New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-01-26
turers might make out as good a case, if they

ment by internal taxation; we rely vi '"'
Tariff to pay the interest and steadily reduce
the principal of our Debt. We raised by Du-
ties on Imports about One Hundred and Eighty
Millions in gold last year. Can any one sup
pose that we could have raised that vast sum-
in addition to the full cost of supporting our
Federal and State Governments, paying OH
State and local bounty debts, &c, &c, ~ith-
out feeling itH If you take OIL taxes IN
one quarter, must you not increase them IN
anOtherY
IL. Mr.. Harris specifies the duty on imported
Coal as a special hardship. He says 1t pre-
vents his using Nova Scotia Coal: conse-
"quently, | am obliged to purchase my Coal
" from the Pennsylvania miners" &C., &c. OnO
Mr. Harris the Pennsylvanians have no suchmo
nopoy as you represent. Maryland abounds
in excellent Bituminous Coal, of better quail
ity than the Nova Scotia; and this is very
largely mined and is sold along the Atlantic sea-
board. The troubles in the Pennsylvania Coal
region last Summer gave the Maryland miners
chance to put up the price of their Cumber-
land Coal; but they declined to do so, and
have consequently increased their sales. And
they are ready to sell to you as cheaply as TO
any one else.
Then here is tide water Virginia, full of
choice BituminOus Coal, with cheap labor
ready to mine it-labOr that is now leaving the
State for want Of employment. For our own
part, we should prefer to pay little more Tor
Coal if we might thereby develop the mines,
employ the labor and restore the prosperity OF
Virginia, rather than buy a fraction cheaper OF
Nova Scotia.
Yet we have urged, and still urge, that, so
soon as the Revenue will bear it, Coal be adj
mitted free of duty. We presume that will
not reduce the price of Coal by fifty cents per
tun In New England, and nothing at all else
where; but Coal is so coarse and bulky sta
pie, so easily mined and so costly to move,
that taking off the duty can scarcely affect the
price, and we want to bring to the test of ex-
perence the assertions that the duty on Coal
taxes the fuel of the poor. We believe the
result will put the Free-Traders to open shame.
Ill. Mr. Harris complains that the Tariff
taxes Fine Wool, which is his chief raw ma
terial, over 100 per cent, while it protects him
on his product but As to so per cent.-sO that
he is worse off than if there were no Tariff at
all. We do not think so but we readily adj
nit that he does not have it all his own way
how could he Most of our Free-Traders (and
some of our ProtectiOnists as wel) value the
Tariff as it favors their peculiar interest; If 1t
taxes what they want to sell and admits free
whatever they would like to buy, it is all
right if not, it is all wrong. Your ship
builder wants Free Trade in shIp-buildng ma
terials, but Protection as to ships; your tailor
likes Free Cloth, but not Free Clothes; your
shoemaker wants Free Hides and Leather, but
not Free Shoes. 1t is our duty to stand up
against these selfish, short sighted views, and
insist on a Tariff that will protect all our ex-
posed and impered industries and provide
the means of paying our vast Debt In dong
so. we sometimes tread on the corns of special
interests but for that we see no help.
Mr. Harris says he pays more for his Fine
Wool than he would do in the absence OF a
Tariff: and that is doubtless true. lie says he
can buy Buenos Ayres Wool in Liverpool for
II cents gold per pound, on which our Tar1h
requires him to pay II cents per pound duty
so it will cost him at his mills rather more
than % cents per pOund-11 cents per pound
more than it would under Free Trade. When
washed and secured, the pure Wool will have
cost him at least GO cents per pound; whereas.
it would be hardly 80 under Free Trade Now.
it is plain to us as the sun at MONDAY that
this duty benefits the American wOOl-grower,
and incites him to rear more Sheep and pro-
duce more Wool than if it were taken of.
And you may talk till you are blind without
convincing the farmers that the fact is other
WISE Some of them may kill or sell their
Sheep and quit Wool growing but we have
more Sheep and grow more Wool now than we
ever did before and this we rejoice in, not
merely because We ought to grow our own
Wool, but because we judge it best that our
people should eat more Mutton and less Pork.
We wish the number of Sheep in our country
were to-day double what it is
". Mr. Harris talks as though, in his ac-
count with the Tariff, the items were all on
the wrong side of his ledger. But the fact is
not so, unless he is slandered by Commissioners
Wells, who, in his late Report, says:
The following table prepared at the request OF the
Commissioner by the house Of A. T. Stewart Co. OF
New-York shows the selling price Of certain leading
varieties Of wooden goods 1850 and 1862 respectively
1860. 1869.
Cadot clotbs Gov standard x?75 s. IS
Harris eassimeres, IA S7id so 75G 90
Cotton warp cloths, IA o.. l % % 20
Atwood cloths, Il OZ......... 10