Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-10-08

price.
But we will be told that this is to pro-
/ teet American industry. Does it protect
| American industry to-impose these enor-
nous duties on tea, and coffee, and sugar,
and pepper, things which are not pro-
duced on American soil Except sugar to a
trifiing extent) ard can't be? Does it pro-
tect American labor to tax Irish linens and
other fabrics of foreign production? But
even in the case of manufactures, what
claim have the manufacturers of the East
to be built up at such enormous expense to
! usf Why do they need so much more
protection now than in 1860, when'the du-
| ties on the most protected manufactures
would average 80 per cent. less than now.
Now do not object to reasonable amount
of protection. But 1t should be merely in
cidental. The tariff should be merely suf-
fcient to raise what is needed for an
economical administration of the Govern
ment, and within this limit if you wish to
discriminate in favor OF domestic manu-
| features, to reasonable extent, l have
nothing to say. But the tariff we have
now is simply piece of extortion in the
interest of certain manufacturers in New
England. And just here you can
see one strong reason for the opposi-
| ton to the admission of Southern
members. The South. like the West, is
mainly an agricultural and producing sec
ton. Their interests in such matters would
4 w
were allowed to be represented by men
identified with the interests of their States,
they would join the West in demanding the
repeal or modification of these duties. So
it was sought to deprive thefe.pf all repre-
sentation, and when this wasA no longer
practicable, they now seek, by these recon-
struction measures, to place the elections of
the Congressional delegations of those
States in the hands of the negroes just re-
leased from slavery-who are ignorant and
who can be controlled by few adroit
managers, and made to return as members
of Congress, men from the North-who
neither know Dor care anything about the
intere SITS of their States, and who will be
under the control of Eastern capitalists, who
will thus be enabled, as the West wakes up
and sends men to Congress who will no
longer ignore the interests of their section
to overbalance their votes, and thus con-
tinue to draw from our pockets and
direct into theirs the golden stream which
now enriches them. g-.rc tal~ li5ea-J
This, then, is brief glance at the tariff.
1t is the great unseen tax-gatherer which
| is at work every time you 90 to the store,
drawing from your pockets, unawares, a
large portion of your substance. Ten
| years ago under a Democratic administra-
tion we had no such tariff Then our tea and
coffee came in free of any duty whatever,
along with many other things now taxed,
and the duties which were levied were
much lower. The highest duty known was
30 per cent. and that on short list of ar
ticles, none of them articles OF daily ne
cessity, while duties on other articles
ranged from "a per cent. downwards. --
Il Now l do not mean to say that if the
i Democratic party were placed in power
there would no longer be any duties on i'm
ports. 1t Is the most convenient mode of
j meeting the necessary expenses of the
Governments, and the one which has al
ways been in use under every party. But
do mean to say that under an econnmical
administration of the Government, such as
the Democratic party is pledged to; under
such an administration of it as they gave
4 us when last they were in power, and
which propose to refer to presently, the
} amount of these duties would be vastly re-
! duced, and the prices of articles to the peo-
pie reduced in proportion.
But the duties on imported goods are by
, no means the only taxes we pay to the
United States. A few years ago they were
the only ones. A few years ago almost the
! only U. S. officer the people knew was the
postmaster, and he was only known as
bringing to them the advantage of COM
, munication with absent friends. But now
we have grown uEamong us vast system
of taxation known as the Internal Reve-
nue., having its head in Washington in the
: person of the Commissioner. with salary
of four thousand dollars, and more power
) than any Cabinet minister formerly had
with deputy Commissioners, and Cashier,
and a Solicitor, and Clerks, and Revenue
Agents under him, and in each Congress
sional District Collector and an Assessor
of Internal Revenue, and in nearly every
county an Assistant and Collector, besides
Inspectors, and Detectives, and whisky
and tobacco Inepectors-a vast army of
officials drawing salaries from the public
purse-and for what? To collect these new
he a n yxrha at q thacp
taxes? They are various. In the first
place stamps. If you sell your farm or
: your house and lot in town, and make a
deed for it, you have to buy stamp to put
upon it, ranging in price from 80 cents up
wards, according to the value of the prop
erty; the law considerably providing that
not more than $4,000 of stamps shall ever
be required on any one deed. If you have
, occasion to borrow money or purchase
property, and in so doing give your note,
you must put stamp upon it; if to secure
Il the payment of it you give mortgage,
you must stamp it. If you receive money
to the amount of twenty dollars or up
wards, and are required to give receipt
for it, you you must affix stamp to the
receipt. If a merchant renders an ac-
count and receipts it on payment, it re-
quires stamp. If you keep an account
at bank, every check you draw requires
a stamp. And so with nearly every writ
ciety.
to be stamped. Tax is levied in this form
on many arti les of commerce. If you
have your photograph taken you will find
+ stamp on the back of it, for which, OF
course, you pay. On so common an arti-
Gle of daily use as matches, stamps are re-
. Cleveland of rather forcible argument
i NJ
ployed in one of the manufacto-
res of that city, in conversa-
8 ton with the foreman of the establishment.
The foreman was Republican, and hav-
ing heard probably an argument to that
effect fion Judge Lawrence, or some Of
his colleagues, was endeavoring to per-
suade the workman that the complaints
of the Democracy about the taxes. were
without any foundation; that the taxes did
+ not amount to much after all, as they fell
only on few who were able to pay. The
man in reply drew from his pocket box
OF matches. 81 just bought this at the
grocery" he said; ''ten years ago the price
was one cent. Now pay three cents for
!, it and there is one cent stamp upon it,
which is one-third of the price gone for
taxes" Is it only one man in thirty
in Madison county who ever buys box
of matches? Well, every time you buy a
box of matches you pay stamp tax to the
Government. F-..E
Then, again, before you can engage in al
most any business or profession, which
men follow for livelihood, you must pay
a special tax for the privilege of following
it. The lawyer, the doctor, the dentist, the
druggist, the land agent, the cattle dealer,
the photographer-all must procure Ali
cense and pay for it every year. Merchants
and dealers, besides fixed yearly sum,
must pay aper centage on sales above a
certain amount. All these taxes are di-
rectly on the industry of the country.
} Then there is the income tax. This, tits
said, only affects the rich; that all incomes
less than $1,000 are exempt. Well. it is