Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-01-28
COMMISSIONER WELLS, PRO
POS ED REDUCTION OF THE
TARIFF DUTIES
From the CINCINNATI Commercial.l

From the Cincinnati Commercial.l
That the American people are going
| to submit much longer to the enormous
rates of duty now levied upon all the
| necessaries of life that we import, We
presume there is nobody, out side the
ranks of the blindest of protectionists,
| who believes. The tax upon consumers
as we have frequently shown, is over
forty y-seven Fer cent. In gold on the
average; so that, for every pound of
tea, or coffee or sugar, for every yard of
wooden or cotton cloth, for ever pound
of iron or of salt, which we consume,
we are obliged to pay half as much
again as we should do, were trade ab-
solutely free. So long as our Govern
ment stands In need of a heavy gold
revenue, amounting to upward of one
hundred millions a year, so long do we
expect that some tariff will be laid up
on importations; but every dollar Of
such tariff levied in excess of the absO-
lutte needs of the treasury ought to come
off, and that forthwith. The idea that
the citizen who consumes say 81, GOO
worth of the necessaries of life per
year, is to go on paying 81 500 for that
thousand dollars worth year after
year, to sustain few American manu-
facturers, already rich is too preposter-
Gus to be entertained for moment,
In this view, we are glad to see that
the recommendations of Com missioner
Wells in his last report are ali in the
direction of reduction of duties, al
though we are sorry to say that, 10
some directions, he does not 90 far
enough. What his propositions are
regarding the modification Of duties
laid upon iron, leather and salt, we
have already considered let us now
louk at few other items
/. CoAL.-The present tax uDon i'm
ported coal is 81 % per tun, and the
Commissioner recommends the entire
removal of this. Upon the general
principle that coal is a necessity of life
next in Importance to food, no tax up
on 10 can be justified except upon the
most imperative necessity, like that
which justified the internal revenue
tax upon coal (of three and a half ia
six cents per tuu) during the war. This
was one of the first duties repealed and
an attempt was made to repeal the tar
iff duty at the same time, but it failed.
The only coal imported In the United
tia. This the Northeastern States
would use in large quantities at the
low rate of$4 so to s. so per tun, but
for the gold duty of 81 25 per tun,
which enhances its price fully twenty
solely for the benefit of few Pennsyl-
vania and Maryland coal corporations
all rolling In wealth, and making an
nually their hundreds of thousands
out of the profits on their practical
monopoly, By means of it, the peo-
pie of New England are prevented from
buying this necessary of life In the
natural market that lies at their door
and are taxed heavily to support--not
American industry-but the super
fluffy of monopOlists. 1t is high time
that we had reformed this abuse.
2. WOODEN GooDs.-The act of 1867
raising the tariff duty en- every de-
seriptIon of wool and wooden goods to
an unprecedented figure, has beer Of
ten exposed in our columns. Expert
ence having shown that it has been an
uumitigated curse to the country-not
even benefting the manufacturers, in
whose interest it was originally mani
Dulated aud passed through Congress
entire removal of the duties on foreign
wools, and a general reduction of the
duties on manufactured wooden fabrics
to twenty five per cent. ad UGloren5. It
is now fifty cents per pound and
thirty five per cent. dd UdLOrenI in ad-
dition. The woods excluded by the
existing tariff are not grown with us
to any considerable extent. The
American manufacturer ;s, therefore,
greatly restricted in the variety Of his
products, by the almost prohibitive
exclusion of the raw material, and
thus shut out from competing with
the foreign manufacture. which is inn
ported and used in large quantities,
notwithstanding the high tariff duties
upon wooden goods. On the basis of a
free admission of the diversified for
eign woods needed to supply a varied
manufacture, the most experienced
makers of wooden fabrics In the United
States are now agreed that prosperity
might be restored to this now greatly
depressed industry in this country.
On this basis, the cast Of domestic
wooden fabrics would be so far re-
duced as to give great relief to con-
sumers (and everybody is a consumer
and at the same time lead to an i'm
mediate large increase of consumption.
This would stimulate production in
the only healthy and natural method,
aud would create demand for dOmes-
tic woods, such as has not existed for
years.