Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-02-23
Free Trade.
Addres. by Gen. Rrlnkerhorc

/ The address OF ten. r. Brinksrhoof a prominent
advocate Of Free Trade, from Mansfield. Ohio, was
listened to in the Court House on Thursday evening
| by a very select audience.
( Gen. BrinkerhOH commenced BY stating that the
subject Of debt and taxation was usually considered
the dryest fan possible subjects and perhaps it is
but still it must be for many years to come the prom
inent subject in American politics. So lOng as Gov
ernments exist, taxation most exist II we receive
the benefits Of Government, we must also bear its
burthens. With us, at present. that burtheu is IN
usually great, for the reason that the exigencies OF
ofourgreat civil war rendered necessary to accumu
late large debt, ard, therefore. that debt with its
Interests s added to the ordinary running expenses
Of the Government. The great question ofthe future
therefore is how to assess and collect taxes neces
sary to meet our current expenses and pay our debt
To do this we cannot assess our NATIONAL taxes di-
rectly upon property according to value for the reas
on that the Constitution orthe United States requires
that direct taxes shall be appOrtioned according to
population. This would be too unequal for the city
Of New York, with Onethird Of the wealth ofthe ma
tion, would not pay any more than one-thrd OF the
amount which the State of Ohio would pay. We are
therefore, thrown back upon excise and impost pow,
ers Of the Constitution. and must collect our taxes
under the Tariff and Internal Revenue Laws.
Fiee Trads Defined
Free Trade, therefore, means nothing more than
such adjustment Of the Tariff and Excise Laws as
will yield the Government its required revenue with
the least burthen and expense people The Inter
nal Revenue System he did not propose to discuss,
for the reason that the people were generally united
in the beiefthat it was cumbersome and expensive
system, and he hadno doubt that within two vears
would be wiped out with the exception Of the tax
psu furo1as IfDuors oD1 t,b,.., --.7 ...-r.-..
few stamp duties.
TIE TtViF Sysism
The first thing which strikes Us in examining, our
tarif is its magnitude, including as it does nearly
1900 articles with duties ranging from one to over
500 per cent. and averaging nearly 80 per cent IN
gold There is parallel to this in anciont or mod
eTn times. The average of European tariffs to-day.
is probably not more than ten per cent England
raises % per cont, Ofher customs revenue from six
articles, and the whole number included in her tariff
is less than 70. In Ancient Greece the average Gus
toms duties was only two per cent. and the highest
only 10 per cent. The highest duty ever known 70 a
Roman CustOme House was Isis per cent, while the
average for a thousand years was only 81 per cent
In our country, the HamitonTarf, the first we ever
had, was only Is per cent for twenty years The
highest tariff ever bad before the present was that
Of lS2S and that averaged only 4s per cent Il was
known in history az the Tariff OF
Ahominatons." The truth rs, the tariff of 1861 was
sprung upon the country without petition and with.
out discussion, and has never been acted upon Nv th
people. The questions Of the war have absorbed
public attention so that the tarl rings have had il
pretty much their oyEp~Way. But now that those
questions are substantially settled the people are
waking up 20 the subject. The main controversy
must be UPoHthe tariff. When you touch that war
oes and ten thousand ClamOTOus tongues and ten
thousand special Interests an the air with their
cries.
HUC 10 test he IujF
just bear in mind the object ola tariff viz. To rols
ect revenue for the Government In other words, e
IS taz and nothing but a tax. When you nay This
AK inquire if the Government gOis it-it gets ft ay
u it does not ifa portion sticks tu somebody's hng-
Is' on goes into the golfers of some monopoly rcsJ
assured that there is something wrong
As rule, whenever a duty is imposed upon an inn .
ported article which Is Also produced at home, il not
uy increases the prices OF the import to that extent
u 10 also equally enhances the price ofho home pro-
uct In fact this increase otpricc Is the object and
ntcnt Of the so-called protective system. Twenty
cr cent duty on lumber means an addition Of - :
cr cent. in gold to every foot Of lUmberwo consume
The census report of ISn gives the entro amount 10
ur product Of our lumber at $96,0oO000 Ne present
can airy be estimated 40 leas,sst SlAo,0OO0oo-
ultply this SUM hy "a and you have the amount Of \
aN paid aIua lumber by the people-sS00OOOOO a,
uUr. The trCasurer's receipts for the year ending =
unc So 1862 show that the Government received OF X
his vast amount only $6G6,IO, The bsanoe, SO s.,
1000 went into the pockets OF the rich owners Of Al
bclmbcr lands, q