The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-03-19
The Tariff and the Farmer.

| Auo tuc uf"Gr.
Hon. LEWIS D.. CAMPBELL made q
speech ip the Ohio Senate, on the 9th
inst, in which he expressed some of the
most glsring inequalities of the present
tariff, and properly characterized the
bill now pending before Congress as a
"bill of abominations." Mr.. CAMPBELL
was an old Wbig leader, and drew his
political inspiration from the great
champions of a protection tariff, CLAY,
WEBsTEB, EVERETT, CoRwIN and
EWING Bat he, like those giant states,
men, never desired tariff for the en-
richment of few New England manu-
facturers to the destruction of the
Western and Southern farmer. He now
believes that, whatever protection was
needed forty years ago by the manufac'
turing power then in its infancy, against
the overpo wering capital of their Eu-
ropean competitors, is no longer re-
quired. at that time he favored tenn
poraIy protection duties, on the assur
ance that the manufacturers Ysnld soon
grow st!ong and be able to move with
out them, furnishing to the taxed con
SINNERS cheaper and better articles
Nearly half century has elapsed, and
yet this infant is weaker in the knee;
than at first, and in its greed bawls aud
begs more lustily than ever for higher
duties and more exorbitant taxes upon
the great consuming and laboring
classes of society: And at the same
tine, it evinces a willingness, if not O
desire, to crush, by onerous taxes and
partial legislation for its support, the
great agricultural interests of the coun.
try.
Mr.. CAMPBELL turns to the bill now
pending in Congress, introduced by Mr.
SCHENCK, and declares that it is more
odious in all its features than any bill
that has ever been introduced since the
Organization of the Government. He
says:
Without designing to make an elab-
crate and detailed exposition of its
many oppressive and unjust features, l
will present only few specimens which
bear upon the great industrial interest
of agriculture.
On page eight we find it proposes on
flannels, blankets, knit goods, hats, &c,
(articles of prime necessity, to the
farmer a specific duty on such as are
valued at ereighty cents per pound,
of fifty cents per pound, "and in addi-
ton to said rate of duty thirty-fivo per
centum ad ralorem," thus taxiog the
farmers blankets, hats, &c, ninety per
cent.
On clothing, wearing apparel, &c, a
specific duty Of fifty cents per pound,
aud in addition forty per cent. al Ualo-
rem,-equivalent TO at least eighty per
cent.
Ga trace chaius, halter chains, &c, a
duty If from two aud half TO five cents
per pound.
On cabinet wares, cabinet and house
furniture, &c, forty per cent. ad rato-
| rem.
Ga carriages, wagons and vehicles OF
every description, thirty-tive per cent.
dd UGl0rem.
The oppressively high duties imposed
| by the old tariff upon salt and various
other articles the farmer consumes re-
main unchanged. The products of the
farm, such as wheat, barley, &c, are
left with the insignificant and low du-
ties of the old law-abOut ten per cent,
But, Mr.. President, we are told by
gentlemen that while it is necessary to
tax the farmer with these enormous
duties on articles he necessarily con.
sumes in the pursuit of his vocation for
the protection of the manufacturer,
similar duties for his protection are un-
necessary. We are told that farm pro-
ducts will not be Imported from abroad,
whether the duty on them be high OF
low. will expose the fallacy Of this
| theory with the facts of the case. aud
at the same time expose a still more
odious feature Of the Schsnek bill, viz :
that it is most abominable specimen
of partial class legislation-which dis
eliminates against the farmer for the
benefit of the manufacturer.
refer to the Congressional document
known as Commercial Relations" To
! illustrate, let US take the article of bar.
ey, which has become a staple farm
| product in many parts of Ohio. The
ScheLck bill leaves the farmer with the
o.d duty of fifteen cents per bushel, ,
which is ten per cent. or les; yet on
page twenty-one of his bill he gives to
the manufacture of barley three times
that protection by providing on malt
| thirty per centum dd rdlOrem." In the
item Immediately following in this bill,
he provides that apples, other fruits
and vegetables, &c, shall have the
enormous protection Of ten per centum
dd ralOrem. When and where my Illus
trious Representative learned that it
was Just to give the brewer a protec-
tion of thirty per cent. on his malt, and
the farmer only ten per cent. on his bar.
ley, from which the malt is made, and
on his apples, &c, know not:
The list of importations of farm tro.
ducts from the British Dominions is
very lengthy, ard produce only few
items which come to US under these low
duties, to supply the market to which
our own farmers are justly entitled:
Apples. bbls. s,9it
Bntter lbs. ,029, I2I
Barley, bush 3, 7S7, &c:
| Cattle. head. .......... 1881
| Epps doz S05, ,O5,
| HoIses, head. colt
oats, bush. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 7Os, ,99C
Potatoes, bush. 35,77I
Sheen and Lambs, head l3l, ,56e
| swine head .....-........... l5,i5s
Wheat, bush E4s5, "a.
Mr.. President, it would consume toe
much time to expose in detail all the
Objectionable points of this Sehenck