Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-01-21
A Word to Farmers.

somewhat to their interests, and see what
policy of government will be for their ber-
eft, and what will work injure. We have
a heavy debt on our shoulders. and oar
property, the real estate of the country, in
a great measure has that debt to ray. The
heavy tariff was imposed for the ostensible
purpose of raising money from the import.
alton of foreign articles, but in many cases
the revenue has decreased from the low
tariff of 1860, and on many articles the
government receives no revenue, the tariff
amounting to prohibitory one. The
tariff has nevertheless succeeded in raising
the price of every article it was imposed
upon, doubling and even quadrupling many
articles of almost universal demand and
necessity. The high tariff then has in
many instances proved heavy burden,
and has not accomplished the desired OBJ
ject, but has been only protection" to
few at the expense of the many. The
opposition to the present high tariff is
therefore great, and is constantly increas-
ing, but as the people have the national
debt to pay, and as it is by many thought
advisable to raise money by tax on i'm
ports, rather than by directtax, it becomes
necessary to inquire, and if possible to dis
cover what the exact tariff to be imposed
for the. purpose Of revenue land. not to
protect few capitalists at the expense of
the great producing population of the
country-should be. We have read with
much interest the able report of the
Special Commission of the revenue, Hon.
David A. Wells, and find much good sound
sense in it, and many practical suggestions
and recommendations. We wish it could
be read and studied by every man in the
land, for it throws much light on what is
to many perplexing and difficult matter.
The American Free-Trade League has paid
considerable attention to this matter of
tariff, and has struck on scheme which |
it is thought will yield sufficient revenue
without" protecting" any interests at the
expense Of the masses of the people. 1t is
this:
/. To levy tariff alone on articles which
are not and cannot be produced in this
country and that hence give no unjust
bounty or protection to any domestic class
interest at the expense of the whole people, |
that are easily collected and not liable to
be evaded by smuggling; that are derived
from articles consumed in nearly equal
proportions by all classes of the people and |
in all sections of the country, and hence
bear on all alike; that do not add to the
cost of any article used directly in any i'm |
portant industry, and hence do not inter- !
fere with cheap production. 8
The tariff on the following PARTICLES
might be retained:
Lea 70 cents per pound, coffee S cents.
spices 10 cents, fruits 2 cents for dried
and 10 per Ct for green; nuts | ct. sar.
zines 81 per cent, chocolate cents per
pound; opium 81, liquorce 10 cents.
Flax and manufactures of 25 per cent.
gloves and skin $3.50 per doz., furs 25Iper
cent, silks IS per cent.
lin in blocks and pigs, tin plates or
manufactured tin rs per cent.
Ihese duties will produce according to
mr. Wells estimate based upon the revenue
OF 1868, $46,975,OOO.
fs q "There is second class of duties.
ievied on articles. of almost equally general
consumption, equally unobjectionable on
account of the articles taxed not entering
into any important branch of manufac-
lures, but levied on commodities that do
come into direct competition with domestic
productions of similar kind, and that
hence would be eminently Objectionable, as
giving bounty to the domestic producer,
were it not that this supposed bounty is in
reality offset by an internal revenue tax
now collected on the competing article at
home.
These duties are as follows;
S@,oo per H.. oo0oOU Ds......... $11 DOC, 600
Tobacco at y cts per H. 1000. 900 bs.... 100000
spirits at 500 per GALL 6500,0OO galls... 100000
" mes al % cts per gall, 100000 CALLS. 45O0OOO
sparkling Wines $500 per doz., 225000 doz l350O0O
rn. $751; 900
increase estimated for the 10 years from 1860 to 1870
gay ~ per cent."......................$63 20OOO
Probable revenue in 1S7O.............SS 7 e2o 600
.. There is third class of duties, which in
every respect corresponds to the second
Class just quoted, with the exception that
there is no internal revenue taxlevied on the
domestic product to offset the bounty
which the home producer would otherwise
derive from the import duty. There is
only one article of Importance which comes
under this description, and in order to
render duty on this article as unobiec-
tionable as any of the proceeding ones, it
will be only necessary to submit the do
mestic product to the same kind of inter-
nal revenue tax as is applied to the other
articles of the second class. This article is
sugar. There IS no reason. why the large
revenue from this article should not be
maintained, nor is there the slightest rea-
son why the domestic producer should not
be subject to an equalizing internal tax.
The income from sugars. based upon last