Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-03-29

ND to January 1, 1871, of s2,62O. 100000. If
to this vast sum we add the cost OF the re-
cent war, 1t will amount to one half the
present assessed value of the entire prop
erty of the United States. And yet we
have already demonstrated that our nation
nj debt though among the largest, will be
extinguished at n much earlier day than
that, however small, of any government IN
Europe. Even our present financial difh-
Guilty is with our surplus revenue. The
problem is, what shall we do with the ex-
cess above what we want for ordinary ex-
penses and proper elimination of the pub
lie debtY The Senator conceded that the
revenue may DO safely reduced to the ex-
tent of fifty millions. That granted, the re-
naming question is one of detail.
Nobody expects the perpetual continu-
ance of the extreme duties imposed during
the war, and nobody is ready to insult the
country with the direct proposition of free
trade. The fact that heretofore we have re-
duced taxation mainly by the removal of
internal revenue duties, points out those
duties as most onerous to the people. The
lightest weight which can be imposed
through internal taxes Is felt to be more
oppressive than the heaviest tariff. The In
ternal taxes have answered great nation
al purpose, and will soon be dismissed
with the exception of those on tobacco, ci-
stamps. We shall then have parted with
one half our surplus, and have 1876, 900, 900
more than can be spared from the tariff.
In considering reductions of the tariff,
Mr.. Morrill, took the ground that it cannot
be suddenly and largely reduced upon the
great bulk of our importations. True, said
he, earnestly trying TO diminish our
expenditures, cutting Off every excrescence
possible, but still the tariff must remain
as our chief resource, and az such 1t must
be pruned by careful and tender hands.
Mr.. Morrill, said there is almost univer-
sal consent that long list of articles, pro-
ducing only inconsiderable sums of reve-
nue., and rarely produceable in our own
country, shall be transferred TO the free
list. Yet this list stops far short of what
the committee anticipated, because of the
surprising alerlness of American thrift.
Hardly an item could be proposed to be
ira nslated TO the free list before ii would
be found that somewhere in our broad
country it had home and diigent nursing,
leading to the conviction that no foundlngs
are tolerated in American trade. Yet the
free list proposed will make large addi-
ton TO that existing, and will include some
items of considerable importance, as tin in
bars or blocks, essential oils, jute, charcoal,
bleaching powders and soda ash.
Mr.. Morrill, opposed the ten per cent. re-
duction upon wool, metals and manufac-
lures. The tariff on wool, he thought, af-
ter thirty-hve per cent. of the sheep of the
country have been slaughtered, and after
four years Of continued depression and con-
tinual loss in the business of sheep raising,
might be left operative at least for one year.
On this point he said:
A vast majority of the WOODEN manufact-
urers of the country long since made peace
with the wool-growing interests. They
have had the benefit of glut in the wool
markets of the world, and the major part
of them do not unfairly seek to escape from
the pinch which the present scarcity has
brought about by throwing the burden of
this upon the wool-growers. The high
cost of cotton and the comparatively low
price of wool for the past ten years, has
created a larger permanent demand for
wool, as cotton has been extensively dis
carded for wooden clothing, and if the bust
ness of sheep husbandry in this country
sho uld be crippled or destroyed, the prices
of healthy Clothing woods would in the end
In Aa
gaiDst the interests of all branches of agri
culture, and against the interest of the
wooden manufacturer, to diminish the sup
ply Of domestic woods. To be sure the re-
duction is very slight, and the farmers are
not here to protest against it, but senators
will find them at home protesting loudly,