Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1867-09-04

fifty cents. The Federal treasury? No
a bit of it. The factory in New Eng
: land.
See these pantaloons of mine. They
cost in Germany two dollars and eighty
cents. Here they would cost ten dollars
Add to two dollars and eighty cents
for profit, exchange, freight and highel
tailorage here four dollars and twenty
cents, and it makes seven dollars, still
leaving three dollars to go to some body
Who gets this? The manufacturer.
Look at the coat have on. It cost;
in Cincinnati seven dollars. In France
CT England it would cost two dollars and
| fifty cents. Again at least a difference
of two dollars.
When in Lyons I went, for the pur.
pose of ascertaining their cost, to where
the fine French hats are made. They
cost there from one to two francs (eigh
teen to thirty-seven cents). Here simi-
lar hats cost three to five dollars.
I hold in my hand Germ n newspa-
pers streceived, and in them are price
lists for all kinds of articles-shirts,
shoes, etc. I might go on for hours to
lengthen exempli6catiOns of the rob
berries to which we are subjected by tar
if laws.
| By rObberies I do not mean taxes levi
ed, which our Government receives, as
for interest, in tea, as exemplifed in the
extract from the Commercial Advertiser,
in New York, which I will now read for
the purpose of exhibiting the distinction
between a tax levied for revenue, such as
on tea, and one levied for protection, as
in the articles l have named:
"The Cost of a Pound of Tea. It is
instructive and sometimes Profitable, as
well as curious, to examine the way in
which the cost of a commodity is piled
up between producer and consumer by
freights, handling, duties, exchange, and
commissions and profss of middle men.
Tea, for example. is sold by the grower
in China and Japan at various prices,
from about fifteen to thirty cents pound
With freights added, it is said to cost,
when laid down in any of our prineipel
seaports, an average of about fifty cents
in gold a pound for superior brands of
'chopo. Taking this as a starting point,
the additional charges before it reaches
table of the consumer are said to accu-
mulate as follows: Original cost of tea,
imported, so cents discount on eurren-
cy to pay for it, 20 cents duty in gold,
25 cents; discount on currency to make
up for the gold, Is cents contingencies,
10 cents profit of importer, y cents !;
profit of jobber, Is cents profit of re-
taller, say % cents. Total, $1,74. Of
this "a cents are comprised in three
profits, 35 cents in exchange for gold,
25 cents in duties, and 10 cents in con-
tingencies in all 81 "a, in addition to
the cost on board ships at our Wharves.
Before the war the cost would have been
about as follows Original cost, import
ed, so cents; 10 per cent, for conting-
encies, cents profit of importers,
cents profit of jobber, 6 cents; profit
to the retailer, Il cents. Total, so cts.
On tea the Government gets twenty
five cents in gold for every pound. This
is revenue. The tax is heavy-too !
heaxy-but it goes at least toward help !
ing to pay the expences of our Govern !
ment. TIE sevearest loss to the people /
in this tea tax are the losses resulting
from the use of a deprecated currency. |
That loss is part of another great /
wrong upon our people, inflicted by S.
P. Chase.
Another popularity of our present
revenue laws is the tax on whisky. Un-
der it 500, ,OO0,O 900 are levied from the
people but Uncle Sam gets only $780,
100000. Thus 100000 90 to swind-
lers. who are rewarded for cheating our
and people.
The latter two instances are both in
stance of pernicious taxation; but the
most unjust remains, after all-the tariff,
under which, as have shown, one citi-
zen in one State levies tribute upon citi-
zens of another State, Revenue is the
pretense spoliation is the real purpose.
now repeat the question: Are peo-
pie who thus use our Federal Govern
ment to feather their own nests good
members of a Federal Government? Do
they respect the rights of their sister
States These are inquiries which I
put, as one citizen of the United States,
o my fellow citizens in New England.
What do I owe them Nothing but a
oval heart to my duties as a citizen Of
he Union That they shall have. I
wish them all the success they can get
lnder free trade. What do they owe to
ne? Is it not an equal willingness on
heir part to let me be free? That they
Ieny me. There is the distinction, All
Use is sham and deception. l ask them,
Do you respect the United States Treas
Try as sacretly as I? Do you respect /
ny rights as I do yours? By that C
riterion they must be judged v
Do not, my friends, suppose that we S
Democrats stand alone in asking such C
uestions. Nol The Hungarian asks il
/ Of the German, and he has Just sue t
eeded in getting fair guarantees that in v
he Austrian Union the Germans will no S
onger spoliate the Hungarians. In Ger a
many itself the same question agitates Il
IS people. Thesmaller German States ask Il
or Guarantees that Prussia will not abuse n
he taxing power of the Union for pur- t
oses, such as New England now does in d
ur General Government. Look imme 81
lately north Of US to Canada. What P
-as and is the stumblingblock there to a e
ordial union? 1t is fear of the abuse t.
f the power which takes men and money o
ithout lol-e! u
This, then, is my accusation against u
he Republican party Of Ohio! It is
oldihg us, their fellow citizens down,
lille New England takes money from ir
ur pockets. Is this honest? W
l am a State rights Democrat to-day, h.