The Republican journal., 1871-09-28
How the Tariff Works.

strictions with which the tax and tariff
laws hamper American commerce. 1t
appears as though Congressional legisla-
ton was shaped for the express purpose
of fleeing and annoying shipowners and
seamen to the utmost, and that Custom
House officials have instructions to make
it serve those ends to the utmost.
The Free Trader, the organ Of the Free
Trade League, published in New York,
illustrates this by a very forcible example.
1t tells us that 4 few weeks ago ship ar
rived in Boston with full cargo of mer-
chandise and set of copper sheathing for
the purpose of covering the bottom Of the
vessel in place of the worn out copper
with which she had made the last trip.
The captain wanted to put the vessel into
dry-dock, take the copper out Of the inside
OF the ship, hire Il dozen Boston me-
chanics, and let them nail it on the outside,
and then sail out of port again with a
cargo Of Yankee notions. But when the
the hold, the Custom House officers
pounced down upon him and accused him
of smuggling, and demanded that he
should pay 45 per cent. duty in gold on
this copper, which he was importing into
the country to the great detriment of
American industry and American labor.
The captain argued that he was not i'm
porting this copper at all, chat he was on
| ly taking it from one part of his ship and
| mailing it on to another, and that, far from
interfering with American labor, he was,
on the contrary. anxious to employ Ameri-
can labor to do it, for the very reason that
Americans are supposed TO understand
the coppering of vessels better than any
| other people. But the law does not look
upon it in that light. He must pay the
duty on the copper. But the Captain
argued, l will import this copper in bond
that the law allows-and will export
it again when get my return cargo ON
| board. True, says the custom-ho use Of
ticers, that the law does allow but il you
export the copper again, You must give
good and substantial bonds that you will
furnish evidence that you have landed the
copper at the foreign port to which YOU
are going. "But in the name of common
| sense" finally eNclaims the captain, edo
you expect, that, after paying your work
| men to put this copper on the bottom Of
my ship, am going to have it all torn off
again, in order to have ii landed rs re-
| quired by your idiotic laws? No, Sir |
! am not such fool as you take me to be !"
And the irate Dutchman raised his anchor.
turned the poop of his ship and his own
back on Bunker Hill. and made all haste
! for Halifax, where he had the copper put
on his ship without any such prepostcrous
laws and still more preposterous interpre-
tations of them
The moral Of this, As deduced by the
Free Trader, is as follows; The Boston
dry dock owner lost = Job. The Boston
ship carpenters lost another Job The
vessel lost two weeks time going to Hall
fax and back again. The captain and his
agent both lost their tempers-as who
wouldn't under the circumstances and
all for what? All in order that Il comb-
! nation of about two dozen men, under the
false pretence Of protecting American
| industry and securing employment to
American labor, may continue to charge
the people Of America ~ cents pound
for the copper that they use, instead OF II
OF lG cents, which is all that it is worth,
and which is the price at which it would
be furnished were it not for the tariff of
A. per cent. in gold" This illustration of
a single feature of the tariff presents a no
more iudcrous aspect than hundreds of
others that might be and have been from
time to time laid before the public.
Contrast this with the thoughtful and
fostering care with which the English
government protects its shipping interest
Every article that enters into the construc-
ton of ship is taxed at the very lightest
rate, and the larger part of the material
not at all. All ship stores are taken out
of bond, free of all duties. Instead of
the enormous Custom House dues which
American ships have to pay, the eXactions
of the English are exceedingly light.
And hampered, loaded down and shack
led with these burdens, American ships
are expected to compete with English
vessels.
We suffer the disgrace of having to en-
ploy foreign steamers for our mail service.
The splendid ships of the Collins and
other American lines, which existed in
Democratic times, have all gone under
foreign flags. A New York paper informs
US that during the past week not less than
fourteen ocean steamers left that port for
Europe, there having been one or more
departures every day, except Sunday and
Monday, and the average being two Il
day. OF that number ten carried the
British flag and sailed for British ports,
three displayed the colors of Germany
and sailed for that country, calling ut
British ports, and one t1oated the tri-color
and sailed for France The same journal
informs us that all these vessels, except
the French, We're built and equipped in
British dock-yards. Such is the effect of
the Radical tariff on American shipbuild-
ing and American commerce. Before the
advent of the Radical party, American
dock-yards were thronged with workmen,
and from them American vessels were
launched and equipped whose sails
whitened every sea. Now, hardly ship
is built in an American backward, and
out of fourteen leading vessels leaving
New York in a week, not one carries the
stars and stripes!
If Horace Greeley don't leave off talk
mo apriculturn hut xvnSt and b,rru h,ol-