Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-02-14
7 TAs Morrill, Tariff BillsS

Inc new YORK Evening F0st, strong ne
publican journal, denounces the Republican Tar.
iff bill now pending In the United States Sen.
ate, without stint, and calls upon the Republican,
Ia congress 70 vote against and save tho chica.
20 platform We quot some Of It's temarks:
"The merchants of this city are thrown into
CONSERVATION by the probability that Congress
will pass the tariff bill Of Mr.. Morrill,. With
all the amendments it seems likely to receive,
1t Is q measure which, If carried through Con-
gress, will ruin thousands and seriously dimin-
ish the trade of this city. Those who are not
ruined by the destruction Of the warehouseing
system will be ruined by its prohibitions.
"There are many who suppose that the bill
before the Senate ID merely q project for mod
erately increasing the duties, that We may de-
rive larger revenue from our importations. -
This Is an entire mistake. The bill, besides
the obstruction ii places in tho way of the i'm
porter, by the repeal Of the warehouse system,
places 80 heavy duty on many articles which
are imported and used in large quantities, that
Il prohibits their Importation altogether. On
these same articles, and on some others less
heavily loaded perhaps with duties, the mode Of
assessing and collecting them is so complicated,
that. besides the perplexity and delay which
the importer must encounter, the expenses of
collection to the government must be more than
doubled The Importer Is worried at an exor-
biant cost to the treasury. ~ would be better
to make the goods contraband at once.
ave will give an example or two of the in
tricacies of. the. proposed tariff. Beaver and.
pilot cloths, and the like used for overcoats, to
gether with wooden blankets costing one dollar
or less the square yard, are charged with If
teen cents duty on the pound and fifteen per
cent dd paloreni, which is equal to from thirty
to ninety-five per cent ad valoren on these COM
modities. Druggets, bookings and felt carpet
ings are charged with ffty cents the square
yard, which equals from forty one to hundred
and eleven per cent ad uaLOYem. Cloths, cassi-
mers, doeskins and ladies cloakings, valued at
twenty-five cents and not exceeding seventy.
FIVE cents the square yard, are subjected 10 q
duty Of sixteen cents apound and aduty oftwen.
ty per cent ad ualorem, which is equal to from
forty. one to eighty.four per cent. In all these
cases the great bulk of importations are Of the
lower and cheaper qualities--the finer and dear.
er come in small quantities. We may fairly
state, therefore, that Morrill's bill raises the
duties on wollens from twenty-four per cent. as
they stand at present, to an average Of some
thing like seventy or seYenty-fve per cent. A
tax 90 exorbiant must cut of the importations
almost wholly. II these goods should contin-
ne to be imported and the duties paid, the bur-
den would fall upon the least wealthy class. s,r
"Yet the wooden manufactures dot not ask
for these increased duties. Greviously as they
will oppress the consumer, and greatly as they
threaten to diminish the income from customs,
they are gratuitous perversion of the powers
of legislation. Neither the owners of woolen
mills, nor the consumers of vOolens, nor the
United States treasury are considered in their
insertion in the bill. They are put there for
the sake Of making the system uniform-.for
the sake of giving Mr.. Morrill, and his con-
federates an apology for levying similar exac-
tons on those who import and consume commo
dities Of the came kind % those manufactured
in Pennsylvania. The owners Of the woolen
mills are perfectly satisfied With the present
tariff, and would regard change In It as mis-
chief done to their interests. They want no
tariff enacted this year which in three or four
years will be certainly repealed. sfYmn
"On glass the duty which the Morrill, bill
proposes to levy is enormous. If we look at
the census of trades and professions in the
United States, taken in 1850, We find that the
number OF glass manufacturers In the United
States is 3237, and that nearly half Of these are
In Pennsylvania. To enrich these Mr.. Morrill,
proposes to put, not o revenue duty, but pro-
hibtory one, on ordinary window glass. It
will be made to pay duty Of from one to three
cents Q foot, varying according to Dimensions,
and then an ad galosem duty of twenty-five cents.
Rough plate glass of small size, one-eighth of
an inch thick, win be overwhelmed with q
duty estimated at tico hundred and Ninety Gpe per
cent. Polished English and French plate glass
10 let off with duty amounting to only one
hundred per cent. on the value. Mt Morrill,
and bis friends will not surely pretend that du-
ties like these can bring any revenue. They
will cut of the revenue now received lss IA