The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-10-07
COMMUNICATIONS.
For the Union.
THE TARIFF.--No. l.

THE TARIFF.-No. 1.
Inrod..c.ior Origin Of the 0ord tariff Ms present sig
mifcation--.a iar-Difsrenes betceen fstD far
and a direct tar.
shall, by way Of introduction, address few
words to you, sir, the Editor of the "Union"
am rejoiced TO observe the stand taken by you,
in the columns of your excellent and valuable paper,
upon the subject Of the tariff. And, let me add,
that you have assumed The true position before the
American people, in relation to that vexed and
troublesome question. II understand your views,
as expressed In the columns Of your paper, you are
in favor of revenue tariff, and against protective
tariff and are, therefore, in favor of the reduction
of the present tariff (Which is more highly protective
in its provisions than any former one ever enacted
in this country to the revenue standard. This, sir,
is the true constitutional republican doctrine. II is
the doctrine of the democratic party set forth in
the RESOLUTIONS of the Baltimore Convention, and
entsFtaned by that party throughout the Union,
with some few exceptions.
Hlpm the present signs of the times, l infer
thai the principles promulgated by the dele
gal pf the democratic party of the Union, in two
COZ Bntions assembled at Baltimore--those of 1910
present hour of triumph, as empty professions,
rhetorical fourishes, promises made to the ear
to be broken to the sense; but to be carried out
in good faith, in practical Legislation and admins
traon. That such is the determination of the demo-
cratic party of the Union, and those who represent
that party in the general government, infer from
your course, and that Of the main body Of the
democratic press from Maine to Texas, and from
the shores of the Atlantic the farhest confines Of
the great West"
This is as it should be- 1t will be acting in accord
tice, which has, and should ever mark the course Of
the great party ofthe people, The people expect this
course from those who now stand at the head of
the democratic party. They have right to ex-
pect that the democratic party will redeem its
pledges to the country; and if it do not, they will
turn from its support with disappointment and
modification, not to say with disgust and oathins
The adage that "honesty is the best policy"
though trite has lost none of the influence of its
pregnant meaning upon the yet unadulterated pop
ular mind of this country. Individuals in their
transactions and conduct in reference to Others, are
expected to live up TO the golden rule involved in
that homely precept; and he has but little of
the world who does not know that the most ex-
allied stations in life only enforce imperatively
| obedience to it,
| am one, therefore, who expects that those who
now represent the democratic party in the govern
ment of the Union will honestly and faithfully re-
deem the pledges which that party has made to the
country in the resolutions of the two last Baltimore
conventions, and particularly of the last One of
those pledges was a reduction of the present tariff
to the revenue standard. Indeed, since the bank
has become an 'obsoete idea,' Texas annexed, and
the whole scheme of federal measures repudated
by the people, the tariff and the independent treas
ury seem to be the only issues Left upon which the
parties present divided. And as there is no d.
vision among the members of the democratic party
as to the latter, the tariff seems now to be the only
measure which constitutes the dividing line, or
subject Of contention, between democracy and fed
erasm.
But enough upon party pledges. My design was,
in this communication, and others which are TO fol-
low, to give you few arguments and facts in favor
ofthe doctrine which you have repeatedly laid down
in the Unon" in relation to the tariff, viz its re-
dtction to the revenue standard.
/ On subject which has been so thoroughly dis
cussed by the ablest minds of the country, can
promise nothing new or interesting. l have no
other object in view than to endeavor to direct the
attention of the country to subject affecting every
individual, benefcially or injurousy, and which
will soon occupy the anxious consideration Of the
representatives of the people in Congress
| So much by the way of introduction; now TO the
| IL.
very few understand and appreciate the precise
meaning Of the term tariff. Many Of the good peo-
pie this country suppose that il is some unde6nable
thing, which, like some of the mythical deities of
antiquity, confers (they cannot tell how innumera-
BILE benefits upon the human They cannot
imagine that tariff is but another word for tar; and
that the higher, and consequently the protective
a tariff may be, the more heavy and burdensome is
the tar which it imposes. Taxes, in any form, al
though necessary, are evils. McCuloch, in his late
able work on Taxation, defines tax to be ga por-
ton, or the value Of portion Of the property la
Dor of individuals, taken from them by government, and
placed at its disposal" The sentence quoted defines
the meaning ola tax imposed in the form of tariff,
as well as one imposed in any other form-by ex-
else, direct taxation, or any other method The
only objection to the definition Of McCulloch is,
that it does not with sufficient precision express the
manifold enormities of tariff tar for, under that
system of taxation, the government not only takes
portion, or the value of portion of the property
or labor Of individuals for its own use, but, by the
very process by which it extracts from individuals
portion of their property earnings for its own
benefit it extracts and transfers to the pockets of
set Of privileged characters in the COMMUNICATED
and overgrown manufacturers--a still greater pro-
portion. How this is done, | shall endeayor to
show in subsequent communication.
| But have digressed from my purpose, which
was to give the original Specification of the word
tariff. find, on referring to distinguished lexi-
cographer, that the word tariff was originally de-
rived from the Arabic word draf, which signifies
Ito kno,o." Such was the meaning of the word