Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1861-03-21

to be seSs " tho HePuOnCan party
Their theories are being one by one laid
aside, and policies are being adopted,
which but . short month ego would
have stunk of treason 10 their patriotic
nostrils. The revenue question is the
last bull they have taken by the horns.
How to get rid of it, or round it, With
safety, il = question of distressing mo.
ment. All the difficulties that surround
this matter seem to have very lately
burst on the vision Of our contempora-
ries, which lately had no other note but
=" the public property must be held
Il in the hands Of the secessionists II
must be retaken !; the revenue must be
collected; the laws must be executed
The New York Evening Post has taken
the alarm, and points out, with . consid-
cradle amount Of sagacity, the Difficult
ties which are involved. After stating
that duties must either be collected IN
the ports of the seeding States or these
ports be closed to importations, or else
the revenue laws will to all intents be
ender ed null and void, it proceeds:
The Government, without special au-
thorizatlon from Congress, will have no
power to create a line of custom houses
along the North Carolina and Tennessee
troutieI, to cover the Arkansas border
with stations or revenue officers to inter
cept the contrabandists. The whole
country would be given up to an i'm
mcnse system OF smuggling, which on
near two thousand miles of coast, would
meet with no obstacle or interruption
or encouragement. What would Mr..
Woodscrew Summons, the Rhode Island
Senator, who caused prohibition duty
on wood-serews to be inserted in the
tariff which has inst beer passed by
Congress, in order that a single screw
mill might make all the wooden screws
used in the United States. and that its
iOItuIldtc OWucus mikuS S'o" I'Iu OO
yond the dream Of avarice what
would this patriotic and most disinter-
ested legislator say, # cargoes of untax-
| ed wood-ecrews were to be brought
from the Southern coast by our rivers
and railways and Oh board Of our coast
ing vessels, and dispersed over all the
country, and his hopes OF gain disap-
pointed ! Mr.. Simmons would weep
tears of hickory.
TO protect the interests Of Mr.. Sim
nous in the first place, and those Of the
federal treasury in the next, something
must be done. The general expectation
seems to be that the duties will be col
lected on board OF armed vessels at the
different ports OF entry in the seeding
States. Are our readers aware what u
fleet this would require? Thee are
seven collection districts in the little
State of Florida alone there are four in
Alabama, AT every port there must be-
a collector, with his army Of appraisers,
cl rks, examiners, inspectors, weighcrs.
mcasurcrs, etc. /; there must be naval
officer aud his staff Of entry clerks. The
Morrill, tariff law, which we have Just
enacted, will make q larger number OF
these n cessary than would have been
required a mouth ago. Where twenty
men would have then answered the pur-
pose, thirty will now be needed. If we
collect the revenue in this manner, with
fleet at every port, and a corps of Gus
tom house officers on board, it will cost
us great deal more then we shall get.
But can the revenue be thus collect
ed The importers arriving at the
Southern harbors will know how to sd
dress the custom house officers. 1--WE
have CARGO" they will naturally say,
ION which we do not care to pay du-
ties just at present; we must deposit it
n the warehouses for the term during
which We are permitted to do SO by
law" What will the officers of the
customs do in that case ? The govern
ment has no longer any warehouses; in
the seceding ports. The hold of an
armed vessel would neither be proper
nor sufficiently spacious repository tor
the goods. The duties in that case can
not be collected ; and the collector will
be puzzled to know whether to let the
ship proceed to her port or to retain
her.
We happen to know that there are
importing houses at this m ment pre-
parlng to take advantage of this opening
for an uuencumbered trade. They are
getting ready TO convey their cargoes to
Charleston or Savannah the goods will
be landed there, aud then brought coast
wise to New York, where. being impor-
tations from port within the Union,
they will be subject to no duty.
The new tariff, with its strange for
malties and ingeoiously devised delays,
forms an additional inducemcnt with
them to tax. his course.
What, then, is left for our government!
Shall We let the seeding States repeal
the revenue laws for the whole Union
in this manner? Or will the govern
ment choose to consider all foreign COM
merce destined for those parts where we
have no custom houses and no collectors.
as contraband, and step it, when offer
'ng TO enter the collection districts from
which our authorities have been ex.
peileds Or will the President call a
special session Of Congress to do what
the nnw'sely failed-to abolish all ports
of entry in the seeding States?