Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-04-03
CONGRESSIONAL.
EXTRACTS FROM Mr.. BROOKS'S SPEECH,
In the House Of Representatives., made on the Def
cheney Bin.
THE REVENUE AND TARIFF OF 1S46.


The expenses Of the administration of the Government
being necessarily SO large shall be asked no doubt
How is it that you Wings who predicted the tariff Of
1916 would not yield revenue enough to carry on the
Government them find it yields enough not only to
maintain the expenses Of what you call double United
States but to leave surplus Of millions in the
treasury 1t is fair question, and will not shrk it;
win meet il face to face There time when it
would have appalled, me- but only because ignorant
Of the history the written and unwren history Of the
tariff Of 1846 1t may well have appalled, Wing to
know why it was when such sound men as George Evans
and others predicted In the Senate and in this House that
the tariff of 1916 would yield enough to carry the
Government that should really yield enough and more
too propose to solve this apparent contradiction Of
prophecy and experience and to the solution beg the
careful attention Of the House
When George Evans and others, in 1S46, made these
predictions they based upon the tariff bin Of July
&c. 1886 which cut up all importations into schedules
from letter GA to letter l. and then affixed to them
horizontal universal nd vaorems from hundred per
cent down TO FIVE per cent and duty free" The novel
ty of such Procrustean tariff bed attracted their aten
ton No other nation under the civilized or savage
had been thus before to say the least so original
Procrustes struck out the idea Of bed, upon which
short be stretched to fit it, and long
to be chopped of to fit it; but universal ad valorem
tariff bed something altogether in political eco
| nomy So many cents duty on O gallon Of brandy or
wine duty, specific duty, every body could COM
prehend; but one hundred per centum ad valorem'
schedule A brandy and other spirits distilled from
grain (such schedules from "A" P COMPOUNDED them.
Brandy wines, spirits and thousand other like things,
susceptible Of accurate specific admeasurement why,
they asked, ad valorem them? 1t premium for bad
brandy and halfpoisoncd wne every body for the
cheaper the nominal abroad the less the
duty at home unless wrongful fraudulent system Of
invoices introduced, by which all such things were
/ rated abroad below what they were worth What APP
praisers they asked, too tell what wine is worth,
lad valorem unless they have been experienced prac-
tced wine bbbers from their youth upY Even they,
might be deceived, for when liquors espe
ciay hgh-prced wines, they often come, it is termed
technically, sick;" that is muddy and rolled appa-
renty of ad valorem not quarter price Universal
genuses they said wanted under such universal nd
valorems for appraserthe universal genius that
turn from arrack or hrchenwasser to ginger roots
gelatne, from bananas to bceswax with instant
thorough comprehension of every thing. Their great
objection however and their apprehensons came from
the serious radical defects in the principle Of
ad vaorem system, and from the frauds that
must constantly be arising and the constant conflicts the
treasury must always be in with merchants American
foreign. Their leading objection was that it based thu
American tariff upon European ad valorcms-that IL
made our American tariff in Europe and that when i
thus surrendered American to European interests ther
was fixed system proper rule, real law pre-
scribed for estimating these values in Europe il
obvious that American tariff which surrenders thu
whole American system Of home valuations to foreign
valuations Is foreign tariff levied at American ports
If the value Of cottons woolens wrought arti
cles is fixed in Europe and upon that value thus fxe
there duty Is levied and collected in New York. tw
things obvious first, that such tariff is foreig
levied tariff, though collected under American law
and second that the value the ad vaore depends upo
foreign estimation foreign caprice, IL may be- foreg
fraud or perjury. The tariff law Of July 1916, wa
open all these objections, and shall show Demo
cratic ant-tarif authority, too, has been admittc
ri so TO be-
The force Of these objections struck Mr. Secretary Walk
er and the Committee Of Ways and Means in 1896 an
they did believe that the tariff stood them unde
the act Of July with the whole ad vaorcm system the
subject foreign caprice that they could collect dut
: enough under it to carry the Government max
these remarks and draw these nferences because in hs
very extraordinary place for making TARIFF the civil an
diplomats BILL approved August TO- 1916, there was II
sertednay not say snuggled for who then probabl
forcsaw its fun effect this very significant and pfei
, nant item