Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-04-08

land is about el.70 per bushel, while in
Illinois. Iowa and Wisconsin the price is
about IS cents per bushel. The Canada
wheat is the only wheat that comes In COM
petition with our own. Canada being near
err New England than the wheat growing
States more than makes up the duty in the
reduced cost Of transportation. What is
true of wheat is equally true of other
grains. Therefore, the farmer has practi.
cally no protection directly and whatever
benefit he derives is indirect aud from the
home market furnished for agricultural pro
duct. Unfortunately for the farmer the
price which the surplus will bring abroad,
or the price of wheat in London or Liver
pool. At that market where the surplus
is sold, and which fixes the value Of the
whole crop, he comes in competition with
grain produced i'll the Crimca, in Hungary
and in the region of the Baltic, from fields
cultivated by what is known. in compari
son with our own, as pauper labor.
But am told we must so legislate as to
furnish home market for all our agricul-
turtl products, and this can only be done
by high tariff. Any one examining the
subject will see that our agricultural pro-
ducts increase more rapidly than our pop
ulation, so that if we do not export these
products in their natural condition we must
do so by converting them into manufactur-
ed articles and export these articles. But
this cannot be done under high tariff, for
all nations will buy manufactured products
where they are the cheapest, and the nation
selling the cheapest will control the market
This rule excludes our highly-taxed manu-
.actures made from highly-taXed materials
from the markets of the world, although
we have natl raj advantages possessed by
no other nation. Hence our exports of
manufactured products are $lO,000,000
less this last year than they were ten years
ago.
But our policy with reference to agricul-
ture has IA tendency to increase its product
rapidly. We give every man who will till
the soil, whether native or naturalized, leo
acres of land. do not condemn that poll
cy. 1t is a policy which has developed the
western portion of the country more than
any other policy which could have been de-
vised. But it is a policy the effect Of
which will be constantly to increase the
agricultural products Of the country, crea-
ting a surplus over and above the home
consumption. That surplus must have a
market somewhere, and that market will be
found prime ipally in Europe, in its natural
form, or in the shape Of flour, pork, beet,
or some other concentrated product. This
can only he done by an ad iustment of cur
industries rs will make us large exporters
Of manufactured products, which is practi-
cally impossible under our heavy taxation,
direct and indirect.
1t is said by those who defend the pres
ent aid proposed tariff that if we will wal:
long enough commodities will be cheapen-
ed. How long shall we be required to
await this happy result, when exactions
under the tariff will lie paid by the foreign
producer? Certainly not until we can
manufacture like articles cheaper than they
can be manufactured abroad. There are
instances doubtless now where the tariff
does not add to the cost of the article to
the consumer, depending upon the charac-
ter Of the production, the particular place
of production, and the relative cost of
transport sion to distant parts Of the coun-
try. But this cannot be true generally.
A striking illustration of this untrnth
may be found in the case of an article OF
large production, and the raw materials of
which are in great abundance, namely,
iron, as set forth in report made to the
House by the committee appointed to take
into consideration the cause of the decline
in American commerce. The testimony
disclosed in that report shows that it is i'm
possible for us to compete with the English
in building ships. And why? Because
the tariff, by increasing the duty on iron,
has increased its cost Now, if it has in
creased the cost of iron to the ship-builder
in this country, it has also increased its cost
to every consumer in :lis country.
THE GROWTH OF THE PRESENT TARIFF.
desire to call the attention of the COM
mittee to the growth Of the present tariff
In 1861, at the close CT the Thirty Sixth
Congress, the policy of the Gov, was
was changed by the passage of what was
called the Morrill, tariff a tariff prepared iii
the interest CT protection, and distinguished
from the tariff Of Is Is and 1857 by the inn
position of heavy duties upon articles man.
in this country, and by admitting
free of duty many raw materials used in
such manufactures. This tariff was modi-
fed twice during the year 1861, for the
purpose of increasing the revenue, but upon
leading articles remained substantially the
same until July Nth, 1862, when a thor
ough revision of the tariff Of 1861 was made.
BY this revision the tariff was increased
generally to compensate for the internal rev.
.nue tax, and upon few articles for the
OF increasing the revenue. Mr..
Stevens, in his debate, said that the princi-
pie adopted was the one that was mentioned
when the tax bill was under consideration,
namely, that the additional duty was fixed
as nearly as possible at the same rate as
taxation, except in few cases, where nee
essary TO correct errors in the present tariff.
Mr.. MORRILL,, o: Vermont, added that in
some eases a larger increase was made in
articles not manufactured in this country
for the sole purpose of increasing the reye-
nue.. The bill was generally supported by
Republicans on the ground that it was a
duty compensatlng for the tax placed upon
The manufacturers of the United States.
Mr.. Shellabarger, then a member from
Ohio, rose i'll his place and asked Mr.. NOR
RILL if there was any increase of duty over
and above the tariff Of 1861, save and ex
cept the compensating duty made necessary
by the internal tax? Mr.. MORRILL, said in
reply that "there was no increase except for
hat purpose, or for the purpose of revenue
upon articles not produced in this country"
The tax bill then passed imposed an in
crnal revenue tax of 3 pc: cent. upon all
products of domestic manufacture, except
certain specified articles, such as iron, steel,
salt, &c, upon which specific tax was i'm
posed, supposed to be equivalent to ) per
cent. tax.
In 1854, at the long session of the Thirty
Eirhth Congress, this internal revenue tax
was further increased to per cent. upon
al domestic manuiat lures for the purpose
Of inc easing the revenue and to met the
pressing exigencies of the Government at
hat time. AT the same session another tar
T bill was reported to the House by Mr..
MORRILL,, increasing the duties on all i'm
ported articles. In his synopsis of the con-
ference report, which preceded the adoption
of that tariff, Mr.. MORRILL, gave as reason
for this large increase, that under the tax
law passed that same session, every manu-
featured article in this country had been
heavily taxed, and manufacturers and the
great body of the people subjected to other
revenue taxation.
In reply to Mr.. Woop, OF New York, Mr..
MORRILL, added, that the increase of duties
under the tariff of 1864 was in consouueuce