New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-02-13
d those Of the tariff of 1923 compare;

Steel. ''.............. 50 per owt IssG2OO
A single glance at this table Of different rates
shows that the % per cent average of the tariff
of 1898 is reduced at least to the 2i4 average of
the tariff of 1916.
Woolens and cOttons, under the tariff of 1898,
ranged from 80 to so per cent. Ia the Senate
bill it ia safe to say that they seldom run above
30, and are on several articles below it. We
are aware that it is quite possible to figure up
some Of the items of wooden and cotton goods in
the tariff of l525 to 100 per cent, and il is just
as possible to exaggerate a few Of the rates of
the Senate bill TO almost any per centage that
the calculator pleases; for where dimes and cents
are the factors, the hundredths in the pro-
duet cast portentous length Of shadow upon
the problem.
We doubt not that our readers will infer for
themselves from the instances presented which
in fact cover the great body aud value of our
Imports that the duties Of the bill are ut least as
much below those Of the tariff Of 1923 as those Of
the tariff Of 1916 were. That they are not lower,
We need not argue with the opponents of the
bill. We believe them to be about equivalent,
alike upon the authority of the gentlemen EN-.
gagged in framing the BILL and upon the fair pre-
sumption arising from our own rough mode Of
estimating them.
Now for the suficiency Of the rates of duty in
the proposed tariff to meet the wants Of the Treas
sury: We cannot, in the present condition Of
things, predict the quantity Of foreign imports for
the next year, or the next ensuing three, Ave, or
ten years; and of course, cannot put down IN
figures the revenue which is TO be expected
But we know that the tariffs of 1924 and 1928
provided funds enough to bear the current ex-
penses of the Government for the eight years
Of their operation, and to extinguish funded
debt Of 500, 100000, with interest and
premiums, and $l0,0O0,00O loan required
to meet that amount Of floating debt, beside
We know that the tariff of 1912, which went
into operation when the country and tho Treas
ury were in the EXTREMIST state of depression,
reduced the public debt from S@7 100000 to
less than Sl7 900 900 before it expired. And We
know that the tariff of l5i5 in ten years raised
$50 000, 900 from customs, which, with about
$50, 900, 600 from the public lands and miscea-
neous sources, met the enormous expenditures OF
mat peTlOu, anu ltll uloucg III tho ii'"'-
ury to extingush the remaining public debt.
We are not bound to show that the Senate
BILL whose rates of duty are about equal to those
of the tariff of 1916, will yield the same amount
Of revenue in the years to come; but we furnish
the evidence of large experience to prove that
its rates of duty will not prohibit or so far di.
minish, importation by their own proper opera
ton, as to dsappoint our hope. The % per
cent average duties of 1923 and 1912 had no
such effect; and the l54 per cent average duties
of the tariff of 1857 have not prevented the
present embarrassment of the Treasury; nor will
the vast agricultural exports of the present year
help it to restore solyency or credit to the fiscal
condition of the Government. We think it clear
enough that if duties twenty per cent higher than
those proposed did not depress our foreign i'm
portations in 1898 and 1914 below the require
ments Of the exchequer, the proposed rates can
not by any possibility have such an effect. On
the contrary, there are the best grounds for be-
lieying that the adaptation of the bill to the re-
quirements of the national industry, will give the
ability to purchase foreign goods to an extent
quite beyond the amount of any safe-going year
of the last fifteen. We have now more means
for purchasing than we ever had before, and we
want only the restoration of confidence to insure
a prosperous commerce, both foreign and dOmes.
tic.
Everybody knows that the average l5i per
cent duties of the present tariff are totally in.
adequate to the protection of our industry, and
the wants of the Government. The provision for
both these objects, which the bill fairly promises,
is necessity of the national revenue the ma
tonal credit, and the national industry. Let us
have the BILL therefore, and without delay. AS
in the years 1924 and 1912, the trial OF mere
revenue and ad raiorem tariffs compelled the
changes of fiscal policy then adopted, so now,
another experience of disaster from similar causes
obges us TO resort again to the system that has