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lantic cities, and the very limited demand we must have previous to the 1st of December, (as no jobber or vender will buy any more than to supply his daily demands,) the exportations will be large, exceeding the ordinary exportations under the present tariff, and may make draughts on the various custom-houses, in debenture, to the extent of $800,000 to $1,000,000 more than otherwise would be.

"The importers, should the proposed tariff become a law, will very soon begin to ship their goods out of the country; then reimport them, and place them in the warehouses, to remain of be taken out in de tached parcels previous to the 1st of December; when whatever then remains will be subject to a low duty. How much better and more just would it be (as was the case when the reduction of the tariff took place in 1830 and 1831) to let all merchandise "not in broken parcels' go to the custom-house on the eve of the 1st of December, and remain, rather than force the merchants to the expense of shipping for the pur pose of evading the present duties.

"You must be aware, as well as myself, that the importations for the next five months must be extremely limited, and that all the goods that are imported for the next five months will go to the public stores for the benefit of the proposed reductions. Consequently, the govern ment will derive little or no revenue from foreign importations for that period.

"So far as my experience teaches me, I have ever been in favor of specific instead of ad valorem duties, believing that the revenue is more securely collected, and extending likewise protection to every honest importer. You will notice that two thirds of the merchandise imported subject to ad valorem duties is brought into our city by foreigners. These men come among us possessing no national feeling, and little or no regard for our laws or institutions, and a custom-house oath is but a by-word with them. They locate themselves in by-streets and alleys, subject to no military or jury duty, and pay little or no taxes. They have a branch of their house or workshop in Europe, and however intelligent or adroit our appraisers may be, it is almost impossible to detect them in their falsified invoices.

"Should the proposed tariff become a law, the American merchants will, from necessity, almost cease to be importers, so far as our trade is concerned with Europe. Therefore, let our duties be ascertained by weight and measure, and we shall at least stand a fair and equal chance at the custom-house with these foreign importers.

"If these remarks should be of any service to you, I shall be pleased and gratified, and I remain, respectfully, yours.

"New York, July 17, 1846.”

"EDWARD H. NICHOL.

On Saturday, Mr. President, I submitted remarks, estimates, and calculations upon the subject of iron and coal, and I founded those remarks and estimates on the iron and coal of Pennsylvania for the sake of precision, and to make such calculations an example of the rest. I have now only to say, in that respect, that there are also iron and coal in New York, in Tennessee, in Georgia, in Virginia, in Maryland, all coming in, share and share alike, for the good or for the evil which the new system will produce.

I now proceed, Sir, to say something upon the influence, the necessary influence, which this proposed change in our system will exercise upon the commerce and navigation of the country. I shall do that by exhibiting a series of tables which will speak for themselves; which I know to have been drawn up with great accuracy, founded on the last official communication of the Secretary of the Treasury, so far as revenue is concerned, and on estimates regarding the value of freights, collected from the first mercantile sources in the country. As a general remark on these various papers, and one which they fully confirm, I wish to say, what would naturally be expected to be true, that for some years past, since the favor and protection of the government were given to the internal manufactures of the country, the foreign trade of the country has conformed to that state of things. A change in the business of navigation, and commerce, and freight, consequent upon these internal changes, is quite as striking as these internal changes themselves. The great element of that change is in the nature of the main articles of import, showing a diminution of manufactured articles, and a vast augmentation of raw materials, or articles serving as such. The consequence of this, as will be seen by the tables I am about to exhibit, is a large actual increase of the earnings of the shipping interest on imports; because, as all know, the freight is proportioned to the bulk of the article, and not to its cost. is the space that the commodity fills in the ship, and not its value, which regulates the rate of freight. Therefore it is, that, though the importations may be greatly augmented in value, from being composed of manufactured articles chiefly, yet the freight is not increased in the same ratio, but may be diminished. That fact is notorious to all who are acquainted with 19

VOL. V.

the commerce of the country. It is perfectly understood by all the ship-owners of the United States, and is of itself sufficient to account for the great and important fact, that the navigating interest of the United States, the ship-owners to a man, oppose this change, because the existing system gives more employ. ment to navigation than that which is now attempted to be substituted for it.

A heavy mass or amount, in value, of manufactured articles, as is well known, comes from France and England. Our more various commodities, and our importations of heavy articles, come from round the Capes, and from Brazil and the North of Europe. The tables which I propose to exhibit to the Senate will show the amount of these, respectively, and the change produced in them within the last five years.

Let me first premise, that articles of import into the United States are properly divisible into three classes. First, those articles which come here manufactured, and fit for use or for sale; secondly, articles not manufactured, brought here for consump tion as imported, without any manufacture after they arrive; thirdly, those articles which are in the nature of raw materials, and are brought here to undergo a process of manufacture. Let us, then, see the amount of freight derived from these three respective classes of imports.

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3. Foreign Articles for Manufacture in the United States.

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Now, Sir, I have said that changes have taken place in the foreign trade of the country since the enlargement of the manufacturing system of the United States, which were naturally to be expected. And I think it was suggested the other day by my friend from Vermont, near me, that a common and great

* Mr. Phelps.

mistake is, that we do not accommodate our legislation to these changing circumstances; and that we think that we can go back to where we were years ago, without disturbing any interests except those immediately affected; whereas, such are the connection and cohesion of all these interests, and so closely are they united, that they become at last mutually dependent on each other, and there is no disturbing one great branch of the system without injury to all the rest.

Here is a table of our trade with South America, and beyond the Capes, with a comparison of that trade in the year 1828 and the present year.

Comparison of our Trade at two different Periods with Places beyond the Cape of Good Hope, and South America.

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This great increase of tonnage employed over the increase in the value of imports, is owing to the present importation of the coarse and bulky articles for manufacture, instead of manufactured silk and cotton goods of China, Manilla, and Calcutta.

To be more particular, I now give a general description of the goods imported from those places in each year.

4,931,000

1,110,000

15,035

1,561,000

640,000

17,300

6,883,000

2,409,000

48,550

8,434,000

2,574,000

19,747

$ 25,119,000

$7,261,000

122,647

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