The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-09-08
PoLITIC Al.
FROM the rit,.burgA Morning Post. sept 8.


Prom the Pittsburgh Morning Post, sept g.
MEETING or THE COUNTY COMMITTEE or COR
REsPONDENCE
The democratic committee of correspondence met
at the Washington Hotel on Wednesday, Septem-
Der ID, at III o'clock a. m, and was organized by
calling John c. Daviu to the chair and appointing
X. Porter secretary.
The object Of the meeting having been stated by
the chairman,
MIR. Porter read an address TO the republicans Of
Allegheny county, which, on motion Of DIR. Alex
ander Black, unanimously adopted.
JOHN G. DAVITr, Chairman.
RoBERr PoRrER, Secretary.
TO THE PEOPLE OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY.
FELLow-crnzEss The political history Of our
principles will hesitate at means, however desti
tute of honesty for the purpose of obstructng their
progress, or crushing them by defeat. Never was
this fact made more manifest than in the course
pursued by the wing party, through lis journals and
leading politicians, in relation 10 the tariff Of 1916
Instead Of conserving TO the merits Of the bill
and It's results even entering into fair and just
comparison of its provisions with that Of the one
which il had displaced, the whole country made
10 ring with denunciations, even In advance Of its
passage and ruin and unheard-of disaster predicted
from IT, before these prophets Of evil could tell what
were Its distinctive features. The tariff Of 1912
was held up 10 US as a model of all that beneh-
cent, and any modification Of that act, much less
the substitution OF another, was pronounced pre-
cursor Of starvation and beggary TO the working
men, and panic and peeuniary distress To our bus-
ness community. These, we say, are the predic-
tons Of whig editors and speakers, INDUCED in even
while the bill Of 1912 yet in the hands Of the
congressional committee which reported Il, and now
reiterated Increasingly, although the act will not for
several months, go into practical operation. The
tariff Of l64e has been denounced in advance; an
attempt has heen made to foressll public opinions
we therefore ask you, fellow-ctzens, to give us a
fair hearing upon this matter, while calmly and
dispassionaely discuss its provisions, and compare
them with those Of previous tariff schemes. Our
opponents have exhausted the vocabulary Of abuse
and even surpassed themselves in the work Of mis-
representation in their disquisions upon the sub
ject. We, for our part, ask but cool examination
of the whole subject without party prejudice or ex-
cited fears 10 show the utter absurdity Of their pre-
dictons and the dishonest shallowness Of their at
tempts 10 create 'psnie"-itself capable Of produ-
cling more evil TO the working-men, for whom this
ne w-born zeal has been eyneed, than could the total
abrogation Of our tariff laws.
A tariff is form for the levying oftaxation;
tariff duty is, in brief nothing more, nor less than
a IL is principle Of justice, recognised in the
laws Of all civilized governments, and more espe-
cialy in our swn, that moneys for the administration
Of the laws should be levied upon property so far
as practicable As the vast proportion Of laws are
made for the protection of the right Of property, it
is but justice that property should defray CORE
spending portion Of the expense. or all the schemes
however, invented by the ingenuity Of man, tariff
can be made most easily to answer the purpose OF
an evasion Of this principle, and without danger Of
detection, wiring the tax which should be paid by
capital from the hard and tell embrowned labor Of
industry. While we are ready to admit that the
tariff Of 1912 possessed many features of undoubted
excellence, il is fact capable of easy demonstra-
tion that in its details il furnished TO an extreme
extent the means by which capital defrauded labor
into the payment Of exactions righfully due from
Its own swelling Golfers The act of l842 levied
many of the most important duties IN such wise as
to make the laboring and mechanical classes Of the
country pay by far the larger portion of the tax while
comparatively light imposts were levied upon articles
exclusively used by the weather. portion of our
people. To make this still more evident, we select
articles Of the latter description, showing in the
following table the duties levied by the tariffs Of
1876 and 1872 respectively.