The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-10-06
Tht 91ailg Atsns.
Continued from I'd page. J

Continued from I'd page
4 national taxes, and local authorities ought
to ascertain land they would surely be
able to ascertain) the net income of every
person within their limits and, taxing
this income certain fraction Tor local
purposes, then report it to the state
for another fraction OF state taxa
ton; and then the state, reporting
incomes TO the nation, would be the medl-
UNI, through its local officers, OF collecting
the third fraction for national purposes.
Under this plan, one set OF local officers
could gather all three kinds of taxes at one
time In the cheapest possible way; GUS
tom houses and national internal revenue
offices, with all their political abuses and
pecunary corruptions, could be abolished ;
it would make no difference where the
property was located. whether in one $
own state or elsewhere, or whence the in
come was drawn, whether from commodi-
ties or services or credits,-a mans domi-
Gil would mark the place of his taxation,
and he would be taxed throughout exact
" ia proportion to-his income. The more
you think about this scheme the better
YOU will like it, and the fewer objections
and more excellencies you will see in it !;
but have no expectation of seeing it
adopted in my day, because habits and
prejudces are against it, political parties
could make nothing out of it, and person
al Acknowledgements would have no chance
| in connection with it. The towns, coun-
ties, and states, will probably continue to
raise their taxes on real estate aud cor
porations and the nation will long con-
tinue to raise its revenue by excise and
by tariff.
| PROTECTIVE TARIFFS DOOMED.
But protective tariffs, so-called, will
doubtless pass off from our statute books,
as they have already passed out of the
laws of Great Britain. Belgium, and
largely also of France, because they are
monstrously unjust; because by raising
the price OF the corresponding domestic
article as well as Of the foreign article tax
ed, they make the people pay in ostenslble
taxes a great deal more than the govern
ment gets; because, since all foreign trade
is an exchange of commodities, just 80
far as protective tariff keeps foreign
goods out, it keeps in of necessity domes-
tic goods that would gladly go out, and
thus domestic producers lose their best
and freely chosen market because there
is no general gain in taking money out of
one set of pockets in the mostly vain hope
of transferring it to another set of pockets;
because, so soon rs the system becomes
general, even manufacturers, who have
to buy protected" materials, soon have
to pay more protection than they get; and
because, just SO far as the importables are
raised in value by protective tariff taxes,
the exportables are depressed in value,
thus throwing the vast losses Of the system
upon those who grow the exportables.
PROTECTION IS PURE LOSS TO FARMERS.
No man in his senses can pretend that
protective tariff taxes are direct benefit
to farmers, since these taxes can not in
crease the number of mouths that eat the
farmers produce, and since we do not i'm
port agricultural produce to any great ex-
tent to be raised in prices by these taxes
50 that our farmers can sell their produce
for more. On the other hand, it is per
fectly plain that these taxes cause an enor-
nous loss to farmers, because they grow
the exportables that are necessarily de-
pressed in value by just so much as the
importables are enhanced in value by these
taxes. According to the Bureau of stats.
tics, this country exported in 1873, $649,
1872, 563. OF this immense sum, $449, 32S,-
500, or more than two-thirds of the whole,
was in strictly agricultural products. What
we export buys all we Import; most that
we export is farmers produce but SO far
as the imports are burdened with protec-
tive taxes, the farmers exports are lessen
ed in value, that is to say, they will not go
so far, they will not buy so much. The
farmer has to give more of his grain, his
hams, his pork, his lard in order to get
what he wants in return. 1t makes no diff
ference that others come in to help him
make his exchange, He is the real ex-
changer. These middemen pay him less
for his produce than they would otherwise
gladly pay him. His exports suffer loss
in price equal to the gain in price caused
by the protective taxes
ITO be continued