Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-09-22

duce, is admitted at very low rate,
while the manufactured article is large
ly protected.
The manufactured woolIen goods are
taxed heavily, as have told you, but
the wool Of our Western Reserve is sub
icctrd to such sharp competition that
the farmers there have been almost
driven from the market. In every coJIll-
ty i'm Ohio the number of sheep has been
largely diminished within the last year,
and the total decrease is not less than
one million and Il half.
Well has an intelligent writer said
that our legislators have blUnderingly
discriminatedin i'm favor Of the rich against
the poor; the idle Glasses against the
labOring classes, and articles of luxury
againstarticles0 of necessity. Not blund-
CriugIy, for Governor Hayes was in Con-
. gress when this tariff was revised, and
Mr.. Sherman boasts that for ten years
he has taken part in preparing every
law on finance or taxation, and both are
going around the State congratulating
the people that they are 50 JUSTLY 50
evenly, so wisely and so lightly taxed
I do not wonder that Mr.. Sherman told
us at Canton, and told us truly, that he
never knew the difference between a
revenue and Il protective tariff.
These gentlemen, when driven on
/ these points, tell us that the poor, the
IabOring men, the farmers do not use
/ imported goods, and therefore, do not
pay these tariff duties. Tt is true, they
/ DO not use imported goods, and do not
pay these duties to the Government
/ That is one of the enOrmities of this
system. Theprice Of the domestic article
. is regulated by the tariff. The home
manufacturer fixes his price that he may
! lust undersell the foreigner. The cOnsUm-
( er pays the price, and he has the eXqUis-
ite satisfaction Of knowing that none of
! il goes into the Treasury, but all of it
/ goes into the pockets Of manufact-
urer. The COmmissiOner- of Internal
/ Revenue, Mr.. Wells, in his last report
says that the duty on lumber paid into
] the Treasury in 1858 was two million two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but
/ that it cost the people sixteen millions
! to collect it. The duties on salt yielded
! in 1867 one million of dollars, but the
price of every buShel of salt made III
/ this country was raised to the consumer
P. from twenty-threC to fOrty-eight cents
bushel.
The effect on agricultural interests
produced by this tariff, I need not Illus
tTate to an intelligent Western audi
ence. You feel it. The effect on COM
merce is stated by Commissioner Wells
to be such that il ships available for
] foreign trade, were furnished us with
out cost, we could not employ them.
I said the expenditures were Unnec-
essary and wasteful, and they were
all in the interest of dead, inactive capi-
tai. The last report of the Secretary
shows that he is boarding &lOl ,2l ,336 in
coin, and 12144, ,0G0 in currency. Why
To what rood purpose? Tho customs of
a half year are there. The people are
paying six per cent. in gold as interest
on the public debt, and the Secretary IS
boarding this immense amount. Each
month, with great parade, he sells six
or nine millions, and with the proceeds
he buys bonds, giving in the market for
them twenty-five per cent above par
: They are now redeemable. On their
b face-by the law-in equity, they are
, payable in Iegaltender notes.
] The holders 3egal-telldGrfo for tlaFDlJ
! when legal-teHder notes were worth not
= more than half what they now are, and
vet the Secretary of the Treasury insists
on paying a premium Of twenty-five
/ per cent. ] will not argue against this
question. I prefer to rely ON the au-
thority of Sherman, and Morton, and
Stevens, and EWiHgs. They say the
bonds are payable in grcenbac1s. Then
they ought to be so paid; and the people
are robbed when premium is paid. III
they are payable in gold, the Secretary
ought to pay them in gold, and not buy
up the paper Of the Government at
discount. ...- .. ....
1t is difficult to speak of this conduct
of the Secretary with the respect which
is due to his office. II costs the people,
as Mr.. Ewing has well said, more than
all the frauds Of the Whisky Ring, and
( is scarcely more honest than they.
/ Under this process of paying premium,
/ the market value of the bonds has gone
up from ten to twenty per cent, and 10.
( the Secretary eXClaims: "What a mar
/ vel of financial ability. My magic touch
/ has, in three months, raised so high the
credit of the Government" My friend,
pay off few of your notes in the same
way: then stint your family, cramV
your business, seize upon the earnings
Of your children, and insist on giving
7 to your creditors twenty-five per cent
more than your notes call for and your
credit will improve; always provided
I the public does not consider YOU a fool,
I or the probate court does not cOnsign
/ you to lunatic asylum.
] And in the midst Of transactions like
/ these we hear of large payments on ac-
count Of the public debt, and Governor
I Hayes cOngTatulates himself that in four
3
| S43, 900, 600. He says the debt, on the
1st of March, was -, 525, 900, 900, and on
/ the 1st of August was -, 4S1 900, ,0O0.-
I Why, gentlemen, every other Secretary
( thought the Pacific Railroad bonds We're
/ a part of the public debt. Chase and
/ Mccullough always included them.-
I They amount to SG4, ,O0O. 600. Add these
/ to the 81, 4S1 ,00O,0OO, and the total app
pears to be s., ,545, ,0u0, 900, or twenty mill
lions more than in March. " Figures
won't lie" may be very true saying,
( but thev can he so turned and twisted
/ that they convey to us common people,
who are not Secretaries, but only tax
/ payers, u very false impression. If the
public debt statement were made on
August l, it would show, according to
/ Mr.. Chase's rule of statement, 1862, 0O07-
600. According to Mr.. CUlloch'SplaH
-, ,5S5, ,0OO, ,O0O instead Of -, 4Sl ,O0O 900 ac-
cording to Mr.. Boutwclrs plan.
But, even according To this plan, the
statement shows an Increase Of more
than eleven millions Of dollars of bonds
which bear interest in coin. And as IL
( these causes combined were not enough
to palsy the trade and produce the stag
nation which we call "hJrd timCS,' the
( Secretary has continued the contraction
Of the currency. ON the first of Septem-
Der, 1865, the currency, consisting of
bank notes and legal-tCUdCr notes.
amounted to Sg6I ,625, ,NON. On the LIST
of September IS6S, il amounted tOS6TI,
/ l55, 600, "a contraction Of S2gn, ,O00,OOO i'm
( three years. II the reports published i'm
. the newspapers are correct, the currency
on the 1st OF September, 1869, consist
( ing of the same two items, amounted to
/ S655, 92O, 600, a still further reduction OF
SI6,OOO, 900. But the Secretary boasts
that he has reduced the three per cent.
certifiCs nearly SI2,WO, ,OOo, and the COM
/ pOund-interCst notes more than SluuOO-
/ 0OO. These were used a. the reserves of
/ the haul~. II they have been thus Te-
duced, their places are supplied with lc-
gal-tcudCr notes, and these amounts
must hC added to the ~l6OOn, ,uOO, and
thus we have a contraction this year of
. S:;S 600, 900.
Why, gentlemen, after the close of the
war i'm 1910, the country banks of Great
Britain contracted their i~oleS seven
million pounds, and the Joy produced 10y
the peace wus turned into agony by the
prospect of universal bankruptcy.
Have YOU considered what contraction
! brings with it2 Ii brings universal fail
/ of prices ofgoods and labor, while debts,
/ taxes and moueyed obligations remain
fixed. The man who ha, money be-
comes much richer, because his money
will pay for more land, more wheat,