o one. To remedy such defects as
may be found to exist in any of its numerous provisions will not fail
to claim your serious attention. It may well merit inquiry whether the
exaction of all duties in cash does not call for the introduction of a
system which has proved highly beneficial in countries where it has been
adopted. I refer to the warehousing system. The first and most prominent
effect which it would produce would be to protect the market alike
against redundant or deficient supplies of foreign fabrics, both of
which in the long run are injurious as well to the manufacturer as the
importer. The quantity of goods in store being at all times readily
known, it would enable the importer with an approach to accuracy to
ascertain the actual wants of the market and to regulate himself
accordingly. If, however, he should fall into error by importing an
excess above the public wants, he could readily correct its evils by
availing himself of the benefits and advantages of the system thus
established. In the storehouse the goods imported would await the demand
of the market and their issues would be governed by the fixed principles
of demand and supply. Thus an approximation would be made to a
steadiness and uniformity of price, which if attainable would conduce
to the decided advantage of mercantile and mechanical operations.

The apprehension may be well entertained that without something to
ameliorate the rigor of cash payments the entire import trade may fall
into the hands of a few wealthy capitalists in this country and in
Europe. The small importer, who requires all the money he can raise for
investments abroad, and who can but ill afford to pay the lowest duty,
would have to subduct in advance a portion of his funds in order to pay
the duties, and would lose the interest upon the amount thus paid for
all the time the goods might remain unsold, which might absorb his
profits. The rich capitalist, abroad as well as at home, would thus
possess after a short time an almost exclusive monopoly of the import
trade, and laws designed for the benefit of all would thus operate for
the benefit of a few--a result wholly uncongenial with the spirit of our
institutions and antirepublican in all its tendencies. The warehousing
system would enable the importer to watch the market and to select his
own time for offering his goods for sale. A profitable portion of the
carrying trade in articles entered for the benefit of drawback mu