The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-07-28
REMARKS OF MR.. CUSHING,
OF MASSACHUSETTS,
ON THE TARIFF BILL.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES., July 10, 1912

CARPETS.
Mr. C,,surso moved to strike out 65 cents, and IN
ser rs cents for the duty on certain carpeihSs' nc
said that the duties carpeung were, III tie a'el
ge less than under the act of 1892 and yet OF the
woods employed in carpet manufacture, and which
were free under that act there was imposed, oy TINS
BILL on part duty Of 80 per cent ad valorem, aud
on the rest duty of per cent aid vaorem. rms
would be douby unjust to the carpet manufacturers
for them it would be lighting the candle at both ends
They were made to pay duty, and In part heavy
duty on the material while, at the same time,
the duty the foreign manufactured article was les
sened He wished to correct this injustice IN some
degree, by increasing the duty the foreign manu-
facture.
Mr.. CUSHING moved to increase the duty on wool
len blankets Of the first class.
He said the manufacture Of blankets, although yet
in its infancy had grown into an important business
and he thought it ought to receive more protection
In a national point of view, they belonged to mat
class Of articles, which, in anticipation OF the neces-
sites of war; every nation should produce within IT.
self. 1t was bad enough, during the last war; to be
dependent on our enemy for the supply OF this neces-
sary article and such difficulty ought not again to
And not only was the proposed duty on coarse
blankets too low of itself, but the injury to the blan-
ket manufacturer the greater under tins DILL IN
consequence of the heavy additional protection which
this bill conferred wools especially coarse woods,
which had been heretofore free. This course OF poll
cy was equally injurious to the wool manufactures
and to the wool grower"
COTTON MANUFACTURES.
Mr.. SMITH of Virginia, having moved to strike out
the minimum valuation in the proposed duty on manu-
features OF cotton, Mr. &. objected lie SAID that much
misconception, and very groundless prejudice with
regard to the minimum principle existed IN some quar-
ters 1t was but another form of specific duties IT
they wrong, the alternative was uniform al ga
loren duties in all cases To this, the objections
were obvious and insurmountable 1t would violate
every principle of legislation every doctrine of finance
No Government ever did, and he did not believe any
Government would do, absurd thing as to
impose indiscriminate and equal ad valorem duties
Suppose Congress were to apply an equal al valorem
duty Of 20 per cent. to all articles Would this ope-
rate equally? No. On the contrary, on some arti-
cIes it would be without projections on others
revenue with protection; and on others again, no
revenue, but absolute prohibition. Equality in these
things is impossible 1t is necessary to apportion Inc
duty according to the nature USES and relations OF Tue
particular thing. Accordingly, in this bill there are
many articles which the duty is less than ~ per
cent because they could not bear much. On others,
the duty is more, because they bear more, and
because they affected interests which required proec-
ton. For in the imposition of duties many things
to be considered; as, first revenue for the Go
vernmenl second, incidentally, regard for other In
teress be affected well ill by the duty; and third
ly the consideration of vested interests, which, hav-
ing grown up under the legislation of The country
TO be respected. In word, the idea OF rals-
ing the revenue of the United States by duties i'm
scale was totally incompatible with the public inie-
rests impractcabe and unwise question of expe-
diency, aud In sort required by the Consti-
tuition.
AID vALOREM DUTIES.
Mr.. RHErT, of South Carolina, having In another
form renewed the motion to strike out the minimum
from the duty cotton,
Mr. CUSHING replied He said 1t was great error
to suppose that specific duties desired by manu-
facurers only The system of ad valorem duties was,
Ioo to haron sp NV n
voices and other fraudulent devices, the ad valorem du-
ty was liable to be evaded and the domestic manutac-
turer did not obtain the anticipated protection The
system was prejudlcal to the Government, because
it made corps of appraisers necessary increased the
cost of collection and did not give to the Treasury
the legal rates of mposts. But the system equal
y announcement to the importing and commercial IN
ferests, and it to this point that he (Mr. CO.
wished particularly to call the attention of the gen.
teman from South Carolina. If you have SPECIFIC
duties, the merchant knows precisely beforehand what
duty he has got to pay, and is able to make his cal
culatons TO the probable result of his enterprises
free from uncertainty In this respect But with ad
valorem duties he do no such thing. The amount
of duty that he has to pay depends perhaps upon the
accident of appraisement at the custom-house.
Besides which, if he be honest man, he finds
himself undersold by some foreign importer, who
disregarding alike the laws of his country and OF no
nor has made his mportations with false invoices sc
as to evade part Of the Duty to the injury of thu
honest importer as we'll as that of the manufacture
and the Government
SILK MANUFACTURES.
Mr.. FILLMORE having moved to amend the bill, by
striking out the various proposed duties on silk man
ufactures and substituting therefor specific duty
two dollars and fifty cents per pound,
Mr.. CUSHING moved to amend the amendment
by substituting two dollars for two dollars and fifty
cents per pound Mr. c. said that he was very
glad to see that the Committee of Ways and Means
had thought better this question OF the duty OF
sill M
duce it in rate, but to make it specific. He shoult
be glad to lower still, and therefore moved thu
rate of two dollars, equivalent to about twenty pc
cent. ad valorem.
Mr.. C. thought the United States ought never t
forget their debt of gratitude to France for the eff
cent aud decisive aid she afforded in the war of tn
Revolution. France was then, and is now, a natura
and necessary ally Of the United States. We ought
therefore, in every proper way, to cultivate rlend
relations with her, and in the arrangement OF gu
tariff if the necessities of the Treasury require tina
additional duties shall be imposed on French articles
we ought to take care that those duties shall be
arranged as not to involve or imply any act Of ur
kindness towards France.
1t further to be remembered that our ships con
sttute h5 pei cent of the tonnage employed in tn
navigation between the u nted States and Franc
and that with the exception of tobacco, the Importa
ton of which into France is Government monopoly
the tariff of France is not generally higher tina
is the present tariff of the United States aud in som
makes distinctions in favor of productions
Thus our cotton pays only about twelve per cent
wheat, at the highest, twenty-five and half pc
cent; our rice francs, while that of other cour
tries pays from four to nine francs; potashes pa
only fifteen francs while those Of Russia pay eigh
teen francs.
Mr.. G. said that the bill, originally reported, b
imposing higher duty on figured than on plain silks
did, in fact, make distinction against the silks
France The present proposition was free from th'
objection and apart from political objection agains
high duties on French articles, there financla
objection which was entirely conclusive If an exces
sve duty was put on French silks, it would not b
collected, the business would 90 into the hands
smuggers and fraudulent importers. Naples silk
could be Struggled into the United States, by the wa
of England and Canada at premium of ten pc
cent and it is said that a company has been organ