New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-25
pRoeREsg on FREE rRanE.

addressed the following important letter d
instructions to the commissioner of the rev.
enue, in regard to q proposed revision of the
revenue at the next session of Congress
sa -, WASHINGTON, Sept 10, 1866
Revenue - - ''ishf
Sj,-In view of the fact that the revision of the
tariff is certain to engage the attention of Con
gress at the next scEsion, consider it especially
desirable that the treasury department should be
prepared to furnish as much information pertinent
to the subject as can be obtained and collected
n within the limited time available for the necessary
investigations. You are, therefore, hereby in
structSd to give the subject of the revision of the
ttrf especial attention. ald toreport bill which
If approved by Congress, will be a substitute fol
all aGt7 imposing custom duties and which will
render the administration Of t'.ip branch of the
revenue system more simple, economical and effee
tive. In The discharge of this duty you will con.
sder the necessity Of providing for large, Ger,
T. in and permanent revenue, keeping in view the
fact that the existing tatf hfg proved most effec
3 tive n this direction, E
You vii ereiore endeavor, first, to secure fol
the government a revenue commensurate with its
necescities; and, secondly, 10 propose such mod
ticatons of the taft laws now in force as will
better adjust and equalze the dute9 upon foreign
import with ne lnt3fna' taxes upon home pro
duct ons If tbs last result can be obtained with
out detiment f. the revenue by reducing taxation
: upon raw materials and the machinery of home
production, rather than by :ncreasinsthe rates OF
lmpor's, it would, n my opinion, by decreasing
the cost of production and Increasing the produc.
I ing power of wages greatly promote the interests
OF the whole country. In the prosecution of this
work you are authorized to call upon any officer
of the revenue for such Information as you may
require and he may be able to furnish. | am
with great respect, very truly yours,
H. MCCULLOUGH, Secretary of the Treasury.
This is what the New York Evening Post
calls step in the right direction. And 50 it
is five rightly interpret the language Of the
secretary when he declares that the object of
the proposed revision is to "render the adj
ministration of this branch of the revenue
system more simple, economical and effec-
tive" and to "better adjust and equalize the
duties on foreign imports with the internal
taxes upon home productions"
The existing tariff is complex and cumber-
some in the extreme, and it seems to have
been framed only with one object, that Of
protecting certain classes Of manufactures
Indeed the whole revenue system of the
country appears to have been adjusted with
view to the accomplishment of this object
A large revenue is collected, it is true; but the
method adopted in laying the duties and i'm
posing the taxes under which that revenue is
COLLECTED, is essentially false. The true doc
trine is to adjust such systems not merely in
such manner that the largest possible reye-
nue. shall be collected, but that the largest
possible revenue shall be collected consist
emily with the development Of all the great
industrial interests of the county -agricul-
tural, commercial and manufacturing The
fatal error heretofore affecting al our tariff
| systems has been the effort to accommodate
them to the protective theory by
means Of what is speeiously called {. ir-
cide9tal protection. Now, if the protective
theory is intrinsically wrong any system
| which embraces it, even in part, must be
wrong just to that extent. Instead, there
fore, of aiming at " incidental protection "
the object of the law-maker should be to
avoid such a schedule of duties and taxes as
will operate as a special stimulus in favor of
particular interests, or branches Of industry.
ANY such stimulus is a bounty paid to the
favored class, by the general industryof the
country, and that bounty represents, the
actual loss, in dollars and cents, inflicted on
productive industry, by. such bounties. The
adjustment of duties and taxes, is very diff
cult process One general principle how
ever, should be taken as a guide-to so resu-
late the revenue system that industry and
capital shall be left relatively, free that is to
say that industrysand capital shall not, by the
operation of the law, be forced out of naturrl
and into arbitrary channels. Hence incl
dental protection" free Lists, drawbacks on
goods, and all inventions that
tend to concentrate taxation upon particular
branches Of industry, should be carefully
avoided. AS long as we have two kinds of
excise system, the internal and the external,
it is desirable, as Mr. McCulloch suggests to
arrange the scheme of taxation in such a man
ner as to equalize or balance the duties on
imports with the taxes LEVIED on home pro-
lucts.
The present tariff and internal revenue sys-
ems are i'll balanced and are contriv9d ex-
oressly to favor few special industries at the
expense Of the many. The Post declares, and
10 doubt, with truth, that under the present
system many Of the most important
Industries are languishing, and some, such as )
are on the verge ofruin And, I
continues the Post, our foreign commerce is >
our manufacturers and skilled
aborers are no longer able, with all their in \
;enuity, to make at profit products for sale n
broad. The result of this is already seen in e
he manufacture of sewing machines for for
ign consumption, which business has in one
Instance been actually removed to France, in h
rider to escape the injuriously high duties n
evied on the raw material used in that manu- al
acture in this country. d
The ship-builders are ruined because of la
be extraordinary and unequal duties placed
u what are to them raw materials They de- :
land drawbacks upon the iron, copper, - -
ordage and duck used in ship-building )" of =,
purse they have no more right to drawbacks, -
} remission Of duty on the articles they re- =,
uire, that is to say, than have the house y
uilders, the engine builders, the railroad
uilders, the manufacturer of sewing ma
lines and mowers and reapers. b
But perhaps, the most significant example hi
all has been omitted by the Post-the i'm );
osition Of a tax of three cents per pound on
)ttOn or more than one tenth of tIa ,,1o,,+ar,s -