The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-09-30


IS of Uniontown" is not content with charging agdlns
he existing tariff, that by taking off immense burden
taxation from the shoulders of the people, it has in
eased our foreign TO the amount OF nifty mil
lions of imports and fifty millions of exports within the hrs
ar of its operation and thereby increased our revenue
More than four millions of dollars per annum, while the
mtances of specie from Europe prove that the balance
Nj trade has all along been in our favor on the contrary
L further urges against the present law that H. instead OF
reducing the tax upon all interested IN our foreign COM
nerce TO an average duty OF 20 per cent? II mad only
2u, on 10 per cent more did the tarlf OF 1872 we
3bod actually have secured the immense advantage OF
losing the opportunity to exchange fifty millions worth
III grain for the same amount OF foreign goods which
have now come into the country and paid no small sum
Into tho nubic treasury He clnches this most novel
Injection 70 the present law by arguing further, that II we
had only crippled our Importation by heavier tax, we
mcbt have screwed an equal amount OF revenue out OF
line lesser amount of imports which might nevertheless
have forced themselves, in spite OF the tax through the
doors of the cusomh house and into the hands OF the con-
umes whose increased tax, enhancing the price OF the
laces imported would thus stand in inverse ratio to the
diminished quantity of them upon which II was paid.
How this must work in the long upon the revenue,
land how it did work in the last years of the tariff
of 1870 we showed yesterday Its direct working upon
line consumer of the articles imported is very obvious
IIe would pay out good round sum OF money, and get
lyery little merchandiseto show for it. But if Mr.. Stew
as argument good as between an average 80 per cent
luly and an average 30 per cent duty why Is it not
Ieuuay good between an average 20 per cent duty
land an average per cent duy' He tells us that
lao per cent tariff is better than 20 per cent tariff be-
|cause it will diminish Importation third, and yet give
1.-The same revenue WE'LL then, if the problem of good
Government in relation to foreign commerce is to
make our imports just small figure will by high
myaon paw revenue enough to support the treasury why
mot on this principle, try the working of 60 per cent
tariff which, on Mr. Stewards principle, will collect rev.
Ienue enough on Importation OF only so millions !?
What is the peculiar magic of 80 per cent rate and
nehird dmnution of Importation that he should all at
once stop just there His principle plainly carries him
further.
! Having argued so LUMINOSITY, IS. OF Unontown"
next proceeds in his letter assert little And here he
shines, Wequote him:
"The idea however, of reducing duties increase
eue absurdty is contrary to the practice aud
yrenee of this and every other cernrya sophsm which
| carries its reiuation upon its own face"
This assertion comes on the very heels of the writer's
admission that in experience OF this very year
the revenue is increased at the rate OF than four
millions per annum, under the "reduced duties" of the
present tariff 1t has taken our experience only nine
months to show that this "absurdity" is fixed and very
tangible fact in the shape Of than three millions Of
hard dollars of increased which have already
chnked in the Golfers OF the treasury. And how is it in
other counes Is not matter of notorety that
from 1871 to 1916 Sir Robert Peel in England has staked
his whole great financial reputation distinctly upon this
principle which IS of Unontown' has now found out
to be absurdyY Has not Sir Roberts principle been
most rumpbantly vndicated by its ascerained results
upon the British Has he reduced the duties
upon article after article and has not such reduction been
already followed by increase of the revenue from those
articles in almost every case We gave only few days
ago copous extracts from his letter to the electors of
Tamworh, showing the fact of this increase set down
from the treasury books of England in pounds, shngs,
and pence Have not the merchants Of London and
Liverpool already assembled in public meeting to address
the British government on the subject Of the duties on
tea, being too high to the largest
that artcle' Has not similar agitation begun in the
British press the subject of the tobacco duties Be-
ole he prOclallS Wel-uleu anu We-SeItled financial
principles to be mere "abswdities" and against all ma
tonal experience" s. of Uniontown" should at least
read the newspapers he writes for, and find out some Of
the national experience which they from day to day re-
cord
Mr.. Stewart gives in his letter table, protesting to
state the amount Of protection given to different branches
Of business by the tariff of 1912 and the existing tariff
respectively From this table he nfers that the shoema
protection is reduced by the present law per cent?
the taors 90 per cent the paper-makers, As per cent
the coaldggers, mot the coalowners we suppose 81
per cent and Of others. Well, even granting that
this table tells the TRUTH how is it with the great bulk of
our farming population, who buy and the ar-
cles which these men sew, and hammer and Dig But
this table, even if we say nothing about its errors and
exaggeratons, and the unairness with which is made
out, contains the conclusive ITSELF in its own
hgures These figures show that il the shoemaker loses
Is per cent protection the shoes he makes (Which
loss, by the way, falls on him. the operative but on
the owner Of the large shoe establishment who EMPLOYS
him. he GAINS, by the present law 20 per cent in the rc
duced price OF the coat which he buys from the tailor
lsper cent in the hat which he gets from the halter 65
per cent in the glass which he buys from the glass man
65 per cent in the cotton cloth which he may want for
himself and his family; IS per his sugar. and so
on through all the principal articles of use which he must
buy to the very end OF the table II the table prove any,
thing at all, it proves this. And is this state of things
TO nlure the shoemaker And just so is with every
other branch OF business to which the table refers.
But Mr. Stewart winds up his argument from his table