class it is believed the following articles may be embraced :

Cotton manufactures of the finer kinds; muslins, nankeens, chintzes, stained and printed cottons of all descriptions.

Linen of all descriptions, linen cambrics, lawns. Hempen cloths, sailcloth, Russian and German linens.

Silk goods of all descriptions.

Woollen goods of many descriptions; worsted goods of all kinds, stuffs, camblets, blankets, carpets and carpeting.

Hosiery of all descriptions, including kait or woven gloves.

The object to be encouraged and protected merits, in its intrinsic value, as well as in its general influence, the attention of the Legislature. From the peace of 1783, until the year 1808, the march of domestic manufactures was slow but steady. It has since been bold, rapid, and firm; until, at the present period, considering the circumstances of time and pressure, it has reached a station of unexampled prosperity. The attempt, however, to obtain detailed and accurate information upon the subject has only been successful in a very limited degree; and, consequently, the result must be presented to the view of Congress rather as an outline and an estimate than as a complete and demonstrative statement of facts. With this understanding the American The matured state of the first class of manumanufactures may be satisfactorily divided into factures relieves the task of forming a tariff, with three principal classes, allowing for such diver-respect to them, from any important difficulty. sities of shade as will sometimes seem to render the classification of particular manufactures doubtful or arbitrary:

First class. Manufactures which are firmly and permanently established, and which wholly, or almost wholly, supply the demand for domestic use and consumption.

Second class. Manufactures which, being recently or partially established, do not at present supply the demand for domestic use and consumption, but which, with proper cultivation, are capable of being matured to the whole extent of the demand.

Third class. Manufactures which are so slightly cultivated as to leave the demand of the country wholly, or almost wholly, dependent upon foreign sources for a supply.

1st class. In the first class it is believed the following articles may be embraced :

Cabinet wares and all manufactures of wood.
Carriages of all descriptions.

Hardware and ironmongery, excepting the large articles, cutlery, pins, needles.

China ware, earthen ware, porcelain. Glass of all deseriptions, except window glass and phials.

Duties might be freely imposed upon the importation of similar articles, amounting wholly, or nearly, to a prohibition, without endangering a scarcity in the supply, while the competition among the domestic manufacturers alone would sufficiently protect the consumer from exorbitant prices, graduating the rates of the market generally by the standard of a fair profit upon the capital and labor employed. It is true, however, on the other hand, that, by imposing low duties upon the imported articles, importation would be encouraged, and the revenue increased; but, without adding to the comfort, or deducting from the expense of the consumer, the consumption of the domestic manufacture would, in an equal degree, be diminished by that operation, and the manufacture itself might be entirely supplanted. It is, therefore, a question between the gain of the revenue and the loss of the manufacture, to be decided upon principles of national policy. Under the circumstances of an abundant market the in