Part 10

Of the property valued in Newport 47.4 per cent was personal, in Providence 51 per cent. Newport contained 30 per cent of all the personal property in the colony, Providence 12.4 per cent (i.e. the two commercial towns with 17.5 per cent of the polls contained 42.4 per cent of the personal property) and South Kingstown 6.2 per cent. Eleven towns out of the twenty-eight contained 77 per cent of the personalty. These same towns contained 49.5 per cent of the polls.

The gain in valuation from £2,111,295-10-7 to £3,290,372-15, between 1769 and 1780-1783, was entirely on real estate, the personal property valuation remaining practically stationary, owing to the destruction caused by the war.

There is a falling off in the share of taxes paid by the commercial towns in proportion to their population. In 1782, Providence contained 8.23 per cent of the population, but it paid only 6.98 per cent of the taxes. Newport's per centage of population had fallen to 10.56 per cent and the per centage of taxes to 7.81. On the other hand, the country towns had gained proportionately. Taking Providence county, exclusive of the town of Providence, we find that in 1769, it contained 26.64 per cent of the polls and 19.2 per cent of the property, in 1782 it contained 25.27 per cent of the population and 27 per cent of the property. There was but little change in the relative positions of the other counties, Kings County made a slight gain, and the other counties suffered a slight loss, with the exception of Newport County. Here the loss of the Island towns was great. In 1769, they contained 19.09 per cent of the polls and 26.7 per cent of the property while in 1783 they had but about 16 per cent of the population and 15.2 per cent of the property.

Customs and Excise Duties.

Among the acts of the first assembly under the Patent in 1647, occurs the following:

"It is ordered that the Dutch, French or other alliants, or any Englishman inhabitating among them, shall pay the like customs and duties, as we do among them for all such goods as shall be imported for the English, except beaver."

This act was probably of little practical importance as the trade of the colony during the seventeenth century was very small. In 1655, an excise duty of five shillings was imposed on every anchor of liquors and quarter cask of wine, and three years later a like customs duty was added. The revenue from both taxes at first went to the towns, but in 1674 it was transferred to the colony, as "the whole excise seems almost all lost by neglect." The collection of the tax was to be farmed out. Whether the tax was more productive than under town government we do not know. It was repealed in 1686. Both customs and excise duties were introduced by Andros, but disappeared with his government. In 1696, however, the customs duties on liquors was reimposed by the colony, and molasses was added to the list. In 1707 slaves were added to the dutiable articles, at £3 per head. About twenty or thirty were annually imported from the Barbadoes, and their value was from £30 to £40 a piece. The income from this source must have been of considerable importance at the period. In 1715 the revenue from this tax in the naval officers' hands was £289-17-3. In the same year the law was amended so as to cover negroes brought in from the neighboring colonies. The act seems to have remained in force until May, 1732, when it was repealed under instructions from the English government. There seems to have been no further imposition of customs or excise duties on the part of the colony until the period of the Revolution. The state, as we have seen, was left in an exhausted condition at the close of the war. The people were unwilling to continue the payment of taxes and were behind on those already levied. The annual interest on the debt was considerable.

A committee, appointed to devise means for supplying the treasury, reported November, 1782, recommending the imposition of customs and excise taxes. In February of the following year, an act was passed in accordance with this recommendation to take effect on the tenth of April following. Both customs and excise duties were imposed. Collectors do not seem to been appointed until May, and in June the act was repealed so that it was of little practical importance. At the same session, however, its place was supplied by an act laying a duty of two per cent ad valorem "on the Value, and at the Time and place of landing of all Goods which shall be imported into this State being of the Growth or Manufacture of any foreign State," the revenue, as before, to be devoted to the payment of interest on the public debt. The act was to take effect on July 1.

The law was enforced with severe penalties. No imported goods were to be landed without permit obtained, on penalty of forfeiture of vessel and cargo. No dutiable goods imported by land could be removed from the town into which they were imported, or sold or consumed in that town without a permit from the collector of impost, under penalty of forfeiture or a fine equal to the value of the goods. In June, 1784, the duty was raised to two and one half per cent. It was at this period that manufacturing industries began to take root in Rhode Island, and, as a natural result, we find evidence of the growth of the protective principle in tariff legislation.

In February of the following year a committee was appointed "to draught an act laying an additional duty upon hats, shoes, boots and such other articles of foreign manufacture as may be manufactured within this State." In May an act was passed discriminating against British vessels. It provided for an additional duty of 7 1/2 per cent on goods imported in any vessel owned in whole or in part by British subjects.

The result of the work of the committee appointed in February is seen in an act of June, 1785, entitled 'An Act for laying additional Duties on certain enumerated Articles, and for encouraging the Manufactory thereof within this State, and the United States of America." The act is quite extensive including the following articles:

25 %

Ready made garments, canes, brush handles, warming pan handles, mop sticks, tailors' press and notch boards, house bells, toys.

20 %

Scythes, hoes, leather goods.

12 %

Paper, blank books, pewter ware, tin ware.

10 %

Tools for the use of block makers, chaise makers, tanners, curriers, caulkers, shoe makers and husbandmen, (sickles, plane irons and saws excepted) muffs, tippets, ermine, candles, soap, manufactured tobacco, goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers ware. Instrument and cabinet makers work, frame chairs, porter, beer.

5 %

Cordage, twine.

Special Duties.

Axes and adzes (per doz.) 6s.-20s.

Cards (per doz. boxes) 12s.

Women's shoes (per pair) 1s. 1s. 6d.

Cheese 3d. per lb.

Wrought gold 6s. per ounce.

Clocks and gold watches 18s.