Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-06-10
AoHtital
From the Winnsboro' Register.
MIR. BoYcE's REPORT.

MIR. BOYCFS REPORT.
The committee in Congress appointed,
through the instrumentality of Mr.. Boyce,
to report upon the policy, Of curtailing the
expenditures of our wasteful government
and of suggesting change in our naviga-
ton laws, and of revising the general system
of governmental taxation and protection,
have made their report, synopsis of which
we attempt this morning to give our readers
This report says:
The expenditures for the fiscal year end
ing June so, 1857, independent Of the pub
lie hodebtssppears from the report Of the Score,
tary of the Treasury, are s65,o32, ,5s7,76.'
And thinks these expenditures too large,
fthe affairs Of government were administered
with an eye to economy. They should not
have increased during the past thirty years
in a greater ratio than our population,
whereas they have increased in two-fold pro-
portion during that time. In 1923 our pop
nlation was ten millions and half, and ex-
penditures nine millions and half, while IN
1857 the population being but twenty-eight
and half millions, the expenditures are
sixty.fye millions of dollars, exclusive Of the
grant Of six millions of acres of land worth
fifteen millions of dollars, appropriations to
supply deficiencies Of the last fiscal year a.
mounting to ten millions more.
These expenditures being too great, the
report suggests the only remedy likely to be
eaectual against this lavish waste of public
money,'-which is change. in the existing
system of taxation.
The first economical defect of our pres
ent system of taxation, by duties on imports,
is, that it,operates as a bounty to one, and
that very important class-the manufac-
turers.'
There are at least s5oO,OOO,0o0 invested
in the United States by manufacturers, and
all of this is more or less invested in high
duties, that is, high taxation. And the only
counter remedy for this powerful protective
influence is to rbandon the tariff duties and
substitute direct taxation.
The next prominent evil Of the present
system of taxation, is that, by its indirect
operation, the people are ignorant of what
they pay. They are ignorant of what they
pay to the government, and equally ignorant
of what they pay to the protected interests
in the shape of bounties.'
sAnother objection to the present system
is the large expenditure necessary in the
present mode of collecting the revenue, in
paying the army Of employees engaged in
the present revenue service, in building cost
" structures in various parts Of the United
States, and in maintaining custom-houses
which do not pay their own expenses.
sAuother defect Of the. present system is
the immense patronage it gives to the Fed
eral Government. This army Of officers
might, by each State payiny over its assess
ed quota, be almost entirely dispensed with.
Instead Of three thousand and eighty-eight
employees now in the revenue system, We need,
under different system, have no more than
one treasurer in each State. Another prom.
inent defect of the present system is its ne
cessary inequality; for no tariff can be con-
structed that does not in greater or less de-.
gree operate as bounty on one portion OF
the community and as double tax on the
great class of consumers. 1t requires no
argument to prove that in republic there
should be equality in taxation: the Constitu'
ton attempts to accomplish this purpose in
declaring that 'all duties, imposts, and ex-
cises, shall be Uniform throughout the Uni.
ted States But every tariff, in greater or
less degree, must necessarily violate the
spirit of this provision. Another defect of
the present systemis, that it necessarily Grip
pies the productive energies Of the country
by interposing obstacles to the free exchange
of products. 1t is difficult to estimate the
extent of loss resulting from this cause; but
there can be no doubt it amounts to q vast
sum. This tax on exchanges is a great OBJ
stacle to the highest development of our
industrial resources. To form some idea of
the loss occasioned to the country by the OBJ
stacles interposed to free exchanges by the
tariff system, take the following estimate !:
In 1856 the cotton, woolen, and iron manu-
facturers and sugar produced and consumed
in the United States were enehanced in price
by the tariff 39,975,9S5. This was the
amount of the indirect tax paid to the home
producers of the above articles. In 1S46
the Secretary of the Treasury estimated the
indirect tax then paid on the enchanced pri-
ces of home products caused by the tariff, at
s50,000,00O.
The cotton planter will observe that, this
increased value is given to his produce to
benefit him, changes it into cloth or other
fabric, which unjust and increased amount
comes from the planters pocket principally.
The report also suggests change in the
following defects in our navigation laws
These existing defects should be read and re.
membered by all of our inland readers,
many of whom are sorrowfully ignorant of
our government taxes, expenditures and re-.
ceipts. These defects are:
l. The requisition that American vessels
engaged in the coasting trade should pay so
cents per ton unless "three-fourths of the
crew are American citizens, then only 6 cents
per ton ;" and and the further provision
that American vessels, entering from foreign
ports, to pay so cents per ton unless "the
officers and two.thirds Of the crew are Amer
ican citizens
2. The exclusion of foreign built vessels,