Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1846-01-29

PORT RELATING TO THE TARIFF.
I'm reference to the doctrine Of protection. Mr.
Stewart said--
The Secretary told the nation that the poor man
was taXed eighty-two per cent, on cotton goods,
over the rich man. Yes, this poor man seemed nm
especial favorite of the honorable Secretary. He
had introduced him ten times in the course OF two
paragraphs of the report. His sympathy was great
| ~ excited that this unhappy man was taxed one
hundred and fifty per cent his cotton shirt, be-
cause there was duty on imported cotton goods
OF nine cents yard. Now if this specific duty of
nine cents amounted to one hundred and fifty per
cent. af raore,a, that fixed the price of cotton TO
poor man at six cents yard, for nine cents
Just one hundred and fifty per cent on ak cents
SO the practical effect of the horrid tax was that
this poor man got good shirt at sixpence yard.
And Mr.. Stewart would tell the gentleman anoth-
er thing When those most abomnable mnmums,
which so excited the wrath of the Secretary, had
first been introduced in 1916, by William Lowndos
-one Of the purest patriots and most intelligent
statesmen that had ever graccd these Legislative
halls and sustained, too, by John G. Calhoun.
scarcely less Distinguished cotton goods, of
the very coaIsest quality, known to every lady at
the time by the name of humhums cost thirty-three
cents yard so that the poor man would then
have had to pay dollars for twelve yards of it,
and the effect Of the infamous minimums had been
that every poor man in the country could now get
a better article for six and quarter cents. That
was the way the people were taxed and oppressed
by the protective system; and this was the man
ner in which the poor man was ground down to
the dust TO benefit his rich monopolist The Sec
rotary persuaded this poor man that he was taxed
elghty-two per cent. more than the rich man, and
this was quite nsutfcrabc; yet he paid only SIX
cents for what formerly cost him thrty-sX cents
and of All inferior quality at that. On that thirty
SIX cents protection laid duty of nine cents which
was but twenty-five per cent. nd raiorcm.
I'll.
consequences, given the farmers a market, given
their children employment, made their cattle prof.
table, filed the whole country with the hum Of con-
tented industry, and had brought down the price of
the poor mans clothing from thirty six cts yard
down downtown the system proceeded,
I'll at last it gave it to him at six cents yard
Now the Secretary cried out that the duty on these
lotions was a hundred and fifty per cent. nd raio-
rem! Enormous Horrid And why? The
1 duty had not changed, but the price had. AS the
price went down the duty went up. At thirty-six
cents per yard nine cts. duty would be twenty-five
/ per cent; at six cents yard the duty would be
one hundred and fifty per cent; and if the price
descended to one cent yard, then the duty would
be nine hundred per cent The poor man robbed,
pInndered and oppressed by duty of nine hun
dred per cent, simply because he gets yard of
cotton goods for one cent yard Let the manu-
iacturer run up the price to thirty-siX cents again.
and The oppression is all over; the duty of nine
cents yard falls instantly to twenty five per cent
| a moderate revenue duty. No more complaint
these friends of the poor man arc perfectly salts
| fled.
Such was the practical operation of these mini
NUNS so odlous, which had reduced the poor mans
cotton goods from twenty FIVE and thirty cents per
yard to six and eight cents Yet this was the sys
ten which must be given up; this was the opera
ton which was so oppressive and unconstitutional
that it must be suffered to exist no longer upon our
hnpli 1bo l,,gtr l.. A..
foreign goods, and put upon American mannfac-
lures; such was the doctrine of this report.
lie referred to table which had been reported
to the House last session, by the Committee of
| Ways and Means, for the purpose of showing the
enormous tax which was imposed by the system of
miHimumS but when the Secretary, by the assis
lance of the honorable chairman of the committee
| OF Ways and Means, was preparing with great Ia
Dor and pains this document, he seemed TO foroet
that he was at the same moment furnishing mathe-
NAUTICAL proof of the exact extent to which protec-
ton had reduced prices. BY converting specific
into ad vlorem duties, the duty runs up precisely
as tho pren runs down so, by showing an increas-
ed rate OF duty, the gentlemen have only shown
reduced prices.
The duty Is fixed, and cannot vary The ad pq-
loren duties are always the same. None were int
posed by the tariff of 1912 above fifty per cent
How then does the President in his message GET
duties OF two hundred cents This can can only
be done by converting the specific duties into ad
raiorem duties and when this is done hioh duty
only shows low price. If the duty is two hun
drcd per cent. the price must be one-iourth only
Of the duty Thus are told that glass paws the
enormous duty of two hundred per cent; and whv !:
Because the duty is four dollars per box. and the
price two dollars per box but if the glass went
down to one dollar per box, the duty would be four
hundred per cent Thus we are told by the Sec
rotary OF the Treasury, and the Chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means, that the people
paid in all a tax Of eighty-four millions, of which
but twenty-seyen went to the government. and ff-
ty-seven to the manufacturers and he gave a list
| OF sixty or seventy articles on which the duty
amounted to more than hundred per cent VERY
well and what did this prove: Why, simply that
the prices OF those articles had been greatly DUNN
lshed, as in the case Of cottons. The same duty.
which when levied had been but twenty-five per
cent, had now become one hundred and fifty per
cent, simply because that the price had gone down
to one-iourh or part of what it was. So the main
result Of all the labor and cipherng of the Chair
man Of the Committee Of Ways and Means had
been to furnish to the whole country official de-
monstration that prices had been reduced by pro-
tectve tariff to fourth or one-fth of what thev
had been in 1916. Take plain illustration; the
tariff imposed duty Of four cents per ID. on nails {:
the price Of nails in 1916 had been sixteen cents
per To-; so that the duty was then twenty-five per
cent. on the price; but the same duty, we are told
! in this report is hundred per cent; and how
so Because the price had fallen from sixteen to
four cents per pound. Very oppressive on the
poor man who has thus to pay one hundred per
cent upon nails The explanation of this was all
perfectly plain and easy. The effect of competi.
ton and American industry had increased the sup
ply, in this as in all other cases, had reduced the
price of cotton, glass, &c. whilst it had rendered
the whole nelghborhOod prosperous by the increas-
ed demand for all the productions Of the farmer