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1376 THE LEAD E Bj [No. 508, Dec 17, 185...
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COMMERCIAL.
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TRADE AND TAXATION. TT7E know nothing th...
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MONEY MARKET & STOCK EXCHANGE.
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CiTY,«Friday evening.—The money market c...
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GENERAL TRApE REPORT-
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WlIA'f we stated last week of the genera...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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1376 The Lead E Bj [No. 508, Dec 17, 185...
1376 THE LEAD E Bj [ No . 508 , Dec 17 , 185 Q .
Commercial.
COMMERCIAL .
Trade And Taxation. Tt7e Know Nothing Th...
TRADE AND TAXATION . TT 7 E know nothing that should be more Interest-^ ' ing to commercial men than taxation , and therefore , in the absence of any commercial topics which command attention , we record here , that the movement , which we noticed last week as having been begun at Liverpool , for the reduction and reform , of taxation , has received an impulse in London . That great body of reformers , too , called the Northern Union , urges forward the movement , and very properly unites it with Parliamentary reform . The two reforms , in fact ,
begive more of all its produce , in proportion to the tax-receivers , to the great enrichment of the receivers of fixed incomes , —she walks erect and swift , with the activity and vigour of youth and manhood . The increase of her productive power since 1816 , and especially since 1842 , is more marvellous than the growth of the United States , or than the growth of the Australian colonies . But with this is conjoined a prodigious deal of superfluity and waste iu the tax-receiving classes , and an equal degree of penury and want in the industrious and tax-paying classes . The condition of the multitude is instinctively felt to be an impeachment of the wisdom of the Government , and the justice and honour
occasioned any improvement in the ' condi tion of the multitude , the direct taxation then imposed has increased the extravagance of the Government and theniisappropriation of property We want , undoubtedly , an improved system of taxation , but we want much more , a reduction of expenditure and increased respect in our rulers for the property of industry . l
of the classes supported by taxation or enforced contributions . To do justice to the taxpayers , we must reduce expenditure , lleduce taxation , and the nation will flourish more than ever , and the terrible impeachment will abate . Industry may justly be called the life of society . It provides subsistence , fuel , clothing ; it keeps the heart in motion , the brain active , and society in existence . Industrious men everywhere form part of the same system . They are linked together by their mutual and reciprocal services throughout the globe . Commercial men are a part of the great chain . By distributing products welfare
they connect producers . Their depends entirely on the quantities of goods to be exchanged , and their interest is identical with that of the producers . The more these produce the better for the merchants . To lessen the number of producers , by employing a large part of a community in : warlike or other destructive enterprises , is to check production and check commerce . Perhaps , therefore , posterity will regard the apathy with which the mercantile classes in our day have witnessed and supported an enormous wasteful expenditure on preparations for war in other countries as well as our own , as a remarkable and inexplicable phenomenon , as strange as the impulse which in the middle ages hurried great armies into Palestine . We now know that the Crusades served to
spread knowledge between the East and the West , but what good purpose the apathy of the industrious , and ospe'rinHy of the commercial and moneyed classes of Europe , at jhe continued unjust appropriation of the produce of industry to _ the purposes of war will serve , cannot now be divined . It perpetuates and increases the classes who have an interest in keeping alive war , and everywhere impedes production and lessens interchange . It is alike injurious to the husbandman and the manufacturer , the merchant and the sailor . We only mention the circumstance , and neither blame nor attempt to explain it . For us , next to the wonderful increase of production , the most wonderful thing is the contente'dness of the industrious classes—tho natural owners of all wealth—under
the continual misappropriation of thrur substance , by taxation , to purposes directly at variance with their welfare . It is well shown by . Mr . J . S . Mill , in his now celebrated " Few Words on Non-Intervontion , " published in Fraser ' s Magazine , that our reputation abroad suffers from cfur own fault . This ia universally true . No man , as the rule , sufTcrs from the faults of others . He suffers from his own
faults 5 and , as there cannot be two contradictory p rincip les of morals , the industrious multitude , including all the mercantile classes , now suffer by thoir own fault from exorbitant taxation . They are to blame for the predominance of self-seeking warriors and bureaucrats . To koop them in due subordination to public welfare , the industrious clnssca in all countries should bestir themselves , to oppose the misappropriation of the produce of industry—the life of society—by taxation .
An additional reason for making reduction of taxation precede a change in its form , is found in the fact that the partial substitution of direct for indirect taxation , in 1842 , led to a great and continual increase of expenditure . The former yiolda so largely that , as long as the people will bear th e infliction with patience , it encourages inon in ottlco to Xncreaso tho expenditure . They ^ will always expend all that they oan levy . It is since 1842 that tho great increase has boon made in the charges for civil service , nnd no one will , any that pw Government inoro eflbctually promoted the public welfare in 1858 than in 1842 , Direct taxation , however , in that interval , cimbludit to appropriate tho lion ' s share of the increased produce of industry to itu own purposes ; and ns these have not
long to one improvement . We cannot have continuous equitable expenditure and taxation without Parliamentary reform ; and a reduction of expenditure is the sure road to increase the power of the industrious classes , and enable them to command Parliamentary reform . In general , the men who advocate one advocate the other , and both are so congenial that they ought not to be separated . In financial reform two cardinal points engage attention—the reduction of expenditure and the substitution , wherever changes can be made , of direct for indirect taxation . The former is the
more important , inasmuch as it is an abatement of the crying grievance and palpable injustice , of the State forcibly transferring the produce of industry to idle persons , or to persons whose work is of doubtful utility , if not positively destructive . The hitter should be pursued subordinately to the former , and ought only to be adopted to supply an expenditure strictly necessary . We , therefore , would advise our commercial and other readers to
advocate economy in expenditure rather than changes in the mode of taxation . " While economy , however , is especially due to the suffering multitude , we are chagrined to learn that , in addition to the vast expenditure already annually incurred , and incurred without stint , and with much waste , for the armyj the navy , and the civil departments—in addition to the immense cost the public is incurring to raise rifle corps and prepare voluntary means of defence , a large sum , £ 16 , 000 , 000 , it is said , is to be expended on fortifications . The Government , imbecile itself , will
not trust the popular zeal to defend the nation . It is about to repeat the enormous error and the enormous waste of 1797 . ; of which , the memorials , in ruins , may yet be seen at Chatham and numerous other places . If fortifications could give us security they ought to be built ; but to be of any real use , they should encompass the island , as completely as a shell encompasses a snail . If we rely on them , and they leave one spot uncovered , we shall be weaker , by all the power we waste on them , than if they were never erected . Professional men , who have a strong interest in
finding dupes in the public , may talk loudly in favour of fortresses ; but they seem to sefve as f oci of attraction , and in various parts of the Continent their ruins testify that there , as here , they have been a costly waste . The reader may be advantageously reminded that Sebastopol was defended by . earthworks thrown up on the emergency . The old walls were of little use when the place was attacked . We do not trust professional men , eager to profit by any temporary public feeling , who recommend us now to erect more fortifications 5 but , in fact , we are to have them , and additional taxation will be required to pay for them . Already the project has affected the public funds ; it has been noticed in City articles ,
and wo , therefore , nro justified in referring to it here , though it be not for the purpose of reminding the reader that it will necessarily cause gold to be exported . It will forcibl y transfer , by taxation , more property from one class to another , which , in our humule judgment , is of far moro importance to commercial men , politically , morally , and pecuniarily , than the exportation of tons of gold . We desire to see economy in tho expenditure because it . is jusb to tho taxpayers , not because wo have any apprehensions of the national resources . No phenomenon is moro to be admired than the increased prosperity of the so-called old , overpecpled , and worn-out England . With all her many burdens , largely in creased by a fall of pricce , which compels industry now to give nearly two quarters of wheat to pay the debt which one quarter would pay in 1816 , and to
Money Market & Stock Exchange.
MONEY MARKET & STOCK EXCHANGE .
City,«Friday Evening.—The Money Market C...
CiTY , « Friday evening . —The money market continues . very quint . There . are no alterations in it to notice The extensive , but regular trade of the country kcciw un a steady demand for money , but the suppl y is also steady and equal to the demand . Those who look lor novelties find none . The Consol market lias not been very active in the week , though there lias been'much business done in . other stocks and shares . To-day consols closed nt HO * , as they were yesterday at 94 J J , Speculating parries huve been realising , which accounts , in the absence of all political rumours , for the dullness . Railway shares mid ail kinds of stocks are somewhat less advanced than tlmy have been , they experiencing to-day a little reaction .
The recent rise in the price of public securities has been proportionably greater abroad , iii France and the United States , than here . At Paris it is reported with exultation , speculation is quite alive at tin ; JJourse , and imparts a general influence , to the commerce of Paris . At New York the " excitement at the Stock Exchange ! and the large increase in the volume of business has been remarkable . " Political causes—such as the more assured hope of continued peace from the labours of congress or otherwise , are at the bottom of the improvement , less than othersbec
and they affect no , ause our complete freedom of discussion , like free imports and exports , tends to diminish changes and keep things , even prices at the !>> tock . Exchange , stable . An increase in the receipts of railways helps the impulse . This is a positive good .. It ia a sign of prosperity . The railways yield more , public annuities yield the same , aud the advance in the price of them is chiefly welcome to the public as an indication that capital is abundant and seeks employment . Probably , in relation to the public wants , it is less abundant here than in either the United ( States or in France . It
has been more regularly employed here than there ; the distrust has been less , and here 110 hoarding has-taken place . The renewed confidence , of which t .-. e rise is a sign , pervades other departments of business ; and , il there be a check to our t-xports to India , there is , in general , a greater disposition to speculate . It is extraordinary to find a leading journal , now representing the commerce of England as something cisrrii'd u . i nt fl : e expcnsi ; <•? ' cr . r 1 : ! . ! : '• . ms , : ! ie ; l estruction of which would enrich them . The fact , however ,. is , that all commerce is mutual advantage , and the people who are clothed by bur looms , anil induced , by our demand for their corn , Migar , coifec , and indigo , to cultivate their land * , art : quite as much benefited by our commerce as we are . Piracy or robbery by men-of-war is utterly indefensible ; it ia not nude , though formerly it assumed the elnu never ; trade is always mutually beneficial exchange . The misleading journal , which nourishes such old-iushioiscd prejudices ,
seems ignorant that , the cargoes of what ii . calls our " gold ships" belong partly to tho foreigner . Almost , the whole of the gold which comes inM ' the countryU again sent abroad . It only pusses through it . To plunder our gold ships would be very often to rob the merchants of CJeriuuny , Francv , Italy , and Spain . We see by the Wcser Zcituiuj of tin ; l ; Jih , that the hasty uttaek made by the Tlmvs on tho j { ivu : en merchants and shipowners r presuming to advocate , in accord nncu with the resolutions of the Congress « l I , U'is , the inviolability of the persons and property of merchants carrying 1 on tru . de by sea , has been uiut l > v u eunvspimding and ungry attack on the journul . The iJiruuu nien lnugh at the ignorance nnd presumption of the ' 1 uu ('• , aim accuse it of vulgar rudeness ( yroblx it ) . WVaiv nil concerned in thisj for the journal which prottr . d . i to speak lor the nation , and by wuuton utlucks on rwpi'Ctul ) le men laudably employed , excites tint linger 01 mir associates , allies , and friends , Inflicts a great injury on England .
General Trape Report-
GENERAL TRApE REPORT-
Wlia'f We Stated Last Week Of The Genera...
WlIA'f we stated last week of the general quirt ill ** and stability of tho xnarkutu mny be repented this wcuK . liuHincoH is large , but in proportion us il i * Iiiiw * moves smoothly and uninterruptedly . It pur tula * , iw h extends , of the character of general laws , 'and lonve .-t 110 aberrations to bu recorded . The grain nwtrl . t . 't tlii'oiiK'liout the country , imd ut Miirk-luuo to-tiny , is lirai , wm | very trifling alterations anywhere , . ^ iicli hU nil . v miu low prices n » have now prevailed for iinniy moiim * nn '» wo Ixiliovo , unexampled in the history of ilm yniln tnui « . A gruutur blosHiug could hot bu bestowed on tht ! re . uului merchants and tho consuming pcoplo . Tho other markets , though not quid 1 <¦<> iivi > iroia fluctuations u » the gruin limrkotjcoiniiiue cninpiimtlvi'iy sttiady , with a good duiniuid uud ' ti good hurtim-Hn iu > »!*• In tfiouianulacturiugdistricts ! grunt iwihily coiitluwfl to pruvuU ' . Thu lutJt iiUvloub Ih / iii India and AiiHinUiu arc not very favourable . Tho ntarUuttt Imve l' > r U 10 "mo boon n littlu ovurdono ; but , the consumption I" ' »« ' # , , iu botli countries , the iiiarkutM will « o » u Im rolh . 'Vt'd . i " tho meant lino , other markets t » ro <; . \ l ending— -Um «» " - iaanda genurnlly arc IncreUBiug aud produci ng mull uvi' « i '" whuro uro helping 0110 ivuother , or jHUvhuttlng »> l turn imothcr , and all nro prospering . Wo have onlvtJ that this proBuei-Jtv muv continue .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17121859/page/20/
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