Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1846-08-13
FROM THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE.
MIR. SECRETARY WALKER ON TAX
ALTON FOR TIE BENEFIT OF
MANUFACTUREIsS.

II related ofan mlnentadvocate that he was
once holding forth 10 a Jury in elucidatloa OF
the wrongs endured by "my client, the plaintiff
in this case,o when that client after listening for
a time in rapt attention TO the glowing periods
of his lawyer. at length burst forth IN rrepres-
sible tears and waillngs, which fairly astonlsh-
ed the Court and auditors. "W hats the mat
ter, man?' said the stern Judge to the chap
who had his pumps gong. why do you
blubber and take ON at this rate" "Nhy,
replied the anguish stricken weeper, rs soon
as his sufiusons weuld suffer HIM to be audi
bic. 81 nerer had any idea bo,c badly had been
treated till heard his speech" Very Ike this,
we doubt not. must be the amazement and
CONSERVATION of tho good people OF this Coun-
Try when they learn from Report just sub
mitted to Congress, by the Hon. Secret'.< Of
the Treasury, purporting to show that they
have been paying Ninety, four Millions Of Dol
tnS indirect tax--not into the Treasury of the
United States. but TO certain other own num-
ber-under the operation of the Tariff Of 1912!
Even this startling aggregate. if Mr.. WALK
TINS principles are at all sound, Is not half high
enough. We must have been swindling each
other at the rate Of at least Five Hundred Mil
lions per annum by means of this abonnable
Wing Tariff For Mr.. WALKER had asserted
in his Annual Report that we were paying an
enormous indirect tax to our Protected classes
by reason of the Tariff. The Senate very
wisely asked him for an estimate otthe amount
Whereupon Sir ROBERT proceeds TO make out
q list with an estimate of the quantity OF Ger,
tain articles produced in the United States, then
to state what the duty on these articles would
have been if imported then to calculate that
all EeSe articles cost the consumers He full amount
Of The dttv more than they would hare cost u
there had been no Tariff, and the thing is done.
For instance; the duty on every yard of Cali
co imported is nine cents the square yard or
about cents the average running yard. You
can buy lust as much American Calico as
''you can shake stick att for four or fee cents
a yard. Every yard of this, according to MIR.
WALKERs first estimate, costs the consumer
seven cents more than it would if there were
no Tariff. so that we have only to take off the
duty and get as much Calico as we want for
nothing and two or three cents in cash besides
for every yard we choose to take Who that
believes this can help being Free Trader p
lftthis way, Mr.. WALKER makes out an en-
hancement Of price to our consumers, on SIX
teen articles OF One Hundred and .Nmeteen
Millions per annum.
But this calculation, Mr.. WALKER is aware,
is really too gross, or rather too easily reuIed
so (although he rested broadly on this basis IN
his Annual Rep0st) he now favors us with
another column in his table, purporting to set
forth the actual ENHANCED price occaSioned
by the duty" amounting to only $3.50, 405 +;
to which add the amount levied on similar
Foreign articles and paid into the Treasury,
aud we have 1914, l20,S57, as aforesaid. Let
us glance at the items
/ hon comes first, Of course. We are suppo-
sed to make 1902 tons OF Pig Iron per an
mum. OF which the price is enhanced the round
sum Of 1925 $50 by the Tariff. This would
seem pretty strong but MIR. WALKER gives us
/ 372, $50 tons Of Bar, Sheet, Hoop, &c on
which he computes farther enhanced price
/ of $685., 720 and like amount OF Castings,
on which we are paying the neat little sum OF
/ Sl4 ,90l ,440 more than we should If there
Were no Tariff II never seems TO enter the
Secretary's head that the Iron be has valued
once as Pig is the very same tnat he is here
charging up again as Bar, Hoop, sc. and
Castings so that his advance on Pig should
at least be deducted from those following
Pursuing the same plan, he gives US 1912,
I 600 as the increased cost of our Hardware be-
cause of the 'Laritf, forgetting that he has al
ready taxed this t,oice as Pig and then as Bar,
sc. With such convenient arithmetic, II
would have saved time and been an easy job
to cipher up the whole Seventy five or Nine
/ ty-iour Millions on Iron alone.
/ Coal, too, stands high on our list oil oppres-
sions Those rascally Pennsylvania have
been sucking out our hfe-blood--to wit, our
cash---at the rate Of S6,73S,SIl by means OF
the Tariff il does not occur to Mr.. WALK.
Err that he has charged most Of this alse in his
Iron account; Cor the cos Of Fuel 10 large