Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1871-05-24
Words of Soberness and Truth.

uENERAL BRlNkERHOoF ON FREE TRADE
AND PROTECTION.
A notice of some Of the principal
facts and arguments set forth by Gen.
Brinkerhoff, in bis lecture at the Court
House, on Wednesday evening, was
promised. Gen. Brinkerhoff com.
meuced by asserting the importance
of this subject TO the American people.
In it the material prosperity of the
country was involved to a greater ex-
tent than in any other polilicrl Ques.
tion now agitating the public mind
BY free-tradc was not meant the re-
moval of all duties on imports; but
the levying Of duties on strictly rev.
cnue basis The motto of the free.
trader was "Millions for revenue,
not a cent for protection In regu.
lating the tariff, the first thing to be-
done was to trace the duties levied,
and see whore they 20 to. If they 60
into the Golfers Of the government,
then the principle upon which the
tariff is based is sound and Just one
The only thing further to be observed,
is, that no more revenue is raised than
is absolutely necessary, and that the
wealth of the country be made to pay
its full proportion If the tax, or any
considerable portion of il, instead Of
going into the public treasury, goes
into the pockets of a few favored in
dividuals or classes, the principle is
unsound and unjust, and should be
abandoned at once.
Gen. Brinkerhoff asserted it as in.
controvertihly true that, as n general
rule, the duty lowed upon an imported
product enhanced the price of both
the imported commodity and the homo
product with which it came in com
petition, to the extent of the duty
levied. In proof of this, he quoted
the price Of iron in this country for a
series of years past, under both high
and low tariffs, showing that the price
had invariably gone up rs the duty
had been increased, and gone down MS
the duty bad been diminished SO,
too, Of other commodities, such as
salt, &c, TO which he referred by way
of illustration. To this rule there
were exceptions, but they were easily
explained
To show how grossly the present
tariff violated the fundamental princi-
pie upon which all tariffs ought to be
adjusted, viz: the simple purpose of
raising revenue for the government,
the speaker referred TO n few of the
taxed commodities by way ofexample
And first, lumber, which was an article
Of prime necessity, and Of which the
people of Iowa were compelled to
purchase nearly their entire supply.
The duty on lumber is 20 per cent.
al rdlorem. Taking tho census of
1860 as a basis, and allowing for a fair
rate Of increase, the annual consump-
tion of lumber in the United States
might be safely estimated at $780,
00000 But 10 avoid all cavil he
would place IL at Sl50,0OO000 A
tax of 20 per cent. on this, is 1000.
600 yearly. Official returns show
that the revenue which tho govern.
ment collects on imported lumber is
only about 100000 year. OF tho
tax levied on lumber, by the existing
tariff the people pay orc half million
OF dollars yearly to the government,
and twcnty.nine and n hall millions Of
dollars TO the owners Of lands from
which como our lumber supplies.
On pig iron - another article of
Ssimc neccssiiv--therc is a du,y OF
50 per ton. The annual consumption
Of pig iron in the Uritcd States, Is
100000 tons-tax, ls,000,00G Of
this tax only little over one million
goes into the treasury-sl7 000, 600
into the pockets of the iron masters
With bar and railroad iron it is the
samo. On three classes of iron named,
the country pays tax Of sf5O00.OOO
annually, only sj000,000 OF which
goes into the treasury. OF the other
$40, 100000 Pennsylvania gets fully
two thirds.
OF leather, the annual consumption
is 94,0O0,OOO; tax slO,0OO,OO0, Of
which the government gets two and a
half millions. Seven aud a half mil
lions goes to the account Of "protec-
ton"
Coal is taxed 1925 per ton. Gov
crnmcnt gets no revenue, because the
duty on coal is so high that it pro.
hibits importation. But the people OF
New England and other sea board
regions pay from sl2,0OO,000 to e20,-
100000 year, in consequence of the
restrictions imposed by the govern
mcnt upon the importation oil Nova
Scotia coal.
On salt the duty is is cents pei
bushel, bulk "a cents per bushel in
bags. This gives Tho Onondaga Salt
Company monopoly of the market
because the importation Of all the
grades of salt manufactured by then
is prohibited. Not a barrel Of sail
can be purchased at their salt works
for less than s2.35 per barrel yet
this same company send their salt e