Balances due more than three years from persons who have 1,362,437 23 Balances of appropriations on the 1st day of November, 1830, 2d Session. MEMORIAL OF JOSHAU WINSLOW, ET AL. JANUARY 10, 1831. Referred to the Committee on Commerce. To the Honorable the House of Representatives of the United States of America: The undersigned, citizens of the United States, interested in the trade between the island of St. Croix and the former, most respectfully beg leave to represent to your honorable body the very unfavorable effects which the present excessive rates of duty levied in the United States upon the produce of this island has upon the intercourse between the two countries, and the interests of all connected with the trade. We beg leave to call the attention of your honorable body to the amount of the produce of the United States annually consumed in this island, during periods when the duties on its produce were moderate in the United States. From the most correct computation, the annual consumption of Indian corn meal at that period was fourteen thousand puncheons, equal to two hundred and twenty-four thousand bushels. Corn meal is the common allowance to the negroes, that and pickled fish constituting their daily food; of the latter, part is imported from Denmark, and part from the United States. An average crop of sugar requires a million of red oak staves and four hundred thousand wood hoops, all imported from, and the produce of, the United States. All the white and pitchpine lumber used in the island, as well as wheat flour, and various other articles of provisions, are likewise imported from the United States. The transportation of these bulky articles gives employment to many American vessels, and the navigation of the United States is consequently benefitted thereby, As the trade was formerly carried on between St. Croix and the United States, the rum of the island was the article generally received in payment for American supplies; and as the import duty at that time levied in the United States, although still high in proportion to the first cost, admitted of the importation of rum without loss, (is being then 28 cents per gallon on the average third proof,) the trade could then be carried on advantageously to both countries. The duty on sugar at that period was two dollars per 100 lbs., and not having the New Orleans sugar to compete with to any extent, it was not considered exorbitant. The undersigned beg leave to state that, owing to the heavy duty now levied upon rum in the United States, amounting to an average of sixty dollars per puncheon of 110 gallons, the difficulties of payment for American supplies are much increased, and the island has, since the adoption of the tariff of 1828, gone largely into the cultivation of yams, potatoes, &c., usually called ground provisions, by which the importation from the United States of corn meal is abridged at least one third from the quantity stated in this petition as the annual consumption of the island. The price of rum has also decreased one half from that it bore prior to the tariffs of 1824 and 1828, thus again curtailing the means of payment of the planters for their supplies. In addition, the importation of many articles from Denmark, as substitutes for corn meal, is commencing; and there is much reason to fear, if the high rates of duty are persisted in, the island will learn to live without the produce of the United States. The import duty on rum now amounts in the United States to three hundred per cent. upon the first cost of the article, which is now little more than twenty dollars per puncheon of 110 gallons. The undersigned are aware that the high duties on foreign spirits are justified on the ground of their free importation being prejudicial to the morals and health of the community. They beg leave to observe, however, that, in their opinion, a high impost on foreign spirits exclusively will never lessen the consumption of ardent spirits to any extent, while the domestic spirit is free from excise, and can be procured at the low rate of 25 cents per gallon. If an excise of fifty cents per gallon was placed on domestic spirits, the importers of foreign would not complain of the present oppressive duties levied upon them. Formerly, in the northern and eastern States, the rum of this island was freely imported and consumed by the great bulk of the laboring farmers; indeed, in their mowing and hay-making seasons, it was considered of almost indispensable necessity; but, owing to the present high duties, they are now obliged to substitute a fabricated liquor, called St. Croix rum, made up at home. We leave it to the good sense of your honorable body to decide, whether it conduces most to their health and welfare to consume the spurious or the genuine rum; and if it is consistent with the free principles upon which the constitution of the United States is based, to force, through the medium of high duties, a large proportion of the population to consume articles with which they would willingly dispense, if the present high rates of duty did not force their consumption. There are other points of view in which these high duties appear to us extremely impolitic. The British North American colonies are permitted to import rum from the West Indies at a trifling import duty; consequently, it is sold at half the price it bears in the United States, in those colonies. Is there not then a most powerful temptation to illegally introduce this rum into the United States? The extensive frontier possessed by those colonies bordering on the United States offers great facilities for this clandestine trade, which can only be obviated by reducing the duty and removing the cause of temptation. The Danish Government have always permitted an unrestricted trade between this island and the United States: no foreign article is prohibited, and none pay a higher import duty than ten per cent. on their value; most articles of provisions pay only five per cent. on importation. The liberality they have shown in their colonial trade presents a wise example to the larger European powers possessing colonies. Your honorable body are aware that a treaty of commerce, on reciprocal principles, was, some time since, concluded between the two Governments, and that, very lately, another, giving indemnity for claims due our citizens, has been ratified; in the latter instance, Denmark is the first European power which has voluntarily made provision for similar claims. All these considerations, we confidently hope, may operate upon your honorable body, and induce them to place the trade between the Danish islands and the United States on the most favorable footing, by the adoption of measures tending to increase that trade, and to strengthen the good understanding now existing between the two Governments. We, therefore, most humbly and respectfully petition your honorable body that an early repeal of the excessive duty now levied upon St. Croix rum may be enacted, and that the duty prior to the tariffs of 1824 and 1828 may be substituted, which averaged 28 cents per gallon on the rum of this island. This latter rate would still be more than one hundred per cent. upon the first cost of the article, and sufficient, we should suppose, for protection. We also petition that a reduction of as much of the present duty on sugar as your wisdom may deem expedient may be effected: it is now nearly seventy-five per cent. on the first cost of the article; and one dollar per 100 pounds, impost, would be nearly 25 per cent. on the first cost. JOSHUA WINSLOW, of Boston. JOS. WALSOP, jr., of Middletown, Connecticut. J. HAZLEHURST, of Philadelphia. A. L. SANDS, of N. Y., late Capt. U. S. Art. JAMES G. CLARK, New York. ISLAND OF ST. CROIX, 28th October, 1830. We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States, merchants and residents in the city of New York, interested in the trade with the island of St. Croix, do fully concur with the petitioners above named, and pray for a repeal of the very burthensome duties now existing on the produce of St. Croix. DAVID ROGERS & SON. NEW YORK, 13th December, 1830. |