The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-02-26

lmpolitic as any change would be, which could
be less temporary, and could only tend to dis
turb, rather than TO give stability to trade, the
proposed tariff bill, as amended, possesses so
many obnoxious features, that few even of its best
friends pretend TO advocate it on any other
grounds, than that if they do not take it as it is,
they will get nothing at ALL
One of the most unpopular provisions in the
original bill-the abolition of the warehouse sys-
tem-a system long recognized by England and
France as exceedingly beneficial in its workings
and especially needed at the present moment
when commerce is depressed to an extraordinary
degree and it is almost impossible to effect sales of
anything but the absolute necessaries of lile-has
fortunately been stricken out by the Senate; but
Others, almost as Objectionable, have been added,
which were not even contemplated by the trainers
OF the bill. AS it was returned to the House. it is
shapeless homogeneous mass, founded upon no
principle, completed on no settled plan but giving
us very much the idea of every man having de-
sired to legislate for his own private interests,
independent of anything or anybody else
Among the many examples which we could emu
merate, we will name the duty of five cents per
pound on the commoner kinds of wool tackled on
PROBABLY at the suggestion Of some small Vermont
farmer, to benefit himself at the expense of his
nelghborlng manufacturer. The great difficulty
our wooden mills have to contend with il want of
raw material. The supply of domestic wool is
avoWedly deficient, and such is the demand for it
that the fleece is most usually bought before the
sheep is sheared. Another example is the duty on
the commoner kinds of steel, which, as proposed
Is enormous. Our manufactures of gallery. which
are very gradually built up, depend entirely on
the foreign market for most of their material and
this enormous tax which will either break up
the business or greatly reduce it, must necessarily
defeat It's own end. Probably the most obnoxious
feature, however, in the Bill, is the specific duty
on tea and coffee, laid in such manner that on
teas, which vary considerably in value the poor
mechanic, who only afford to pay IS cents q
pound, is taxed as heavily as the rich merchant.
who pays for finer article loo cents a pound,
and should fairly pay a proporonately higher
tax. The only excuse offered for this is an i'm
poverished Treasury, want OF credit, and inability
to raise revenue all OF which proceed, not from
any real want of resources in the country, but
from an utter want of confidence in the party W he
are about to assume the reins of power. No bet.
ter proof of the folly of this measure can
be found than in the history of the reve-
nue. system of the UNITED STATES for the
past thirty years. So unpopular was the tax on
these articles, even at the time Of the passage OF
the protective tariff of 1928, that it was deemed
advisable in 1880 to reduce the tax on coffee to two
cents pound, with proviso that in the year fol-
lowing it should be reduced to one cent; and TO
reduce the duty On teas which had been very
heavy, in corresponding ratio Later in 1882.
when the tariff was again revised bill was passed
which was highly protective to the manufacturing
interest 1t met, however, with such opposition
from the country in general, and South Carolina
in particular that she soon after refused to allow
the collection of the duties in her ports; and the
friends of the system, if they had wished, would
not have been able TO impose duty on tea and
coffee, which the people of the country de.
manded that they should have at the cheapest
possible rates. Since that time this demand
has been recognized as a right. and these articles.
become necessaries of life, have been admitted
duty free.
These are but few of the Objectionable features
of the bill. Others are abundant, showing tina
in the great greed for revenue, and their greater
want of confidence in their power to command it.
the Republicans are not only ignoring their own
platform, but even the fundamental principles of a
free Government. To enighten and to educate
the masses of the people is the only way we are
told by which they can be expected TO govern
themselves wisely and well. In defiance of this.
the Republican party, more republican in their
doctrines than any Of their predecessors, propose
to increase the duty on books which is already too
high, and to tax statuary and paintings, objects
of art and refinement, which now come in free.