// 'ashington Flowers Memorial Collect ion DUKE 1MVI RSITY LIBRARY hushed by Tiir. FAMILY Or COLON] i FLOW] U ■'-Wt F \ DIALOGUES UPON FREE TRADE AND DIRECT TAXATION. v^^ tt^T, A TLA NT A: PRINTED Ai tin: INTELLIGENi EH OWN i I OH I m A I I 1 1 < * • : 1801. / DIALOGUES UPON FREE TRADE Brhvmi A, a Merchant; 1$. a Planter; (', n Politician in Office; and I), a Parmer. DIALOGUE I. C. I understand B that you arc in tavor of Free Trade. B. You are correctly informed, [believe God made this world for Free Trade, or he would have made every part of it capable ol supplying all the wants and satisfying all the desires of all its people, that each tribe of barbarians might exist in Bavage inde- pendence of every other. c. If God intended the world for Free Trade, the world and all the nations ol the world have heen a long time finding it out. B. Not much longer, considering the age of the world and its probable duration, than they were in finding out thai the earth re- volved around the sun. Not much longer than it took them to discover the power of steam, or how to transmit intelligence upon a streak ot lightning; and no one's interest WRS opposed to those discoveries. C. True; and I admit the novelty of a discovery is the weakest argument against it. If, however, you adopt Free Trade, yotl will have to shoulder Direct, Taxes, ami I rather think tint will drag heavily. B. Not at nil. If you had heard all when you heard I favored Free Trade, you would have heard I coupled Direct Taxes with it. We believe that a system of Taxation by which each person will be required to pay to support the government that protects him and his property, in proportion to his abili- ty, is fair, equal and just; and that it is the only fair, equal and just way, and that no honest man will wish to throw his share off his own shoulders on some one else; but you say / trill hurt- to shoulder Direct Taxes. I believe you call yourself a Democrat. — What system o| Taxation are you in favor of? I know but two — Free Trade and Di- rect Taxes, or a restricted Trade with a tar- iff. Which are you in favor of? <'. I am in favor of a Tariff just high enough to defray the expenses of an i Domical government— a Tariff for revenue only. B. Then yon arc a Tariff man. N me, do you call the Tariff that was in lone in 1858 a protectiveTaiifforaTariff forrev- nuconly? I know, Mr. Walker intcn for a revenue tariff, but the Democi Pennsylvania and New York demanded protection lor their Iron and Salt works, and he was obliged to comply. What was it. from 18.*>n to 1857 when it was producing 18 and 20 millions more than the govern- ment wanted? Was it not then a protec- tive Tariff? 0. I believe T shall have to admit, that in- asmuch as it produced more money than the government needed, it became a protective Tariff. />'. The Democratic parly has been in power all that, lime, ami you in Congress most of the time as a prominent Democratic member. What attempt or proposition did you make to reduce the Tariff to the neces- sities of an economical administration? Tt you made any, tell me, on what page of the Congressional Globe I can find it. 0. T made no proposition. l'"! i' up n l'i |>:i\ lip ir l.iv I, : lip n 1 . tin pulilii lands i" : ulatora be bad Ui |iul bin hand ■ Would think tw woold ich ■ ■qnandcring "i md the public land. l i ii .'. a baud thai yoaj >'iir of - lhc price t«i tin- oonanmer M- percent; bow do you make thai out ! Ii. The bnporter lays down in New York : \\ hich he p i I tariff, which makes the goo .- > uel liim $180 . i lhc Jobber l<» pt r cent — $18- — which makes the g U coat him || 18. He charges the retailer i |l-l.:tO — a hich makes llie _•• s the Now \ ill run the $ KKI worth imc profits i per i • i't tariff, you -iiner will pet lliein for than with the tariff. !> Don't we ■;' t ui""' for our product lo be t.nill '? • ■ ;- iff. l think, very ranch more, but I can prove thai much as • ntd ouriniirket with • mr cotton, on which 30.pt i cenl ■ '■ 1 and silver, which I contend h < tpi il ' Ivea Uie i. ;.: "ii 19 is . which makes the cotton coat the Burop ler and I to tip ni. Now the manufacturer iso he be- -■• it ml make a Fair profit .hi tip- a. '- I" '" ikea "i it, and if tin nniip ni would ht him alone ho would give |y and as willingly aa , the planter 12 and the government i pound li jf I per hundred ba clear I"-- t" the 100 I'— i" the ("tt'»n State* ■ our goods low, nduslrioua man would gel rich in a nl the whole Suiilh WOUid llon- ii-h liki l well cultivated garden. \ i now I land laxea u- and WSJ ought ' : >\ bor. in lv mislaki n in two par- ticul not tax ' cotton.— .'n. l l .nip'i i;i\ u> and we cannot l:l\ ||i-t I 111(1 .(Mi lllpletl to IllX II- W lull ■a e were col< thir fnlhei - resi led, and that brought on the war of independence ; I mean England laxea I we ought to lax I Yon m ' hat although restrict- tally injure all who cm and thereby lessen the value oC nn r pays the tariff .t ml profit "ii ii. When our government ot :;n |i r cent on BUgar, the man a h" uat - a dollars worth of it pays not more than 00 cents for the BUgar, and at ■ • on in count of the tariff, li the -.eminent lays a tariff Of 88 cents & bushel on our grain, the poor Englishman w h" eats il,,- |, i, ;i,i pays the tariff Suppose J*+J ^J r t^j / [5 ] however the thing could be done, lei as Bee how it will work. You lake 100 bags <>f cotton to England ami sell tbem for $10,000; England charges you 2,500 tariff; you come home and complain to our government and say, Queen Victoria charged me 35 percent, for Felling onr produce in her market, you ought to retaliate on her. Right, says our government. What did you bring back home?you answer, English goods. Well, says <>ur government, pay our collector $'2.*i00 for leave to sell them and we will i>e even with Queen Victoria. How will it be with you Mr. A, will thai sort of retaliation benefit you ? A. No, certainly. B. Nor will it benefit any person or any nation. A. Suppose we open our ports and let all the world bring in what they please duty tree, and the oilier nations keep up the tax or t a rill', won't they get the advantage of B. On the contrary, we will get the ad- vantage of tbem. The fact is, free trade is an improvement in commercial and politi- cal economy; 1 believe 1 might say a dis- covery, and that people thai adopt i! lirst will reap the greatest benefit. Again I say let us see how it will work. An old man owns a very largcand valuable water power Which he left to his three sons A. B. and ('. They not agreeing to improve it, each man builds his own mill and each makes a good road to his mill to draw custom. A. puts up a toll irate on his road and demands 1 Cents a bushel for all grain hauled over it; B. does the same; ('. on the contrary, lets all the grain into his mill tariff tree; now don't you know as long as C. can turn a Btone A. an 1 B. will gel no grain to grind? So Eng land hasMo buy main to feed her people and she buys il from Poland and the United Slate-;, now if Poland tariff* her goods al :::; per rent and the United States lets them in tariff free, don't you see (other things be- ing equal) England will buy no grain from Poland as long as she can gel of us? .Just so with everything else. II wcopen our ports to (Vec trade and other nations keep the tar- iff they will each of them trade with us in preference to any body else and we will in a short time become the greatest commercial nation in the world. This tariff system of taxation was go! by Avarice on that noted Courtezan Dishonesty, and trained and run ever since by Roguery and Fraud. Eng land (1 think ii was) commenced it, in the vain hope thai she could compel other na- tions to support her government and other Roola followed lur example It was soon found that it could not be done, (and well tor the Buffering millions it could'nt i but the experiment taught them one thing, that it wm a most beautiful sysu m devised for the crafty rich to compel the simple poor to hear an undue portion of the burthens "I tin government and pay them exorbitant wages and profits for the cheating and de- ceiving the said simple poor. That is the Chiet beauty of the Harlot — that is her pre- eminent charm— that it is thai chains (', and other mcrilicious, corrupt trading politicians to the chariot wheels and makes them bow down and worship al her unholy altars. It enables them to wax fat on other men's la- bors — it enables them to sell their country that trust them, for office, pelf and power. DIALOGUE II. D. The last time we wen' together, you convinced me thai the tariff is unequal and nnjust, and against the poor and in favor of the rich. 1 have been talking to (' about it, and he says the tarill is unequal, but the Congress can't make a lax law to bear equally on all. B. 1 know they cannot if they do not try; and I know they will not try until the peo- ple make them. The tariff affords Congress- men too many opportunities of lllling their pockets and fattening their kin to be given up easily. Suppose each person in the United stales is requested to pay according- ly io the amount of his property, (as we do in Georgia;) will ii not be just and equal? 1). 1 asked him lhat and he agreed it would ; but he said the people won't bear it. B. The pooplc! the people : That is al- ways the way with your crafty Talleyrand politicians. When they arc required to do something to benetfil the country and guard the Treasury and which they have no mind to do, they make you believe they are will bag, oil yes, very anxious, people know-, he will if he can. They all take their leaders word and believe the peopiU won't. Who arc tin i «- > plr .' | am one, you are one and (' is mother. We are willing, and bo arc all our neighbors. I say, 1 am willing to pay a lax to suppoii the govcrninenl according to my ability, because I believe ii to be fair, just and equal. So ate \t*\\. so is (' and all our neighbors ; and -till he tells you they won't and you believe hill). I). ( '. -ays if we abolish the tariff and es- tablish \'vcc trade and direct taXCS, H ernmenl will Bend swarms of tax gathers to vex, barn - and eal us oat, and it w ill coat a much higher per cent, to collect direct Duces than to colled duties on imports by the tariff. U. Who i> the government thai i- cccd the pla / own mem- /ins of Oongre$n. Now do you think Judge Warner or any other member i will recommend the Secretary of the i ury to appoint a man in hi- district to n x. it the \ otera w ho elci ted him f Certainly not; and the Set n fcary will •ill I lie I ■ I. .' .\ ill l><' Vdmil I \\ ill !><• I) I make riffdu- ■|>l< 1 iv up \\ iili the v idea Jo not illy, no ind tin- pub- . In tin •rrup I Venn of the rvlcea. < ' men i<> ■ or the ■ ' . the other in ii ii ■a much ho ■ : "ii (In | Uii un< • ill* of uld be the I nion, tnd ■ rat appropi . uld DO ■ l> 1 think '. .• q itc llici Iv; but what > <>ii think will ceasnry to Nippon an boi 'i only nion of a hai cm Ii ctingwhat basin en done, Mr. .i ', the money of the country lictter In the • I the ]h-o|>1<» lie nctetl on that opin- liuary expenses of ill three and :i half million!:, or .">0 cents a head — for then 000,000. The popula- v Miii data. ill nol to • MMI 1 1 \ dur country has Mi n 1 the < \|>< ns< - of living inert 1 liud nol forgotten it. Nor had I ttcn ihiit tin' prolusion, i xtravn rruplion ol the 1 I Government, wiiii i. tin landing has more than .niv Hi itcd un«l produc- cd Hi "i c.\|»enditare \\ lii> Ii muli • - ii- tin i il«' of a make i i-.ssiiry ull of money, and I think \t now a orth only om half whal it . ii. Thai would give 30,000 Mm tin- country haa great)) expanded; I Hunk not much faster than the population I deny that the ex- ighl to in- ii expands. For ex- ample, our friend Win ally inn- t In •'■ pair ■ - in hi- mill, at an annual expense of 1,00 i in -i\ pair Id i -o-t hun $3,000; 1 doubt very much if it would coal him 1,250; consequently, I think I am i irrect when 1 insist thai the • rnment ought not to exrr.-.l :i(t,(N ,in 1800 to 1810, thfl ■ the public lands netti d 7,000,000, or popululion was about I \\ hat it i- now. 1,000 which the land ought to produce, every thing else being equal Hut the wealth of the country haa d tenfold. Bay only live and mult i- niillioii- two hundred thousand by twenty-one millions w hich thr pu . I ought to bring, and proba- iiinually, it the lunds WOTO -old a- tin \ should, and not appropriated to build K oh i i to companies of i ich -i ■■ I' would leave only nine millions to be raised by direct taxes, w hich would boar very light on thirty millions of . owning twelve thousand million- of projH I» Still C insista the per cenl for collect- ing a ill be ji' aii r than under the tariff, and .\ ill rebel. i; v. -■■ the expert ■ - for collect- as much as ii is. had \\ <• not bet irr pay 16 per can) for collecting ten or . millions out of pa, than to In: ly lour million- collected fox nothing? Hut n ] again, "the people will rebel;'' you and I, and all the people of Georgia have been paying a direet tax for more than one hun- dred years, and now they will rebel against a direct tax. D. How do you mean? B. You give in ami value your property, on oath, to the receiver; nine cents on the $100 is put on it, you pay that, to a collector — that is ii (Unci tax. Under the tariff the man who brings goods iuto the United States pays a tax on them of about $30 on the $100— they usually pass through two hands between the importer and the farmer, aud each pays the $30 tax and the profits on the tax, until finally, the farmer who wears them out pays it and there it ends. — This is an indirect tax, because the govern- ment gets by indirection, and the object is to cheat and swindle the people out of more taxes than an honest government ought to collect. D. Is that all? I thought a direct tax a monstrous affair, and I have been paying it all my life and thought it right and still think it right. B. There is another important fact con- nected with the question of how much money must be raised to support the gov- ernment. If our members will do their du- ty and stand up boldly and firmly to our interest, instead of giviug it up to get the Northern Democrats in power and keeping them in power, the government need collect no taxes for several years. The Secretary of the Treasury makes the receipts into the Treasury at the close of the political vear 1856, $92,8o0,117, and estimates the receipts for the current year at $72,955,310 57, and a balance in the Treasury of $19,850,(i::<; 45, making $92,811,947 02. Then the Presi- dent and Secretary both say the government can be carried on with forty-eight millions (I think tliirtv millions ample! leaving Si l, 850,626. This, with t lie receipts from the sale of the public lands will be sufficient for three years ifthe Congressmen are made re- sponsible. By a system of direct taxes; the more especially it it adds twenty to forty millions from the sale of custom-houses, ware-houses and all oilier property of the United States connected with the collection of the tariff duties. Recoiled that, I take it fol granted the lands will be sold if we re- sort to direct taxes, and not give it to com- panies o| rich speculator;;, as of late they have l" en. I). Von say the South pays greatly more than herproportion of the taxes raised by the tariff Now I can't understand how that can be, n i ing the North* rn p< opls are most numerous and lull as extravagant and expensive in their ways as we are. if they buy as much or more of the tariffed goods thin we, do they not pay U linn li on the ac- count oi the tariff? B. Certainly not. Take the Louisiana sugar planter; and he stands on the same footing as all the other protected classes. — Suppose he makes a thousand Ilhds. sugar and the government pays him out of the Treasury $30 per Bhd. premium, or thirty thousand dollars, and he consumes ten thousand dollars worth of goods tariffed 25 per cent his tax Will be twenty-live hun- dred dollars; take 25 hundred dollars from thirty thousand dollars and it leaves twenty seven thousand five hundred dollars clear gain to him on the operation, and when the government taxes foreign sugar so as to en- able him to sell it for thirty dollars per llhd. higher, it, is to him just the same as if the government gave him a premium of $.!0 per Hhd. To the sugar eater it makes great odds, for when he pays for the sugar and tariff together, and it is pretty nearly equal- ly divided — half a dollar for sugar and half a dollar for tariff. It is true, the poor and middling classes North, unconnected with the Factories, and so far from them as to be out of their influence, suffer almost as much injustice as we do; and it is by and through them and with their aid we hope to prevail in forcing free trade and direct taxes on our rulers, for I tell you, we, the people, must force it on them. The pickings under the tariff is M f«t they hate to give them up. D. C says the people don't know what taxes they pay under the tariff, and they pay it without grumbling because they don't feel it — that it they had To pay the same di- rectly out of their pockets there would be one universal war about it. B. And do you not understand the mean- ing of all that V Let me explain it to you. In the first place, however, only half is true. It is not true that the people do not feel the effect of the tariff; they feel it most griev- ously. Suppose some person knock- you down in the dark, don't you feel it because you do not know who did it ; a man or a woman. While, black, red or yellow, or What with? So when a poor man looses .$60 on his three bags of cotton and pays 54.} per cent more for goods, ami on settling day fall short $•"> ■ |) ■ •.1 in — » 1 1 > - ulcraal im- i: ]■ ! ii ill lite tarill i i; inter I » l • tin CHOI l;. j'< Mill UHtitU- (niiiil: id not ■ H \ i quit 'I \ i do not mull B I .v iial il L 1 I '!<• know, howt ..i, ilial tin I loni • them in dillh-ultlca and Iniriic them triumphant lion to Uie pina ,. imir.li r nl AIm| : V,.n |, mind in'-, i. ■ I Id- built :i One ■Up :ui.l named ii A n uue. Why - ud he, • spell it. Well, \ - h-a don't spell A -'..a. what l». "i mi Kiid the otlu r day lctll b< pence on earth and good will to all imn. What more pow erful agent to this end than free commerce' What in t In folly of man throw in t in- v. i\ than n war of tat .in, turn to the prophecies. Daniel -hall run to and fro, and knowl- i ill in! in. lien, here again, real si rent. l»l \ !.<><; I i: 111. I). \\ hen IiihI lo I ive you t<> un- l thai 1 «a- with you in favor of I ' I Since then, II in w ilh Mi. II' art. I L -i em-; to tO the 1 :t I ill" IIS VOU ale; he is vou do, thai it is unequal and u mnpel - the Smith to hear almosi all tin- (\pciici - nl the Government ; still, ' Ii eli ; that it is lie! iii acciirdance with the spirit oloiir inent; farther, Hint commerco is a i OUghl lo luar its full proportion to the iuin|>ort of the govern- ii i«iit that protects it." Now, 1 have coma to hear M hat yml Ra\ I" that. B. That 1 •■. il ii Mr I [earl in hi-* lion, and insist thai Free Trade and I ' more in accordance with the npirll and intention of our govern- ment than a ilh any other, < >ni - i eminent of a free people, and they ought to he left to trade when, where, and with whom they please: without fee or reward, tax or turilf. Again: our government is a government of the people (bribe benefit of [9] the people; made "to establish justice and ire the blessings of liberty to us and our xity." What government can carry out that purpose belter than one which ex- tends to each and every citizen the same rights, immunities ami privileges, and exacts from each according to his ability, the same restraints, duties and burthens. 1 agree with Mr. Hearty that "commerce is a large interest and should bear it> full proportion to thesupportof the government that pro- tects it." What is commerce? An exchange bf commodities. The commerce in cotton tJCMHJadJA vccu I lie planter and manufacturer, I d|0 ;iml I contend that when the'plan- n, twenty or thirty cents in the dollar on i he valm > >f his lands, negroes and mules \vi:ii which he makes his cotton, he his lull proportion lor the support ol iient that protects bis commerce. D. Faiily answered; but the Editor "I li," (a lire-eater, 1 believe,) seems to think if a resort is had to taxation, the Northern majority will levy the whole tax- on negroes. What is to prevent their doing si • ? ; lit Constitution. "No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in pro- portion to the. Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." (Art. 1, Sec. 9, Clause li Say the government need four or five years beiK r, | remember we have a plenty to last thai long,) thirty millions. — 'The land brings in fifteen million-:. Sup- there be two hundred and fifty Repre- sentatives, and her share will be 8-250ths; and if the Northern majority lavs all the tax on lie: ' irgia will say. "here i< your money;" and lie re i- a;i end to it. 1). But suppose the Governmenl i the money from the State, and send- her rs i lie people? B. No Southern man will accept the of- ;ud if the Northern majority sends Northern i here under such cir- cumstances, we will supply them with a close sti( king coal and a ride on a rail. 1). Well, agree Free Trad,e and Direct and all the South iro for it, j ou will be out-voted ami can't get it. B. I think you are mistaken. I believe il all the pi ople of the South can be got to see the injustice, iniquity and oppression <»t' the tariff, and the benefits of Free Trade, and determine to have it, we can force the Northern people into measures. Indeed, 1 believe thai the Southern States of li federacy \a the strongest nation on and if united in a jusi cause, we can force an\ nation on earth to accrd us justice. Commerce controls the world, and cotton is king ol comiiu rce; and by n fusing to let the ■ es have any of our cotton to curry 01 to spin, we can stan e them into submission. over, I In lie-, e the West >\ ill be wi1 li ii r meat ami her grain have within the liar commodities; and foreign price governs the market, and the tariff effects their pork and grain just as ii effects our cotton. Then, the burthened masses North are in the same mteres ii is the greater honest interest to li great, patriotic, national parly. DIALOGUE 1\. D. Well, B., here is my friend E., thai 1 have been talking to about your notions of Free Trade, and he says it wouldn't do him any good. 1 want you to explain it to him. K. Yes, your Direct Taxation might help men that wear tine clothes and drink tine brandy and such like, but I don't do any of these things, and I don't see how it could help me. B. Well, let us sec. How much property have you got ? E. Weli, not, more than four or five hun- dred dollars worth— sav live hundred. B. Any family ? E. A wife and six children. B, [ suppose you all eat something, and sometimes wear clothes? 1".. ( )f course we do. 15. Then 1 can show you that you would be greatly benefitted by Free Trade. Sometime ago when 1 showed you that the government collected last year sixty four Cents on c\cry hundred dollars worth of property of the country, I showed yon that at thai rate, Astor, who is worth ten millions ol dollars and ought to have paid |64,000, could not to have paid more than $5,200; leaving $51,500 for somebody i pa\ Now I want to show you how mUCll of ii you paid. Al the rate of sixty four on the hundred dollars, your share was three dollars and twenty cents. say you do nol wear fine clothes, &c; how uiany blankets did you buy, and what did you pay for them ? E. I paid for blankets four dollars and a half. I!. For sugar ? i Twelve dollars. B Salt? E. Two dollars. B Molasses? -i\ dollars. B. Woollen clothes? i; I bought an over, oat (or myself, and some stuff lor the old lady and the n the family, I ppose about fifteen dol- B \ny silk dp I'., i'es ; one for my oldest daughter; the in the neighborhood had one, ami she mUSt have one too; but she or it with but! ,\ chi- li. Well, thai w ill you do now II goods to the amount I 10 ] ■ I. li nly oine cents on the hundred dollars ! - . lid think it - I pay that and mon I tlio figures; th< . money in gol I und silver, •; paid more sis tli in your equal share; eitb 'i •m ought in have paid your lull ■ r< shown you that the \> ry rich cannot rpiently, the then theirs; reason wn many Indus, hard-working economical men ti rnment ge: with 1< >s than on the irs. P>. Why n| i .iiir-c ii Mir pockets til' tlK-p^Plfl directly, mi that tiny know bow much rncv ill less than half ; the ex "i rather, they wo In quit !■ riii'. r nnii.i ;. as they have been doiiuj II they will quit giving the puMic lands to incorpi quit making Improvements and II aj is anient, i r poses, and quit paying awaj of to pay partisans and they will reduce salaries ind pay up got i rumen I officers to a n will sell the public lands, istora bouses, and oilier public rty, which is of no use but lo keen up the 1 1 riil. they can raise money enough to i ii i mil t w iihout pie 8 dollar. mill not be sold In luality .1 uly, the duty h > • i that mount il rule, w duly. 1. , .ill II.. ■ .v put • of the uii 1 I think I DIALOGUE V. D " RrSt tlllkeil allollt lire thai you lielieved ii woul I itton more thnn the anion if. Why do you think li I unin^ and eon- \ ineii ! fear, il I attempt to . ill make you tin ' ol Pre* I > N I want io undi rstaud all uboal it. and you talk so plain and I under- stand !. I like io listen to you; so me, I! In the first place, Gen. Betbune made out a table from the report of the Sc- ot (he Treasury, oi the quality of Cotton made, and the average price from 1850, by \\ 1 1 it-It it appears i bat do matter how large or how small the crop lien the tariff was high Cotton was low, and when the tariff was low Cotton was high; but you have seen all that in the $ . and I pan it over. [ 11] In the second place, whatever decreases the expenses of transportation and other charges between different producers ex- changing their products, increases the price I of the product; and free trade w'll produce ' a direct trade between other countries and our Southern ports; and we will save the expense of coastwise transportation, dray- age, wharfage, storeage and commission in New York, and the' transit tax which we pay to the State of New York and the city of New York. p. How is that? Do we pay a tax to New York State and citvV B- Certainly we do. The State and city both tax all the goods landed there, and it is added to and swells the price we have to pav for them. D. But how will free trade bring about direct trade? B. Free Trade will only re-produce what existed before the high tariff of 1810. When 1 first knew Savannah, in 1811, there were ten or twelve importing houses there. Sa- vannah is six times as large as it was then, and now there is but one; and it brings its goods through New York to Savannah, and all the goods have have to lie entered in New York, because the gold and silver to pay the exorbitant tariff can be got no where else. Last spring I cut from a New York paper, this notice: "The import of dry good* this week have been verv heavy, exceeding those of the cor- responding week last year 1 y more than three millions of dollars; the payment for duties (the tariff) at the custom house have amounted to nearly one and a half million .if dollars." Now don't you know one and a half mil- lion of dollars a week can't be got in any ol our Southern cities. If, however, the goods would .nine in tariff free, the merchants of world would take them direct to the where they are wanted. All the goods for ( larolina and Georgia, and the interior States hack of us, would be brought to Charleston and Savannah, and all the expense of going by New York saved. This would make the goods cheaper to us, and we would get more for our produce. I). It seems reasonable. But, I interrupt- ed you; I believe yon were about to give another reason why free trade will enhance the price ot ( otton. II. Ye-, two more. There are two pro- positions received by political economists as axiomatic truths. '1st. Those 1 who cannot -el! cannot buy. 2d. A man'- purchases are not measured by his wants, but by his capa- city to purchase, Now if our government restricts the sales of other people to u-, it acta, jusl to thai extent, to rettrlcl their put* i bases from us. I.. ! us take the article of Iron. 1. Europe can produce an immense quantity, and can sell it very low. under n system ■>! free commerce; because they can sell an im- mense amount. And just here I lay down another axiom : Reduce the price of any ar- ticle one half, and you increase the con sumption ten-fold. You and I recollect that when Nails were ten cents per pound, all the cabins were covered with weight poles, Nails tell to live cents, and all the boards were nailed on, and the cracks lined in the place of being daubed, and ten times the nails were used at live as were used at ten cents. Now if we let the Iron of Eastern Europe in, duty tree, so they can sell read! ly all they can make, it, will be laid down in Savannah at $15 or $20 per ton, and all our piazza, yard and garden posts will be of iron when transportation is cheap; and the Eastern Europeans will buy six shirts in- stead of two, and three outer suits instead of one; and so it will be every product of every other people; the woollens, cottons and cutlery of England, the linens of Ireland, the silks, crapes, oils, wines and brandies of France, Spain, Italy and Germany. They would all be able to buy, and cotton beimr the cheapest article of clothing in the world there would not be enough until all notable to use richer clothingwere comfortably clad in cotton. There are 10,000,000,000 of peo- ple in the world, and each of 6,000,000,000 would need ten pounds; it would take 12,- 000,000 bags, of 500 lbs. each to supply the demand. We could not produce it, and cotton would rise until it come in competi tion with linens, silks and woollens, and would range from twenty-five to thirty-five cents, as it did before the tariff of 1819. Again, go back to history. Cotton never was less than twenty cents when there was open, uninterrupted, unrestricted, free com nierce; and if we will return to that «>v[ ol i commerce, I can see no reason why we shall not receive the same sort of prices, and be- lieve we will. D. Your reasons seems good; still, the point you biing it to appears extravagant — too good to lie true, and I am afraid to be- lieve that Cotton can ever get to thirty cents. R Why not thirty cents in 1869 or I860, a- well US ill 1815, '16 and '17! The demand has been encroaching on the supply rapidly for the last ten years, and if we establish free trade, I am satisfied the demand will double in twoyeara I). «»ne more question and I will trouble you no more, 1 understand we have a very Urge surplus in the treasury —twenty, thirty or forty million- why not stop all taxes and tariff until that i- expended? and why iy a bigll tariff to collect more than is wanted t p. That is two questions instead ol nne, but it does not trouble me; l will ■ them cheerfully. First, hecause tiny are verv natural questions; si cond, becau r will do for both. I iry to I 1,< I tin- L'nion. They will sunvnde* mini- ti i lllAQ iiuliou- surn-iulrrtlu- injovmrnt ..f the ,. : In- oilier II !