The Salt Monopoly

Undor the heading of "Notee from the Peoplo" the Now York Times oomca to us with a communication, which, after enuuciatiog the ueoessitiea and uses of galt &i well as much statistical nfor matioa of importanco and value, answers the qu s i n, why is it that we ai e oompo led to pay forty or fifty cents per bushel for salt ? by the assurance that it is KOlely oq account of tho oxistence of sa t ironcpoly. It then coütinucs : "Through the ïnfluenco of the 'Onondaga Salt Company,' of Syracuse, N. Y., t! e duty on Balt ia and hua boen for years gome eighteen cents per liucdrud pouni when importd in bulk, twenty-four (eats when insaoks. Thisduty amoun ■ to about two hundred per cent. on the foreign coat. The froight and other expenses amount to about onc hundred and seveDty-five per oent. additional. üo it appears that the salt monopoly is proteotad by duty, freight, &o , to th extent of three hundred and seventy-five per cent. on tho foreign cost of this artielo, which we maiutain they can produue as oheap ae it can he made abroad, ihe difference in cost of labor alone exoepted. In proof of this it is only neceaary to e'ftte that the salt monopoly have geoured by legislation entire control of all the ealt manufaotured in New York State, with the exoeption of a tew hundred bushols a year made at Montezuma, nnd pay the State the merely nomiu&l sum of ono cent por bushel for sinking wells, aupplying macbinery, labor, &c, and delivering all the brine which they uso. Tliey havo hodged thomselvcs n with United States and Stato legislation and grown immensely rioh. They sell thcir salt at differeut pricos in different markets for the purpose of cruühing out all competition and controlliüg the busioess. ïhey ehip ealt to Canada and sell t there at very muoh below the prioes which they compel New York State and the Western trade to pay. The New Englaod fisheriuen are permitted by act ol Oongress to use foreign salt freo of duty, yet this salt monopoly snip largo quantities East for tho purpose of supplying this trade. Their profits are sa enormous that they can and do sell at any price which thoy may thiuk neoessary to disoourage corapelilion frotn eithor nativa manufacture or foreign importation. For this reason other native salt makars aro anxious to briug about a repeal of the duty. In fact tbis salt monopoly stands alono without advocates, cxcopt it may bc diques at Washington who aro banded together for log-rolling purpoees. The eutire revenue from salt haa been as follows: 18G2 $ 3.0,293 20 1SC7 $1,023,47" ?5 18G3 1,014,600 UO lSlii) 1,136,329 76 1864 915,027 28,1801 1,176,896 08 1865 7(li,!)W 58Í1S7O 1, 198,4' 3 18C6 1,27U,O'JG 4l "From this is to bc deducted the cost of coileo'.ion, leaving an ioeignificaut sum as compared with the largo amounts which tbe people are ooinpelled to pay by the iuoreaseii cost of tho article." A fellow was wending hia way, a short timo ago, through a narrow passage, when hu met a pretty, modest girl, "Pray, my dcar," said he, "what do you cali this passage ?" "Balaam'a passage sir," replied the girl. "Ah ! then," coutinucd the puppy, "I am like Bilaam stopped by an angel." "And I," said the girl, pushing past him, "am like the angel - stopped by an aas."