The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-01-31

the community, which can not be
said OF the other measures, involving
partisan politics, which have been
under consideration. :.
It will be remembered that prodl-
giousl- high protective tariff bill pass,
ed the House last Summer, but failed
to be acted upon in the Senate We
protested against it at the time, and
hoped that this bantling of Messrs.
Morrill,. Stevens & Co., would prove
to be still born, and so be quietly bu-
ried and forgotten. But a perusal OF
the bill just reported IN the Senate
shows that the brat is still alive and
kicking. So far from seeking to re-
duce the burden of taxation, the Sen
ate Finance Committee seem to have
entered into an alliance with the
manufacturers to pile up the tarlH
yet higher. Even where the House
bill made reduction, as In the case
of tea and coffee, this bill doggedIy
puts back the tax to the old rates OF
twenty-five cents per pound on tea,
and five cents on coffee.
The one great evil under which the
American people now groan is an all
pervading system of high prices, and
it is lust as plain as that two and two
make four, that high tariffs and heavy
internal taxes are the chief causes
that swell the cost of most staple COM
modities. Especially is this true IN
the case of manufactured articles so
largely and so necessarily imported
from abroad. According to the report
of the special Commissioner of the
Revenue, the present average rate OF
duty imposed by the tariff of 1864
amounts to 49, per cent. on the value
of the articles and this is estimated
in gold, exclusive of any premium to
represent the currency expansion.
Yet it is proposed to greatly increase
this per centage of tax, and to impose
duties of which the following are a
sample. We quote five leading arti-
cles of consumption, with the duties
| charged on them by the tariff of 1861,
| 1864, (now in force), and the proposed
tariff of 1867, respectively:
BAR IRON.
Tariff Of 1851 %, 80 20 per tnn.
Proposed e It tariff Of is67s28 to s39 per tun
EnT- ~rFf srge. CUTLERY.
Tariff Of 1861 per cent. ad VAL
Proposed tariff Of 1867. ........,...55 per cent.
p s. fsllG s.Geaots. TEA la.
Tariff of 1861. .......s...!@..l5centSp per pound.
/ Present tariff .....s.. ,s....25 cents per pound.
Proposed tariff of 1867. 20 cents per pound.
f .oI BROWN SUGAR. 81 -H3J IL
Tariff of 1S6l..................a cent per pound.
Proposed tariff of 1861. scents per pound.
WOODEN GOODS. tfs-
Tariff of lS6l...18c per lb. and 80 p. C. ad val.
Present tariff. 24c per Id. and 40 p. c. ad val.
Proposed tariff OF 1867
45c per Id. and 35 p. c. ad val.
The last named tax is especially
outrageous, since it amounts to duty
of from fifty to one hundred per cent.
/ according to quality of goods on the
value of q necessary staple in univer-
sal use.
Concerning this wool business, we
learn two or three very significant
facts from Commissioner Wells recent
report. The association of manufac-
turers of American wooden goods
came before the commission, and de-
manded for every cent of duty i'm
posed on wool, o. e., the raw material,
four cents per pound should be levied
on manufactured woolens. Nothing
less,' said this modest association,
than a specific duty of fifty three
cents per pound on such manufac-
lures will be sufficient to place the
manufacturer in the same position as
if he had his rlw material off duty--a
position t0hich he mast demand as an
imperative necessity for the preservation
Of has industry.
These gentlemen who thus placed
themselves in the imperative mood, it
| appears, got all they wanted from the
] Congressional committee, and little
more. Mr. Wells tells us that admis-
sions were made to him by represen-
tatives Of many of the producing in
terests of the country likely to be af-
| fected by this bill, that the rates of
duty imposed by it are higher than
| are necessary for the adequate protec-
ton of their interests" He further
/ shows to what a severe extent these
disinterested persons are about to pull
the wool over the eyes Of the Ameri-
can people, in the following calcula-
| ton, based upon the duty proposed in
the bill on foreign woolens imported
Assuming the present rate of duty
| upon uHNdSHeu WOOL VI SIX Genus per
pound, the present annual tax for the
protection of this interest is, there
fore, $36,000,000 But at the proposed
rate, assuming eleven and half cents
as the minimum, this tax will be
further increased to the amount of
$32, 100000; or, in other words, the
proposed tariff on wool and woolens
will tax the community Gf it should
have the effect sought by those who
, propose it), to the extent of serenity
one millions .ta0o hundred and ffiu
) thousand dollars per annum. for the
protection of our interest, the whole
annual value Of whose product can
not be considered in excess of thirty
, | civ millions nf dcllarS On /