New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-01-10
THE Duty on WOOL.

We are not anxious for the establishment Of
new tariff asa Eere triumph OF the cause we have
80 long and SO constantly advocated; but when We
consider the vide spread ruin aud misery which
now eAistin the cOuntry-machinery everywhere
lying idle and throDgs of sklful artisans starving
for want of labor-it 10 i'm possible not to feel
deep ard earneit impotence for the end OF such
state of things. The only measure that eau
possibly restore our industry ald commerce to
healthy condition, is the establishment of Pfotec
ton to American Labor as the cardinal principle
OF our national policy. Let the tariff of oi2 be
substantially renewed and the country will at
once revive, and energy and hopeful activity take
the place of stagnation and distress. But We
have little expectation of any such action from
the present Congress. The Democratic parry,
which controls that body, though bankrupt Itself
and in more hopeless case even than business aud
industry, has not the shrewdness or the courage
to adopt the only possible means of regainlng its
lost popularity; and we shall no doubt have to
wait till the great interests Of the country are
still more fatally depressed before there is any
recurrence to a sound and healthfdl system.
A striking symptom of returning sense may,
however, be found in the elaborate articles lately
put forth by The Journal Of Commerce AMI The
Ertnipg Post, to prove that the duty which II e
present tariff imposes on wool is destructive 10
that branch Of our manufactures, as well as inju-
rious to the woo'-growers. Though this is dis
coveTy which slight exercise of the mental facul-
ties might have made at the time this duty was
imposed, il i, encouraging to see the free traders
arrive at it even after eight years of such expert
ence as we have nov had. Our contemporaries
are at last convinced that il is wrong 10 impose
higher duty upon the raw material than upon
the manufactured article; but when, eight years
ego, we urged that simple truth upon their at.en.
ton ard Gated that might be regarded in the
construction of the tariff with which Mr.. Wal
ker was then about to atiiict the country, il was
met with scepticism and contempt.
Though the came vicious principle of discrimi-
nation in favor of foreign nanufa,tu prevails
in other parts of ths tsria, there ia none in which
on wool, because is nowhere else attacks so SON
siderable sn interest. Under the influence of
this principle nearly two thirds OF all the WOO we
consume is il ported in the shape of manufac-
lures, while the mount of wool produced 10 the
country has Dot -cressed during the last ten
years. In 1916 We factories making broad.
cloth to the value of : ~ 900 600 yearly, and our
impor'ations from the coD'inept Of Europe were
triiipg; but now, the las, Of these factories is
closed, sfter having struggled long with serious
losses to its proprietor, while We impor! from
France, Belgium and Germany, to the amount OF
nearly thirty millions year. Here We see the
result Of the sham free-trsde tariff of 1916, ani
this is only one OF the deadly blows it hiss struck
at the prosperity and strength of the nation. No
wonder that the more ss,u.e among its advocates
should warmly recommend q change bat to be
consistent, they should extend the reform be-
yond the wool duty to reconstruction of the en-.
tire system.
A vigorous effort is now being made to procure
the abolition of this obaoxous duty, on the prin-
cip,e Of sdmistiDg all raw materials free. Is pro.