The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-08-25

ing ad vaorem duties pass through the hands Of the
collector, his deputy, the appraisers assistant APP
Rralsers and examlners-all Interested In detecting
every attempt at differentiation. Articles paying
specific duties, on the contrary, are delivered into
the hands Of Il single officer, for the purpose OF
measuring, weighing, or gaugingi aud when meas
ured, weighed, or gagged, this officer sums up the
amount Of duty, and returns the article to the i'm
porter. In this case no foreiIures accrue; and
hence there is other vigilance than such arises
from regard to the interests Of the government.
| Now, sir, | ask, in the name Of common sense,
| under which system there the most chance for
mistake and traudi Supposisg the weigher, gauger,
or measurer equally honest and pigLaRt i0ifoul the
inducements arising out Of foretures as the collec-
| tor and other officers with It, which system will
give Else 10 most mistakes and most trauds' Sup
pose the importer should attempt couslon IN which
| would he be most likely TO succeed In the one
case he would have To buy up score Of officers al
ready bought up against him by the government
through hopes of forfeiture IN the other case, he
| would only have to propltiate single individual,
having no other inducement than his love of homes
~ to resist the appeal. Sir, ] am surprised that
gentlemen who are 30 zealous IN preventing frauds
have never complained Of his "one-nan powern
under the specific system; where a single man, in
weighing and returning hundred tonsof iron, may
by false weight or false return, make il fifty or sew
enty five TONS and thus defraud the government out
Of from six TO twelve hundred dollars on single
article.
But suppose this one wegher charged with an
importation OF silk, how easy, an article so vau-
able and so light to defraud the government out of
FIVE times the amount which he could on iron, either
by tripping the beam, II he weighs il all at once OF,
IL he weighs It in different parcels, by leaving out,
under stating the weight OF these parcels. IL the in
genuy of man find system better calculated
than all others to promote frauds in the revenue it is
this much-bOasted system Of assessing duties by
measure and weight Compared to the mode Of as
sessng them by the value OF the articles the chances
of fraud cannot be less than twenty to one.
But admitting that the cusLom-house officers
make no mistakes and commit no frauds, is il not
more difficult to detect under-measurement in
piece goods Than differentiation in an inVoiceI
What then, is TO prevent frauds at present on cot
ton baggng, sail duck, carpetlng Aauhels, bookings
and bazes'-all of them piece goods, paying specific
duties, and which pass the eustom-house without
, beng unroed measured. What, | ask, is TO
prevent still greater frauds in undeI-measurement,
when all piece goods are made gentlemen CON
tend all ought 10 he made, TO pay specific dutiesl
2 To open and measure them at the custom-house,
If It were possible all admit, will destroy their
marketable value and reduce them to the condition
Of damaged goods. To reject, therefore, the EVIL
dence of a sworn invoice as TO their measurement,
is reject the only possible evidence you can have
and to open a WIDE door TO favortism, collisions,
and frauds, on the part Of custom-house officers.
Third. A further objection to specific duties is,
that they go on progressively increasing, relatively,
=
they are imposed. There is process more
rapid than the reduction the price Of most man
ufactured articles. This is the result, mainly, of
5 improvements in machinery bringing about easier
and cheaper modes of producing such articles.
1t has been emInenty the for the last twenty
} years, and consequence has been that specific
, duties, imposed with view TO protection or rev.
enue to the extent OF 50 per cent upon the value
Of the article paying them, few years becomes a
tax TO the amount OF 100 per cent uoon such value.
I The further consequence rs, the augmentng duty
soon becomes pTohIbitory, and Yields no revenue,
or we are forced do what some gentlemen regard
with much h,rrOr-we are forced to be every few
years tlnkerng with the revenue. Sir under sys-
TEN Of specific duties, no rate of duty survive
more than four FIVE years without the necessity
{ of change. Ad vaIOTem duties, the contrary,
decline with the price of the Articles which they
. are levied, while the revenue in most is
9 imbursed by increased importation and consump-
ton.
Fourth. Another objection TO specific duties is,
, that they impose an equal tax on and fine
= goods Now, sir, we told few DAVIS ago, by
senator the other side of the house. that this
Z high recommer daton to specifics, nasmuch as
they encouraged an Importation Of the finest and
: best goods IL we were all able to purchase and
/; consume other than the finest and best and
n sequently highest-priced goods, the remark might
be Just; but nne-tenths of the great body Of the
n people compelled TO consume the coarser and
ower-priced goods, although not the BEST to dis
crmnate against the cheaper and coarser goods is TO
= discriminate against poveTy-against the masses
i against the many for the benefit Of the few.
THIS is injustice in tariff laws of which we
y have always complained. The act of 1912 is full
It of such unjust and iniquitous determinations, a
: few Of which shall now drag out from under the
| DISCUSSES of the specific system, for there they
are all to be found, to expose to the full gaze Of
T. the Senate.
If Silk pays specific duty agreeable to weight, the
finer articles, of course, weighing less. am inform
d ed, on good authority, that ladys shawl was lately
imported through the New York custom-house
which so fine and costly, that it only paid one
= per cent. duty on its cost Now, sir to show of
this discrimination in fduor of wealth and luxury,
It will read to you few more Of these specific duties
J. levied upon the necessaries of life Salt pays 81
per cent. duty; brown sugar pays GO per cent; Goa
pays SO per cent; plain tumbers not cut such al
are used by the poor pays 1877 per cent? log chains
r. pay 10l per cent; spikes pay l6S per cent? hoop
iron pays lis per cent.
!, Fifth But the great and conclusive objection tt
specific duties, if there other, is, that they
conceal and intended to conceal the amount o
a the duty. say nothing of the morality Of any le
n gslaon which attempts to deceive and hoodwlnt
the people; but do say that il is not only the peo
" pes right, but the very essence ofber,y, that they
should know the amount Of taxes they forced tt
S, pay | put it to the advocates of specific dutie:
| to say if they would have dared, in the broat
u light of day. and in plain English to have sane
G. toned such unjust and unequal taxation as hav
pointed OUT And whether, in adopting such expe
'r dents TO conceal the extent and enormty of thel
impositions, they hope to the peoples ia
I'd vor?
Having established, as | think Mr.. President
y satisfactorily, not only the fairness openness
a and Justice of ad vaorem duties compared witt
specifics but likewise their better adaptation to al
ic the purposes of revenue, and more particularly t
the prevention of collisions and frauds in the Gus
tom-house, come now to the consideration Of tn
e. question whether this bill will raise the amount o
revenue required to meet the financial necessities
u the government. That it will meet, in addition L
the ordinary expenditures, all the requirements o
~ the Mexican war as fast they may occur, with
:, out throwing on the government the necessity O
using its credit, is of course not expected by an
one.
y The real question is, whether it will furnish a
y, much or more revenue than the existing law,
- stand prepared to maintain that the revenues wi
" h. cd hih of This hill