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Leader (1850-1860), 16th October 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1105, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      TAXES Otf TRADE . We take a great interest in the commercial progress of France , a great interest in the emancipation ot serfs in Russia , in the substitution of a full regent for a mere shadow of a king in Prussia , but we take a much greater interest in the well-being ot our own people , and therefore we shall refer again to those customs duties to which we referred last week . If to the sums we then stated as levied—on butter and cheese , 159 , 000 / . ; on coffee , 457 , 000 / . ; on corn , 000 / adc

      473 , 000 / . ; on currants and raisins , 294 , . ; we the duties on sugar and molasses , 5 , 372 , 000 / . ; and the duty on tea , 5 , 060 , 000 / ., we shall have a sum upwards of 12 , 000 , 000 / . levied on the necessary food of the bulk of the people . It is usually supposed , because some of these articles have come into use at a later period than others , that they are not necessaries ; this is a mistake—they are necessaries in the present condition of society . The light , agreeable drinks which cheer without inebriating contribute much to temperance . So broils in

      numerous as the people are now , were proportion as numerous as formerly , our streets would be pools of blood . To import these commodities , and export'tlie commodities sent abroad to pay for them , gives employment and subsistence to large masses of people , wanting whom society would be totally different from what it is . The use of them serves also to preserve peace between nations , and substitutes trade for piracy , and civilisation for barbarity . They are all ,, therefore , strictly necessaries , and the statesmen who idly and Unthinkingly impede exchange to get a revenue , themselves

      are in reality , however they may plume , the enemies of the country and mankind . The duties on provisions , including fruit , enhance the price of the- ' corresponding articles grown in the country . They hot only enhance it oy a sum equal to the duty , but by a larger sum measured by the inconvenience to which they expose merchants , and Avhich impedes the importation to a greater degree than the sum levied as duty . Formerly such duties were quite agreeable to the general policy of the State , which , from olden times , was mainly based on the principle of taxing the industrious multitude in order to fill the coffers of the

      State or enrich the nobles ; or , at least , to exempt them from taxation . But now when , the consequences of the old policy continuing , the impoverishment and degradation of the multitude have jbeeomc palpable and dangerous—now , when the professed policy of all parties is to elevate the multitude—to oontinue such taxes is to act contrary to professions , and helps to degrade and ruin the character of statesmen . The experience of the last few years has clearly demonstrated , that ever-increasing employment , ever-extending trade , and over-accruing wniyes , conduce to the peace , the morality , and the welfare of all .

      Many , or indeed most , acts of the Government , nil being , we admit , well intended , might be extremely beneficial if they could be done without levying taxes . But it is the cssenco of government that it can do nothing without money , and it has no money but what ia derived from taxes . To require action from it is to require taxation , so that the people who year aftor year have required the Government to extend the sphere of its operations , have required the taxation to bo maintained of which all complain . To get rid of taxation we must limit the action of Government . All tho officials know this

      and discourage as much as possible the reduction of taxation , bocauso every reduction necessarily limits , in some way or other , their power , thou dignity , and their oonsequence . Wo are not surprised , therefore , at their readiness to promote tho schemes of the educationists , the moralists , tho religionists , and every kind and class of projectors who flatter thorn by tolling them that they can promote tho woll ' aro of society , and who have

      induced thorn , in conjunction with their own dosiros , to augment tho sum year after year taken by taxes from tho peoplo and appropriated to works which oui" forefathers justly rogarded . as wholly beyond tho sphore of Governmont . Of the additional < t , 000 , 000 / ., applied Within a fow years to miscellaneous oivil sorvicps , wo shall solcot tho money applied to education—some of the best applied—to show tho working of the wholo

      system . Such application of the public money , year after year , as 900 , 000 / . for public works and buildings , 217 , 000 / . for a Poor-law Commission , nearly 22 , 000 / . for Factory Commissioners , nearly 23 , 000 / . for a Board of Works in Ireland ; as 16 , 000 / . for Tithe and Copyhold Commissioners , 2805 / . for Public Works Town Commissioners , 177 OZ . West India Relief Commissioners , 250 , 000 / . to reduce county rates and confer a boon on landowners , 51 , 000 / . for law charges in Ireland , while 36 , 000 / . pay law charges in England ; nearly 1 , 000 . 000 / . for prisons , 11 , 125 / . for the Board of

      Health , &c , we pass over , though there is not one of them which an honest and conscientious minister would not greatly reduce , or altogether strike out , rather than maintain taxation to support them . We ask attention simply to the manner in which 663 , 435 / . is to be applied in 1858 and 1859 to promote education in Great Britain , exclusive of 83 , 000 / . devoted to science and art . The sum for education is entirely a modern grant . It began in 1839 , and the application of the money in the present year may be taken as an illustration of the application of the sum voted every year since that time .

      Of the 663 , 435 / ., 150 , 000 / . is for school-houses , and , as the rule , 19 parts out of 22 go to schools connected with the Church of England , 7000 / . is to pay for books and maps , 230 , 000 / . to pay the stipends of teachers and schoolmasters , 73 , 000 / . to augment the stipends of such masters as have obtained certificates of merit , 0000 / . for grants to assistant teachers , 16 , 440 / . to defray the expenses of the presiding establishment in London , and 40 , 495 / . to pay 54 inspectors and assistant-inspectors . Excluding the two items first mentioned , the other sums amount to 365 , 935 / . All this is

      bestowed by an irresponsible board on individuals , and is so much of the public money bestowed to bind them and their connexions to the Government . As large a part of it in proportion as 19 parts out of 22 goes to clergymen and persons connected with the Church of England . JVIost of the inspectors are reverend gentlemen . It is so much money , therefore , added to the resources of the Church and applied to increase its influence . It increases the number of dependents on Government ,

      and approximates it here to the Imperial Government with its huge army of retainers , which makes it completely the master of , the people . Both these are very undesirable , and when they are brought about by taxes on the butter , cheese , and bread of the people , they can only be called disastrous . Trade and the progress of civilisation are impeded , the clergy are enriched , and the Government made more bureaucratic by the scheme which is nominally to improve education .

      FRANCE . —RAILS AND CANALS . A very curious circumstance has occurred in France . Its general trade , its exports and imports , and its navigation , have increased very much , but latterly the coasting trade has fallen off . This is obviously due to the construction of railways , now the chief instruments for carrying on the transit trade , of which formerly a much larger proportion than at present was carried by canals and coasters . Ship-owners and boat-owners on canals have , in consequence , petitioned the imperial Government for measures to countervail the superiority of railways . It was at one time apprehended that a similar effect would be experienced here , but since railways came into use ,

      our coasting trade and carriage by canal have both increased . That they have not increased in France is a proof of the inefficiency of these two branches of society there . Had they acquired ' efficiency in freedom , they would have been able ' more effectually to compete with rails . The new contrivance , however , being to a great extent unfettered , because it is new , and a great improvement on all previous modes of locomotion , is carrying away trade from canals and coasters . This illustrates an important principle , and we notice the fact in mere outline only , to point out the obvious consequence . Rails beincr superior to canals in

      France , supersede them . This is the consequence of all improvements . Hand-loom weaving has been in like manner nearly extinguished by power-looms . In every branch of society new inventions come into existence , and supersede old arts . Because they are superior , Governments are forced to adopt them , or allow them to be adopted , and whenever Governments maintain old contrivances in opposition to the new inventions , the contrast becomes so great that the old are ridiculous , and the Government which supports them contemptible . We are made to see , therefore , very clearly , that the progress of knowledge carries with it effects to which the . most powerful Government must submit . We are made also to see that it cannot regulate and control all

      things ; and hence we are made to see the folly of Government attempting to control many things which must perpetually bring it into collision with those which it cannot control . The more it extends its regulations , the more frequently is its weakness demonstrated . Louis Napoleon , then , is in a fix . He cannot leave canals and rails in competition under the present regulation ; he cannot lay restrictions on rails without lessening their utility , and has no alternative but to lessen or remove the impediments which old legislation has laid in the way of the coasting trade and of travelling by canal . Other Governments arc under similar coercion , and must remove old restrictions , or stop entirely , if that bo possible , the use of new inventions .

      That it has this effect may bo doubted . The minutes and other proceedings of the Board of Privy Council , which presides over the whole scheme , show amongst all the officials great diversities of opinion , perpetual changes , and not a littlo squabbling . That a show examination and a model school may bo exhibited by tho expenditure of half a million ay oar is probable , but that the people arc as much improved by this scheme as they would be by abolishing thp taxes which pay for it , wo deny . For nges the clergy have hud tho control of the education of the people , they have been entrusted with enormous funds for this and

      no other purpose , and tho conscquonco , by their own statement , is that tho bulk of tho people aro ignorant and irreligious . In truth , what they tench and what is taught at sohools , docs not mako up , if it much contribute to , tho national groatness . It is of fnr less importance thuu the habits of toil and skill handed down from fathor to son and gradually improved . Good workinon , good smiths , carpenters , shipwrights , ploughmen , ' and seamen , aro indispensable to tho wclfaro of all . Did they not grow or wcro provided in tho courso of society , they would bo worth purchasing at any price Good scholars are useful too , but ; whon wo liavo tho othors without cost , why should wo pay for these , such an enormous price P Why , in short—for it comos to this- —should wo by taxation injure those indispensable olassos to rear up and strengthen olasses without which , tho nation night flourish P

      Untitled Article

      London , Friday Evening . Although the cotton trade , particularly in the spinning branches , is not quite so brisk as it was a week or two ago , it must not be supposed there has been any serious reaction from the improvement recently established . The manufacturers are all fully employed , many upon long contracts , and there is just now a very active demand for almost all classes of Manchester goods . As to tho spinning branches , they aro affected by tho high price of cotton , which , by compelling producers to insist upon corresponding terms , have checked , to a considerable extent , tho

      demand from nearly all parts of Europe , except Russia . But , by way of compensation , the demand from tho oastorn inarlcots is good , the advices received , yesterday being again favourable . Wo oxpoct that those advices will infuse fresh vigour into this department . With regard to manufactured goods , tho exhaustion of stocks in the hands of rotailors is not yot overtaken , while export orders aro increasing , particularly in cases whoro concessions nro nmao oy producers . Yorkshire manufactures of . nil description * aro in full demand , and occupation Is JWTho samo may bo said of tho linen , /"' ft ' * ™ ldoe and pottery trades , though that class of tho first which is located in Scotland lias boon somewhat dull Tho iron and . . hardware tradoa aro decidedly P ? ogre 39 ing , not only as ftr as respects the homo

      Mercantile And Commercial

      MERCANTILE AND COMMERCIAL

      Untitled Article

      GENERAL TRADE REPORT

      Untitled Article

      No . 447 , OGTOBERJ . 6 ^ 1858 . 1 T H E Jj E A P EB , __ 1105

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1858, page 1105, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2264/page/25/