The Middlebury galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1848-1850, 1848-03-14
IF PENNSYLVANIA,

MIR. A. STEW ART,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
IN REVIEW OF THE
FREE-TRADE DOCTRINES CONTAIN
ED IN MIR. WALKERS AN
NUAL REPORT ON
THE FINANCES.
DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF RErREsES-
TATIvEs, JANUARY II, 1913.
Concluded.
THE EFFECT OF LOW DUTIES AND FREE
TRADE on LABOR AND PRICES.
Thus it appears that the learned Secretary's
facts and his theories are always at war His
utopian schemes look exceeding well till his
facts are brought to bear upon them, then they
vanish into thin air. Unfortunately for Mr..
| Walker, ingenuity cannot overcome truth, for
truth is mighty and will prevail" To show
the contradictory character Of Mr. Walkers
Reports he would here cite few, out Of 4
great many instances.
In one part of his Report, the Secretary
boasts of the happy effects of the tariff OF 1916,
in reducing taxes, tightening the burdens Of
the poor, Of the toiling Millions In some in
stances, he says, they have been reduced from
| 100 and 200 per cent, down TO 20 and 80. On
bar iron the duty had been brought down from
10 to 80 per cent,-from S25 to 10 dollars per
| ton: on the poor mans coal, the duty had
| been reduced from 81 down 10 80 per cent
more than half the tax had been taken of for
elm coal now all looks very well for the con-
sumers of iron and coal, but after while he
comes to speak of another class Of the ''toillng
millions" the voters of Pennsylvania, who make
| iron and dig coal; and now hear what this con-
sistent Secretary tells them. He tells them
that the tariff of 1916 is the very thing for
them; he congratulates them on the fact that
coal and iron are in greater demand, are bring
inc better prices than before the repeal Of the
tariff of 1872 these were his very words
Now, how the tariff of 1916 can at the same
time reduce the prices Of iron and coal to IA
vor consumers and raise 1t TO favor producers,
| is theory Icannot understandable an up aad
down, YES and no operation, which it will puz-
zle the ingenuity of the Secretary himself TO
explain But, then he has another and worse
difficulty to explain. The object OF the tarlil
| of 1916 was to increase the revenue. Now,
| what has been its effect? 1t has destroyed more
than halfthe revenue arising from these very
articles, without benefit TO any body but the
| foreign importer who sells us his IRON, accord
ing to Mr. Walker, for better price, pays
ten dollars instead Of twenty-five INTO Nj
Walkers empty subtreasury, puts the fifteen
dollars as additional profits into his pocket
which under the tariff of 1912, lie would have
Maid into the Treasury. Now the same thing
NAV be said of coal-instead of six cents a
bushcl, the foreign importer row pays less than
three, sells his coal at a better price and tobs
the difference. Who then does Mr.. Walkers
tariff benefit? The foreigner, and the foreign
err only. at the expense ofthe American Treas
urv and the American people. Salt; was an
other article illustrating the folly Of law duties
the effect of which was to destroy revenue and
increase prices; the prices are increased by d.
minishng home supply, and giving the foreign
| er the control of the market, and the revenue
is reduced by the operation. Nearly three
| fourths of the duty was taken OIL salt 10 iavor
| the poor-the result is, that foreign salt mas
raised % per cent, and the Treasury has ioS'
| three-fourths of the revenue. And yet Mr.
| Walker insists that his tariff tavors the poor
and increases the revenue This same thing IS
true in an infinite variety Of similar cases,
which he had not time now TO par1cularze !;
he would. however. refer to one or two, Tor the
benefit of the South-the cotton-erowers, the
rreat admirers of the tariff Of lS46-now how
has it affected these gentlemen Inc Guty
had been greatly reduced on cotton na@gins'
this checked the domestic supply, and the price
I am credibly informed, has increased from II
centsp er ward. under the tariff OF 1912, to 20
cents under the glorious free trade tariff OF s.
46. The Treasury getting less, and the con-
sumer paving more; tue price oil the COTTON IL
self has been redueed nearly one-tlnrd, amount
inr TO a loss on the cotton crop ottwenty millions
of dollars Cotton, under the tariff OF 1917,
brought ten cents per pound, it is now down TO
seven. and still declining. The sugar business
! | am told, has Jared even worse than the COZ
ton. Mr.. Walker is himself obliged to admit
that the cotton interest has suffered; and whai
Southern interest has not? The INJURY Is u
Universal. and the suffering must soon become
so. The famine and the potaioe rot had saved
for the moment. the North and West; but that
over. and the floods of foreign goods Will soon
sweep away their last dollar. Such always has
been and always will be the effect OF low duties
Nothing but ,rar and famine has saved this
J Administration; it is now the daily bread II
! feeds upon; destroy the war at home, ana the
famine abroad, and it cannot survive an hour
Before leaving this topic, he wished to make
one other remark, it was this; that 1t appeared
from the Treasury Reports, that the imports o
iron. coal. salt, &c. had been very little H.
creased, so that the Treasury had actually lost
more than half the revenue on these articles,
amounting TO several millions of dollars, which
was so much clear gain TO the foreign importer,
while Mr.. Walkers ''poor people" had been
ohl;oed IN nav more for these necessaries OF