112 EEMAEKS ON THE GOVEENMENT TAX. 
SECTION IL 
REMARKS ON THE GOVERNMENT TAX. 
We propose, in this section, to consider the probable 
consequences of the late law of Congress, taxing raw cotton 
three cents per pound. 
It is a law of trade, that the great markets of the world 
control and regulate the less. Liverpool is the great mar- 
ket of the world for cotton, and Liverpool prices will, con- 
sequently, regulate the prices of that article in all other 
markets. The three cents per pound tax on cotton in the 
United States cannot in any way affect the price of the ar- 
ticle in Liverpool, only so far as it may tend to diminish 
the supply from this country, and thereby increase the de- 
mand there ; but as there is a large and increasing supply 
thrown on the foreign market from the East Indies, China, 
%ypt> Brazil, and other countries, a diminution of the 
supply from the United States will surely stimulate the 
production of cotton in other countries. The vacuum pro- 
duced by the diminished supply fi-om the United States 
would soon be filled by the stimulated industry of other 
countries; and we should lose the compensating advan- 
tages of an increased demand which would otherwise result 
from diminished production in this country. 
It is, therefore, clear that the whole weight of the tax 
falls on the producer of cotton in this country ; that it will 
operate as a bounty to stimulate the production of cotton 
in other countries, to the amount of the tax; and that the 
effect will be to drive the American planter from the cul- 
ture of cotton, unless it should command such a price in 
the foreign market as to make his labor remunerative, 
even with a discrimination against him of three cents per 
