, 1866-01-24

have to deal with. It Is not a question o
morals or metaphysics, but of finances, o.
taxes, Of dollars and cents The faucies md
distractions Of free trade theorists must al
be disrcgarded. The problem Is simply this
| The nation has debt Of three Motsand n,l
Hons to carry along, with an annual interest
when the debt is I'LL funded, of one hundred
and sixty or eighty millions to provide for, II
gold, beside all the other expenses OF tht
Government. including heavy pension list
TO defrsy. How is the money to be Oh
! tatneds We have asystem OF taxation where
BY onc-third or more Of the requisite amour,
bfrevenue is derived from imposts levied OF
foreign goods, and threc-dfths TO tyo-thirds
are obtained from internal tsxation--
The last session Of Congress, after passing
The best revenue laws 1t could devise, direct
ed the Secretary Of the Treasury to appoint 4
Revenue Commission Of three Of the ab1est I'm
auciers to be found, who should investigate
the whole subject OF raising revenue, find ont
whcre the present system OF taxation .worke
badly, where II may be improved, where frauds
may be prevented, when costs ofcolIcciion cau
be reduced. In short, It was made
the duty of this commission to look
into the entire matter, and re-
port to Congress the best and easiest system
of taxation that will yield the necessary
amount Of revenue, possible to be devised,
The Commissioners have been engaged on this
great work for the last seven months, and arr
now nearly ready to report
1t does seem to mo that the - Chicago Free
| Traders" with Mesars. Diller & Eastman at
thdr head might have possessed their souls In
patience at least until the revenue report o,
the Commissioners was published. Who knows
what changes and notifications they may rec.
| commend both In the tariff and internal taxa
tion. The free traders have gone Of at halfcock
and the Republican part of them have been
!; giving aid and comfort 10 Z class Of wind
broken and spawned copperhead politicians,
l. Who advocate free trade as Ms ahortea road to
|repudiation and Nallonal dIgraes. The Re.
/ publcans of cou1se h4d no such purpose In
Whenever 1t becomes advisable and e1pedieut
to 60 for free trade or low tariff; whenever
I the Public Good Will be promoted thereby,
| and the financial wants Of the Government
can be best supplied BY the adoption Of the
no tnrii or low tariff policy,
adroca,irg Il and reducing it TO practice.
/ And 1t Will not be adopted as the
l, policy of the Government until the Repub1l-
can party does advocate It, and when that
time comes, no other party-copperhead or
e5-rehel, or both eombined-can prevent It's
adoption.
The only attempt Mr.. Eastman makes To
meet or rrfutc the "array" "of financial
fguree contained in my previous letter, or
The fnferenccs drawn thereffono, il by copyinr
portion OF a aWnzhington despatch to tie
TElDTNE. And as bis whole argument re-
wolves around That despatch, hers reproduce
il:
WAsu1yc7ov IAN ~
Tables ar now in courae of preparation Al the
Treasury Department for trsuemles!on to Con-
Ercee, to khow that the average duties upon the
country during The years Of 1868 and 1861, were IS
per cent; Upon woo1eu, SSH per cent upon eilks
81 Per ana ecnt n,a % s,b hep snd aaE sod npon
silk. GO hemp and f1x, 3s,f and on lion md
sled 70 Y PEI cent. In The ~ yesr the Govern
previous yc1rs On acconnt of the falling OF in the
tMporfsuon o the aruc1es enumerated, The revenues
on The total o1 he imports has3ng fallen oa from
millions in 1885,
Onthis Mr.. E. proceeds TO comment thus:
.lt thus appearf thst m increase Of the tariff for
protection has been followed by = diminutton OF
have alwa5s con,ended would be The iact"
Mr.. Eastman onlts the Inst sentence Of the
despatch, which. although bungled badly In
ttlegrnphic transmission, states that the In
crease ol the tariff was no increase Of protcc.
ton ut all; that It was of no value to home
manufactures, as the increase Of internal tax
ntton countcFbalauces the additional 'spro-
tAction>' denied from the advance Of custom
rntes. This very important explanation the
gentleman suppressed. Does be remember
lhe maxim, SbnPpress,o eeri suggestio }alslF
The revenue Of the Government for the
external taxation was as follows:
Frffn hmm II IN fNre{pn <rooda &1ns 41c 1s3
Prom intGrnal ts1ation.-.---. 10a,7a1,133
Total ineome..... ssls o5z,ssG
This was seen to be inadequate
credit. The, Secretary OF the Treas
ury informed Congress very plainly
that The taxes must be largely increased or
financial ruin would result to the Goye.n-
ment. The loyal men Of the country made
the same demand, telling Congress to Do their
Congress did 'tplle" On the taxes Tremendous
~, and the result WAS, tho National credit
u as sayed, the army supported and the rebel
lion crukhed- But the pockets Of the people
have been made to bleed profusely. The tax
law Of March ), 1865, almost doubled the
1SG4. Incomes were doubled, licenses doubled,
stamps increased and taxes on manufactures
advanced from Is to 100 per cent Having so
enormously increased internal taxation
It became necessary to increase
the tariff on imported articles for the same
purpose, viz: 10 procure more revenue to
meet the pressing necessities Of the Goyern-
meDt, and to prevent discrimination against
home industry. Hence, the duties on cotton
goods we're raised 4 per cent on Woo1en goods
LIZ per cent :; on silk %, hemp md hax S,
iron and steel G1z. Now, submit that the
increase on cotton, fa1 and linen fahrics of
four, five and si1 per cent is not enough to
justify thet' free trade" uproar that certain
persons are making. And moro especially as
the taxes On domestic manufactures were In
creased to an equal extent Bear in mind
that all Ad yalorem duties are levied on
the foreign value Of the imported goods
which are generally undervnlned by means
exporters. While on the other hand domes-
tic manufactures are taxed 'on the full price
for which they sell In this country and this
TAX is levied On each process or manipulation.
The coal ie taxed. the pig Iron is taxed when
the pig is made into bar 1t Is taxed again
when The bar Is wrought into rod 1t is taxed
again whcn the rod is worked up into nails,
screws, bolts or machinery 1t is taxed again
when 1t Is converted into steel 1t is taxed
again, md when II passes from steel into cut
lery and other. forms 1t I. taxed again.
And 80 Of cotton, 1ax, hemp. WOOL
sen, Elk and AL. al other manufactures.
sicle 10 one shape and changcs itinto another. M
thereby adding to its value, Is taxed on The
commodity when he sells It, five or more Der
cent. The American manufacturers there
fore spesk The mixed truth when they assert
TINT the increase Of The tariff by the net Of
Mnrch 9, 1sc5, afforded them no benefit what
ever. The1a WIS no protection .tin ths ad-
vauce Of duties, because their own tn1es were
equally advanced. Tho 1S5f per cent of I'D
vance on the dn:ies on woo)en goods, -was
rh5cAy on tho finer qualities; because the
1inc woolens, consumed In this country. are
mostly of f0reypD rnanntarture and nnf