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Leader (1850-1860), 17th December 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1376, Untitled Article

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    • COMMERCIAL.
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      Commercial.

      COMMERCIAL .

      Untitled Article

      T&ADE AND TAXATION . TT ^ 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 ,

      belong 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 3 tat . es forcibly transferring the produce of industry to idle persons , or to persons whose work is of doubtful utility , if not positively destructive . The latter ' 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 m 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 army , 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 , j £ 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 , an , d 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 serve as foci 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 waa attacked . We do not trust professional inen , eager to profit by any temporary public feeling ' , who recommend us now to erect more fortifications ; butj in fact , we are to , have them , and additional taxation will bo required to pay for them . Already the project has affected the public funds ; it has been noticed in City articles , and wo , therefore , are 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 forcibly transfer , by taxation , more property from one class to another , which , in our humble judgment , is of far more importance to commercial men , politically , morally , nnd pecuniarily , than the exportation of tons of gold . We desire to see economy in tho expenditure because it U just to the taxpayers , not because wo have any apprehensions of the national resources . No phenomenon is iuoro to bej admired than ' the increased prosperity of tho so-called old , overpec pled , and worn-out England . With all her nanny burdens , largely increased by a fall of prices , which compels industry now to give nearly two quarters of wheat to pay tho debt which one quarter woujd pay in 1810 , nnd to

      give 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 in the tux-receiving

      classes , and an equal degree of penury and warit 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 of the classes supported by taxation or enforced contributions . To do justice to the taxpayers , we must reduce expenditure . Reduce 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 they connect producers . Their welfare 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 a ^ es 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 especially-. of the commercial nrui moneyed clashes of 'Europe , at the continued unjust appropriation of tlie 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 contentedness of the industrious classes—the natural owners of all wealth—under

      the continual misappropriation of tluur 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-intervention , " published in Frascr ' s Magazine , that our reputation abroad suffers from our own fault . This is universally true . No man , as the rule , suffers from tho faults of others . He suffers from his own

      faults ; and , as there cannot be two contradictory principles of morals , the industrious multitude , including all- the mercantile classes , now suffer by their own fault from exorbitant taxation . They are to blame for the predominance of self-seeking warriors and bureaucrats . To keep thorn in due subordination to public welfare , the industrious classes in all countries should bestir themselves , to oppose tho 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 fuot that tho partial substitution of direct for indirect taxation , in 1842 , led to a great and ccmtinuul increase of expenditure . The former yields so largely that , ns long as tho people will boar tho infliction with patience , it encourages men in office to increase tho expenditure ; They -will always expend all that they can levy . It is since 1842 that tho groat increase has been made in tho charges for civil service , nnd no one will say that our Government moro oflcotually promoted the public welfare in 1858 than in 1842 , Direct taxation , however , in that interval , enabled it to appropriate tho lion ' s share of tho increased produce of industry to its own purposes ; and as these have not

      occasioned any improvement in the ' condl ¦ tiori of the multitude , the direct taxation then im posed has increased the extravagance of tb . 1 Government and themisappropriation of property We wajn ' t , undoubtedly , an improved system of taxation , but we want much more , a re duction of expenditure and increased respect in " our rulers for the property of industry .

      Untitled Article

      City , Friday evening . —The money market continue * very quiet . There are no alterations in it to noticp The extensive , but regular trade of the coumry keeps un a steady demand . for money , but the su pply is also steadv and equal to the demand . Those who look for novelties find none . Tlie Cousol market has not been wry aetive in the week , though there lias been much business done in other stocks and shares . To-day consols closed nt U . jj , as thev were yesterday at 94 | g . Speculating parrie * lmve been realising , which accounts , in the absence of all political rumours , for the dullness . Kaihvay shares dial ail kinds of stocks are somewhat less advanced than they have been , they experiencing to-day a little reaction .

      1 lie . recent rise in the price of public'securities has been proportionally greater abroad , in France and the United States , tlian here . At Paris it is reported- with exultation , speculation is quite alive at tlio Uourse , and imparts a general influence to the commerce of Paris . At New York the " excitement at the £ tock Exchange ! andtlie large increase in the volume of business lias been remarkable . " Political causes ^ -such its the more assured hope of continued peace from the labours ofcongress or . otherwise , are at the bottom of the improvement , less than others

      and they aflect no , because our complete freedom " of discussion , like free imports and exports , tends to diminish changes and keep tilings , even prices at the Stock Exchange , stable . An increase iu the receipts of railways helps the impulse-. This is a positive good . It is a sign of prosperity . The railways yield more , public annuities yield the . same , and 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 mdre regularly employed here ' than there ; the distrust has been less , and here no-hoarding , has taken place . The renewed confidence , of which t :. e rise . is a sign , pervades . other departments' of business ; and , if there be a cheek to our exports 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 carried < : i r . ' i ¦ t ' f . u < -. V 2 > cn .-n of our l . i : ; . •?¦!•• . . .: -, t ' l ^ 'd . cstructiou of which would enrich tlu-ni . The fact , however ,, is , that nil commerce is mutual ;; dvantage , and the people who are clothed by our looms , nnd induced , by our demand for their corn , biijrar ; con " ec , and indigo , to cultivate their lands , are cjuiti- -m much benefited by our commerce as we are . Piracy or robbery by men-of-war is utterly indefensible ; it is not trade , though formerly it assumed the dm racier ; trade is always mutually beneficial exchange . The misleading

      journal , which nourishes such old-fushioi . ed prejudices , seems ignorant that , the cargoes of what iL calls our " goldsliips" belong partly to the foiviyne :-. Almost , the whole of the gold which coined into 111 < - country is again scut abroad . It only passes through it . To plunder our gold ships would ho very often to mb tlie niurulinnts of ( jernmny , France , Itsily , and rtpnin . We see by the Wiser Zcituny of tlm l : JrJi , that the hasty attack mndu by the Thins on the Urcmeii _ nit-rchuntsand shipowners r presuming to advocate , hi "Ccordaiice with the resolutions of the Cungr < : » - * ul Inns , the inviolability of theporsoiw and property ol incieluiuts carrying on trudu by st-n , Jims been met l > y » i eonTiqionuing and angry attack on the journal . Tin . llmnin ihcu laugh nt the ignoruuee and presumption of the ' J imvn , and uccuso it of vulgar rudeness ( grob / icit ) . V \ ciuv all concerned in this ; for the journal which pretends to bpeuk lor tho natiou , and by wanton utiucU . soii respectable inun luudubly employed , excites tin : anger oi our associates , allies , and Iriond .-., inliiets a great injury on England .

      Untitled Article

      GENERAL TRADES JREPOBT .

      Untitled Article

      MONET MARKET & STOCK EXCHANaE

      Untitled Article

      1376 / THE LEADER ! [ JSfo . 508 . Dec 17 , 18 . 5 Q < ^^ j ^^^^^^^^ j ^^^^^ j ^^^^ g ^ j ^ jg ^^ jjjI ^ jijgl ^^^^^^^^ jjj ^ ' ^^^ jljjjgMj ^ j ^ j ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ jj ^^^ jg ^ j ^^ g ^ Q ^^ jl ^^^^ j ^ j ^^ j ^^ jj ^^ p ^^^^ j ^ jj ^^^ j ^^ jjQj ^^^^^^^ jjI ^^^ B ^ jSBM ^ MtBi ^ B ^^^^^ PJfl ^^ BM ^^^^^^ B ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^—^—_ . *

      Untitled Article

      What we slated lust week of tlit ; general quietness " » stability of the nuirkuts m « y be repentoil this wwk . DusiuobS is large , but iu proportion as il in hiW , ' moves smoothly and uninterruptedly . It- partakes iw u extimds , of tho character of general laws , and Icnw'S >> u aberration * to bo recorded , i'ho grain niarKtt Um'iiyiiput the country , and nt Mark-hjinj to-day , In Hn" . very trifling ultarutloiiM anywhere . Sucli hii-ad ; . aim low prJwH tut huvo now prevailed for many nnniHm an , wo boliovo , unexampled in tho history of t lie . grain t ¦* 11 " * --A greater blueing could not bo bobtow . d on iho lvguim nuji-chuntn and tho consuming people . ., TJio other markets , though not unite ho In 1 " "Ol ! fluctuations us tho gruln markut , conlfiuie ci . inpiiriii . i \«' . v Htuady . with » , good , demand and u g-ootl bushman <»>"»• In tnu liiunuiiicjUirlng iliutrictti great uothity « ' "'" " ,, to proviul . Tho hiMt udvlcuu troin ludlii and A a » n » » v arc not very favourable . Tho nuirkutd havn lur tliu " » ° buon a llttlu ovurdono ; but . tho consumption uclntf B" •"' Iu botli uouutrivH , tho uiurkutu will soon ho riill « nr < i . ' » tho nionntimu , otliw nmrkuta uro oxIontliiiH—l" 13 ""^ n » and » gon « rully uruhioroaslng nniiprotlucluK" 1011 ° ; . •„ wJicro nro Jnilplug ono nuotiivr , or purclianliiH' ( l > •"„ onothur , mid all nr « proaporlng . Wo Jmvo oiilvw tiint tlila proauorltv muv continue .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 1376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2325/page/20/