Page:The Economist 1843-08- Vol 1 Preliminary Number (IA sim economist 1843-08 1 preliminary-number).pdf/8

 In 1824 the amount of revenue at the high rates of duty was £420,988

In 1840 low rates 921,551

In 1824 the price of good Jamaica coffee in bond, with the high prohibitory duty, was

In January 113s. to 118s. per cwt.

July 99s. - 101s.

November 97s. - 100s.

In 1840, with the low duty and reduced protection, the price was

In January 125s. to 132s. per cwt.

July 124s. 128s.

November 120s. 125s.

The result may, therefore, be said to be an increased import of 20,423,000 lbs.; and increased consumption of 20,402,000 lbs.; with the former lowest duty reduced to one half, and the differential duties comparatively abandoned, the revenue more than doubled; and notwithstanding the enormous increased supply of East India and foreign coffee, which, at the old rate of duty of 2s. 6d. per lb., would have been practically prohibited, the price of Jamaica coffee in bond to the merchant and planter higher than in 1824.

On this extraordinary result we must for a moment dwell, and reflect. The consumption of 1824 was 8,262,913 lbs., or 73,776 cwts. at an average price of 100s. per ewt. in bond, which represented 368,8801, of value. In 1840 the quantity consumed was 28,664,336 lbs., or 255,931 cwts.; and considering the large portion of East Indian and foreign coffee,-if calculated at only 80s. per ewt.-represented 1,023,7217. of value.

The first reflection in thinking of all the interests involved in this is, the additional number of ships which are required to carry 255,931cwts. instead of 73,776 ewts., the employment of landing and warehousing it, the increase of business to the importing merchant and the Mincing-lane brokers, in passing 1,023,724. through their hands instead of 368,8807. The increase of business, again, which the distribution throughout the country by the wholesale dealer, and the retailing by the shopkeeper, of 28,664,336 lbs., instead of 8,262,943 lbs.; the blessing of this increased supply to the community, the revenue receiving 921,5511. instead of 420,9881. -and in the midst of these advantages,-the producer receiving actually a higher price than he did for the little quantity in 1824-all are benefited: no one is injured.

But stay: this is only half the benefit. We want goods-manufactures or minerals, to export in payment of this coffee, to the amount of 1,023,7241, in place of 368,8807. New labour is set to work throughout the country to produce them; this labour communicates ABILITY TO CONSUME MORE FARM PRODUCE, more of other kinds of manufactures, of other colonial or foreign produce. Then again, we have larger business for the export merchant, for inland carriers, for labourers in the docks; and once more,-all this additional demand for ships to carry the increased outward cargoes; and throughout, great additional legitimate demand for capital to conduct the transactions.

All this is very consistent with the condition of a population increasing at the rate of one thousand a day; and were this article the rule instead of the exception in our commercial policy, we should have no complaint of the lack of trade, of deficient revenue, or of surplus population.

Reflecting on these operations shows us how truly foolish is the distinction which men are constantly attempting to draw between the value of a HOME or a FOREIGN TRADE. All these increased transactions, arising out of the import and payment for coffee (or be it corn or any other article), is exactly what makes a good home trade; the ability to consume circulates from one class to another; artisans of one class give employment to those of another by spending their wages: these, again, circulate in an accumulative manner; every additional man that we employ assists immediately by his consumption to find employment for others; and all unite in increased consumption of the fruits of the earth; the benefit circulates throughout all classes, and creates what is termed a good home trade: but the truth is, foreign trade and home trade are in effect synonymous terms; and equally synonymous are the terms "native industry" and "foreign industry"-the former being used to convey the idea of labour in cultivating our land, and the latter being used to convey the idea of that labour which is imported in exchange for our manufactures. Very little reflection will show that the value and demand for native labour" in cultivating the soil, depends much on the demand which is caused by the consumption of those employed in manufacturing for the foreign markets, and that the whole demand for the labour of the latter class depends exclusively on our being able and willing to take from other countries such things as they value less than the goods which we have to offer: and this article will always be found to be that which such countries can cultivate most profitably: exchanges thus can only be a source of mutual advantage. The coffee, the wool, or the wheat which we import in exchange for the produce of the looms of Manchester and Leeds, the anvils and furnaces of Birmingham and Sheffield, just as much represent native industry, as does the wool shorn on the Brighton Downs, or the wheat grown on the fields of Kent or Essex. The truth is, that as every article which we import can only represent directly or indirectly some article which we export, it must always follow that the more we extend our imports, the more we encourage that labour, "native industry" by increasing a demand for those articles which are required in exchange for our increased imports.

In order to show most indisputably that the increased consumption of coffee was caused by the changes in the duties referred to, we subjoin the annexed tabular history of the article since 1820, distinguishing the three periods of the different rates of duties; and also distinguishing the proportions furnished under the different rates of duties during the whole period:-