The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-04-13
The AbO1mfmabIe Tax ON MnOwI.
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The following just remarks We hope
will be read by all. This subject has
been timo and again brought before the
people and it Is high time some action
should be taken. TaxeHarc all very we'll
when levied for legitimate purposes, but
when they are made to operate to the in-
Jury, and are hardship to the great ma
jority that a few ayittocrats may be
gorged from the labor ot tue many, wb
think It 10 time 10 complain. The tariff
on paper Of every description Is SO high
as to efFectaally kesp out al competition
from abroad. This Is dot only tho casa
with private enterprise, but operates
equally to the injury Of the Government.
THE Chicago Tribune, innotiDing the des-
patch giving the item of the intanffen OF
Ethe Congressional Printing Committee
to issue proposals for supplying the Gov
ernment Printing Office with sixty thou
sand reams Of paper Of an inferior quality
in order to save to the Government s4O,s
900, says: Eve can put the Printing
Committee, aud also the Co1nmitto on Re-
trcnchment on the track Of 9 method
whereby the Government may save Jovfy
times forty thousand dollars on the paper
it consumes, without reducing the quality
of any grade. The method Is very SIM
pie one 1t consists in repeating the pres
.ent duty on imported paper. This duty
lis direct tax Of twenty per cent 10 gold
on every pound Of paper consumed byth
National Government, By each Of the State
Governments, by every City and County
Government. It il a tax Of twenty per
cent. on all the books and paper used in
every free school, private school, college,
academy, and institution of learning in
the United States. 1t is tax Of twenty
per cent. on every sheet of printed paper
purchased by the people Of the States
Who receives this tax? Does the Federal
Treasury The Committee on Printing
and the Committee on Retronehment per-
haps will be surprised to learn that, not
withstanding the imposition of duty of
twenty per cent. on foreign paper, the
Treasury receives no revenue therefrom,
for the simple reason that there is no
printing paper imported, or at least so
very little that the amount Is not worth
considering, An inspection Of the reYen-
ue returns for the last thirty years will
show that the Government has not receiv.
ed twenty thousand dollars 4 year Of In
come from the duty on imported paper
The purchase of foreign paper does not
average one sheet to every hundred rcams
by the American paper
makers. They have had complete mo-
nopoly Of the entire home market for this
article for more than generation. The
present duty Is practically prohibitOry,
and therefore revenueless. In the very
nature of things it Is impossible for the
paper makers of any foreign country to
compete, seriously, for the American mar
ket, with our home paper makers. The
raw materials are mainly produced in this
country. The power used is water, which
Is certainly as cheap as steam in England
or Belgium, and the difference in labor is
fully Offset BY the cost of transportation
from Europe hither, with commissions, in
surance and storage added thereto. IF
Congress will place on the free list few
articles purchased abroad By the paper
such as bleaching powders
soda ash, felt cloth and wire gauze--the
revenue on which can readily be spared;
there would then remain no imaginable
pretext for retaining the impost On impor-
ted paper. Let Congress repeal the duty
on imported paper, and at the same time
place on the free list the items We have
named, and thenceforth the publishers,
book-makers and people of the United
States will have cheap newspapers, magai
zines and books; the circulation of news
papers will greatly increase; the sale Of
books and periodicals will be materially
enlarged; the demand for paper will be SO
snchanced as to keep all the mills fully
employed in supplying it. More work
will be furnished for printers and press
men, for type and ink-makers, and the
Government viii save round million q
year on the cost of the white paper it con-
sumes
We haye said the duty on paper is
twenty per cent But it is more than
that. Congress last July increased this
impost at least five per cent. Without'cause
petition or justification. 1t was dono in
this way: To the invoice price Of paper
is added the ocean freight, insurance;
commission dockage, storage, drayage
wrappage or boxage, and the duty is lev
led on the aggregate amount. The effect
of this mode Of levying iniposts Is to raise
the duty on paper more than Eve per cent.
so that the present impost exceeds twenty
Eve per cent, on the foreign value. And
the paper makers have added this five
per cent. toItheir prices. We denounced
this act of Congress as an outrage and
downright swindle on publishers and cons
sumers of paper in the United States.-
Not the slightest cause existed then to
Justify it, and none exists now for its re-
tentlon. It was purely arbitrary and
gratuitous imposition"
A servant girl, on leaving her place.
was accosted by her master as to her leaF-
ing. Mistress is so quick tempered that
can't live with her, said the girl, 6 WelW
said the gentleman, ssyou know it is no
sooner begun than it is over" Yes sir1"'
said the girl, 'sand no sooner over than
it is begun again"
A gentleman was promenading fash
ionable street with a bright boy at his