INFORMATION RELATING TO IMPOST.

FREEMAN HUNT, Esq., Editor of the Merchants' Magazine:

DEAR SIR:--There is one class of statistics of great importance to the advocates of free trade, which I have nowhere been able to find, to wit:-the cost of articles taxed with impost, consumed in a family of a given number of persons, with a view to ascertain how much impost tax such a family now, under the tariff of 1846, actually pays towards the support of the general government.

For example:-a person who buys two yards of cloth for a coat, imported at $4 per yard, the impost tax, duty, or tariff, being 30 per cent ad valorum, actually, but probably thoughtlessly, if not ignorantly, pays $2 40 tax to the general government, on this single article.

Whereas, the same person, under a direct tax yielding say $24,000,000 per annum, would be required to pay but one dollar.

Please request any person, or family, who can give a proximate statement, as above indicated, to send the same to the subscriber, post paid. The State or section of the country where the account is made, should be given.

The articles I have specially in view are the following:

Woolens of any description used in a family; cotton manufactured goods; linen, silk, and worsted; iron, number of pounds used for plows, chains, axes, &c.; iron manufactured into edge tools, cutlery, kitchen utensils, &c.; leather, boots, shoes, &c; sugar, the kind and cost; spirits, &c.; tea and coffee should also be added for statistical purposes.

The object I have in view being understood, further details are unnecessary.

Any newspaper, or other publication friendly to this object, will aid the cause of free trade by publishing this communication-gathering the answers, and publishing and transmitting the results to me.

When our Free Trade League (now in process of organization) shall go into operation, I trust one of its first objects will be to give this subject a thorough examination. And I shall be greatly disappointed if the result does not establish the fact, not only that our impost tax is one of the most deceptive and unequal, and therefore unjust of all taxes, but also that it falls with most oppressive weight upon the middling, working, and poorer classes, who constitute the great mass of consumers, and not upon the property of the rich, who are able to pay it.

New York, December 15th, 1850.

Most respectfully yours, &c.,

PAWNBROKING IN BARCELONA.

SAMUEL BEMAN.

The city of Barcelona, in Spain, possesses a peculiar pawnbroking establishmentwhere loans are made without interest to necessitous persons on the deposit of any articles. Two-thirds of the value of the deposit are at once advanced, and the loan is made for six months and a day; but if at the expiration of that period the depositor should declare himself unable to redeem it, another period of six months is allowed. At the end of the second six months the pledges are sold, but if they yield more than the amount advanced, the difference is given to the original owner. The Marquis de Llio is president of this charitable establishment, and he has just addressed a letter to the clergy of the diocease, praying them to make its advantages known. It bears the name of the Pawnbroking Establishment of Our Lady of Hope. In the year 1849, 5,686 persons availed themselves of its generosity.

FILTERER FOR SEA WATER.

M. Cardan has presented a notice to the Academie des Sciences, on a new system of filter, intended to make sea-water drinkable. This apparatus consists of a syphon, the long tube of which is filled with powdered charcoal. The author states that sea-water, after having traversed this syphon, has lost its nauseous flavor, and that the saline taste which remains, is scarcely to be detected, after it is mixed with wine. Commissioners were appointed to examine into the merits of this invention.

ABUSES OF THE CREDIT SYSTEM.

We find in a late number of the Cincinnati Price Current, some remarks touching the credit system, which are so well timed, and withal so judicious, that we cannot resist the temptation of transferring them to the pages of the Merchants' Magazine. After a few preliminary remarks, the writer goes on to state some of the different ways in which the credit system is abused, as follows:

"In the first place, it is abused by the creditor, who, in consequence of an overweening anxiety to sell, when he meets what he considers a good customer, more goods than that customer can pay for without depending upon a great many contingencies. But the consideration is too often, is he good for it? when it should be, Will his legitimate business enable him to make prompt payments? The bills receiveable of those who cannot conveniently pay them, but whose property it will be necessary to sacrifice to collect them-having to go through all the glorious uncertainty of the law-are most certainly what we would call the poorest possible description of available funds.

"Again, the credit system is abused by the buyer, when he is tempted to buy more goods than his regular trade will call for, under ordinary circumstances. It is not all that can be sold to the consumer is well sold, no matter how good he may be for it, but only what he can pay for conveniently.

Again, the credit system is abused by men who have a moderate capital and a good credit, and who are tempted to open a mercantile house in a certain location because it is considered a good place for business, and some of those who have grown up with it have become rich; and in order to make a show, and thereby build up a business at once, as they call it, they are tempted to tax their capital and their credit to the utmost extent; and the consequence is, that before the foundation is laid, their capital and their credit are both swept from under them.

Again, the credit system is abused by those who sell merchandise which they have bought on time, and which virtually belongs to their creditors, for anything but cash down, or at a stipulated time. The man who finds he has bought more goods in this way than he can find a ready sale for, and gives them in exchange for houses or lands, is not only abusing the system, but is doing his creditor a great injustice-a decided injury.

The facility offered by this system to embark in mercantile life, induces hundreds to accept of it, who are either incapable of conducting business successfully, or who attempt to carry it on in locations already full-where there are already more business houses than the trade of the place demands; and this is another most ruinous abuse of the credit system.

"But there is another way in which this system is abused, or rather used, which is by far the most ruinous of all others-we mean where it is used by dishonest men to make grand speculations out of. An individual, possessed of a moderate amount of money, commences business in some thriving town. He comes to one of our wholesale marts, and with one or two commendatory letters, but particularly with his money, he soon becomes acquainted; at first but limited, but he has only to manage his trumps (his money) with a little tact, and his acquaintance will very soon extend. At first he purchases cautiously and meets his obligations promptly, always managing to have his goods packed carefully and marked scientifically, and placed on the street several days before he removes them

"Like books and money

Laid in show,

As nest-eggs,

To make clients lay."

And he succeeds. He soon becomes known as a man of promptness and capital, and doing a dashing business; and such a business he does do; for the motto at home is "sell low for cash-never mind profits." His acquaintance is courted; he is bedrammed, bedinnered and besuppered, everything goes on swimmingly, and finally he buys largely, goes in deeply, makes one grand manoeuver, a most prodigious swell, and then judiciously and profitably explodes.

"Finally, the farmer or mechanic, who buys beyond his available means, is a bad customer. The merchant who is continually selling at cost, or under, in order to undersell his more judicious neighbor, is a bad customer; and the dealer who buys goods to swell with, is a bad customer. The man who does business altogether on credit, is a bad customer; and lastly, the man who does not own the one-half of his stock in trade, at least, is not a safe customer.

HOW TO REFORM A DISHONEST CLERK.

The Boston Traveler relates the following shrewd and successful method of restoring to the paths of honesty and rectitude a young man who had been tempted into dishonest acts, and who might, under any other course of treatment, have been confirmed in fraud, and reckless of the esteem of society. One such succesful stroke is worth far more than the recovery of all the goods purloined. The merchant who adopts such a course deserves to take rank among the moral and social reformers of the day; and we would say to the readers of the Merchants' Magazine who may, unfortunately, be placed in similar circumstances" Do LIKEWISE." Pay your clerks an adequate compensation for their services, and lead them "not into temptation" by withholding the means of supplying their every reasonable want.

"Some months ago, one of our city constables traced a large quantity of stolen goods to a young clerk in one of the large wholesale stores in the vicinity of Milkstreet, where business to the amount, perhaps of a million or more is carried on during the year. The officer in the first place informed the young man of his discovery, and he acknowledged his crime. He then went to a member of the firm, and informed him also of what had taken place. The merchant seemed troubled, said that the boy had for some time been with him, and to all appearance was a faithful clerk; that he had sole control of a room containing $100,000 worth of goods, with several lads under him, &c., and further stated that he paid him for his services $3 50 per week. The officer asked if the young man did not pay nearly that amount for board, washing, &c. The merchant acknowledged that he probably did. He then called the boy down, and asked him to confess the whole truth, which he did, with tears in his eyes, and promises of reformation. The merchant then told the officer that he wished time to consider as to his course. When the officer called again, the young man still continued at his old employment, with this difference, that he had increased his pay to $6 per week. The officer asked how the boy got along, to which his master replied, “ Admirably, admirably; I have not a better servant in the store." Thus ended the matter, and the young man still continues at his said stand, with a firm intention to deserve, by his future good conduct, the confidence which, perhaps, he so little deserved by his previous course."

ENTERPRISE AND BENEVOLENCE.

By the former we would intend everything that excites to commendable action with a view of obtaining the means of enjoyment. By the latter we would designate that state of the mind and heart that leads us to distribute these accumulations with a view of promoting the happiness of others. These two are the great reforming influences that will ameliorate and advance the condition of mankind. We are commanded to be diligent in business, to be active, to contrive, to invent, to waken up intellect, to render the material world tributary and subservient, and to accumulate the products of art and nature. All this is to be done for rational purposes, compatible with the dignity and end of man, creation and destiny. Do we need any other organization of society than that which gives and secures to every individual the full and free exercise of all his powers? Do we wish to implant any other motive in the heart than a desire to spread and diffuse accumulations, to promote present and eternal enjoyment! Does not common sense, universal experience, point out these two simple laws as the ones on which all our hopes of progress depend? What more can we wish than to see our fellow-creatures industrious, enterprising, economical, striving to accumulate for their own and others' happiness, remembering that the earth and the fulness thereof is the Lord's? Liberty and encouragement to act, and increasing benevolence to distribute, are the hopeful signs of the times.

SECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY ON OUR SEA COAST.

It is stated in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, that "Measures have been taken promptly to execute the design of Congress in providing for the security of life and property on the sea coast. Metallic life-boats, with the usual fixtures, designed for five points on the coast of Florida, and three for the coast of Texas, have been contracted for. Like facilities, with the addition of mortars, shot-rockets, and stationhouses, have been authorized along the shores of Long Island, including a station at Watch Hill, in Rhode Island.

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THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their effects on the Civilization of Europe. Written in Spanish by Rev. J. BALMES; Translated from the French. 8vo., pp. 501 Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. New York: D. Appleton & Co. This is without question one of the ablest, if not the very ablest volume which has appeared on the Catholic side of the great controversy with Protestantism, during the last century. It is remarkably free from all asperity and bitterness of spirit, and possesses a liberality of views and sentiments that must secure the approbation of even its warmest opponents, more especially as coming from the pen of a Spaniard, it will excite surprise, and produce the conviction that it has not been usual in this quarter of the world to do justice to the merits of the great men of that country. The author is unquestionably one of the most intelligent and learned men of Europe, and his work will add honor to a church which has been renowned for centuries for her accomplished scholars. But what renders the work valuable to all, and especially Protestants, is the vast amount of information which it contains relative to the progress of European civilization, and for the clear and impartial manner in which he states the principles involved in the great dispute, some of which lie even at the foundation of the political institutions of modern nations. There is no doubt that in many parts of his great subject the author has presented the most favorable views for his side of the question, yet he deserves high honor for the bold and fearless manner in which he takes up many of the evils of the Romish church, and frankly confesses them to be such, and with a true heart deplores them as evils of humanity.

2.-The Method of the Divine Government, Physical and Moral. By Rev. JAMES M'Gosи. 8vo., pp. 515. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.

We have looked through this work at leisure, and with considerable care, to satisfy ourselves of the nature of the author's views, and of the manner in which he has treated this great subject. Without question the work is one of great ability. The plan of the author led him directly to the subject of "Providences," general and special; and the attempt to explain the philosophy of special providences in their connection with the ordinary affairs of mankind, is the most clear and masterly of any that we have ever met with. But when he passes on to speak of the " principles of the human mind through which the Deity governs mankind,” we see all the eminent logical skill and acuteness which peculiarly characterize the Scotch metaphysicians With regard to the views of the author, who was a pupil of Dr. Chalmers, they will be found to possess in many respects a striking and unexpected liberality, while they present some strong points in relation to questions still under agitation. The work is remarkably free from all bitterness of spirit, and those peculiar modes of expression, which are too often made under the influence of prejudice, than from the dictates of reason. literary point of view, it is of a high order, and at once establishes the reputation of the author for vigor and originality of thought, fine taste and learning. It should be said, however, that some portions of the work may appear tedious and heavy to many readers, but this arises rather from the nature of the subject than the fault of the author.

In a

3.—The American edition of Boydell's Illustrations of Shakespeare. Part 26. Folio size. New York: S. Spooner.

These are the magnificent plates from the designs and engravings which were prepared at an enormous expense in England some years since. The plates have been restored to all their pristine beauty, and nothing equal to these designs has ever before been published in this country. This number contains two of these engravings. The first is a representation of a most stirring passage of the first scene of the first act of the Tempest. The original painting was considered one of Romney's most masterly performances. The calm serenity of Prospero, and the anxious solicitude of Miranda, are in happy contrast to the fear, horror, and wild despair exhibited on board of the ship. The second engraving represents the enchanted island, from the second scene of the first act in the same play. The composition of the picture is highly poetic. The figures of Ariel and Caliban are in every way admirable. Each engraving is accompanied with a sketch of its characters, as well as a statement of any interesting incidents in connection with the history of the original painting.

4.—Algæ, and Corallines of the Bay and Harbor of New York. Illustrated with natural types. By C. F. ĎURANT. New York: George P. Putnam.

A super royal quarto on one of the most interesting branches of natural history. The sea-weeds and corallines of our bay have been too long neglected; a subject so replete with interest and instruction should long ago have engaged the attention of naturalists. Mr. Durant is the first in this country to issue a book on the science of Algology, and it is believed to be the first book in any country wherein Algology is illustrated with natural types. Some nineteen families, comprising near two hundred specimens, are generically and critically described in the text, and then further illustrated by natural specimens of the most beautiful productions of nature. The work has required much industry, patience, and learning. Few men possess the courage to grapple with such a Herculean task, and we know of no other man so competent to do full and complete justice to the subject.

5.-The Leather-Stocking Tales. By J. FENIMORE COOPER. Author's revised edition. Vol. 3. The Pathfinder. New York: George P. Putnam.

This, the third volume of the Leather-Stocking Tales, is published in the same uniform and beautiful style as the sea tales of the same popular author. Mr. Putnam deserves great praise for the elegant library edition his enterprise is furnishing the American public of some of our standard authors. We are glad to learn that the undertaking is likely to meet with the success it so richly merits.

6.-The Wide, Wide World. By ELIZABETH WETHERELL. In two volumes, 12mo., PP. 360 and 363. New York: George P. Putnam.

A hasty glance at these two volumes has impressed us favorably in regard to the writer's style, which is chaste, and her motives, which are pure and good. The tale is deeply imbued with the sentiments of religion, and at the same time free from that spirit of sectarianism which so often mars interesting and agreeable fictions, designed to illustrate and enforce the virtues and the graces of the every day Christian. 7.—The Picturesque Souvenir: Letters from a Traveler, or Notes of Things Seen in Europe and America. By WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 8vo., pp. 442. With thirteen illustrations on steel. New York: George P. Putnam.

This beautiful volume contains the charming letters of Bryant, which have already been published under another form. It is embellished with quite a number of very fine steel engravings, each of which possesses much spirit and beauty; they are as superior in their execution as the letters are entertaining and admirably written. The volume is bound in beautiful,style, and is worthy of a prominent place among the choicest gift books of the season.

8.-The Sons of Temperance Offering for 1851. Edited by T. S. Arthur. 8vo., pp. 320. New York: Cornish, Lamport & Co.

9.-The Forget-Me-Not. Edited by Mrs. EMELINE S. SMITH. 12mo., pp. 312. New York: Cornish, Lamport & Co.

If brilliant binding, a clear and handsome type, snow-white paper, and numerous happily-designed and cleverly-executed engravings, are features that belong to giftbooks, and add to their value, these two volumes may certainly claim the possession of such characteristics. But these are not the only claims they possess. The tales, sketches, and poems, though of varied and perhaps of unequal merit, are generally in good taste, with a fair share of literary excellence. In some of the pieces the moral is pointed-in others, less apparent; but the tone and tendency of all will bear the scrutiny of the most fastideous moralist. It would be difficult to select books for the boudoir or center-table better calculated to promote the social virtues, or the kindly sentiments of "friendship, love, and truth."

10.-The Decline of Protestantism and its Cause. A Lecture Delivered in St. Patrick's Cathedral, November 10th, 1850, for the benefit of the House of Protection under the charge of the Sisters of Mercy. By the Most Rev. JOHN HUGHES, D. D., Archbishop of New York. 8vo., pp. 28. New York: Edward Dunigan.

No one will, we presume, be disposed to dispute the ability of the learned author of this discourse, and no unprejudiced person will deny that he has made some strong points in the discussion of the subject of the discourse; but we presume one equally learned and able in the Protestant ranks would be able to make an equal show of argument on the other side of the question. But this is not the place to discuss the merits of theological isms.