Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-09-03

Congress that there should be no in
.redse OF taxation but that there should
be such a cutting down of expenditures
- that the revenues might meet the
demands of the Treasury; and in that
spirit Congress went to work and re-
tiuced expenses at every point at which
there could be reduction-a large re-
ductiOn in the army. in the navy and
in the expenditures in relation to the
public buildings throughout the coun-
try-an aggregate reduction in the esti-
mates for the present fiscal year of
twenty-siX millions of dollars. By a
rigid economy We got through with
the fiscal year ending lhe first of July
last, with surplus of 81, 100000 The
cutting down of the taxes may have
been wisdom; yet doubt the wisdom
OF the reduction to the extent the Con-
gress of 1872 went. 1t leaves US but g
bare margin with which to get through.
HOW THE INTERNAL TAXES ARE LAID.
But it was not in relation to the state
of the finances that proposed tospeak
but of the manner in which, by the
lenactments of the Republican party,
we are c. lllecting the revenues. Be-
cause it is to this matter that the peo-
pie will look with interest in the COM
ing election. 1t is by this, to great
extent, that the Republican party will
be tried in the coming canvass.
AMOUNT OF REVENUE NEEDED.
Revenues amounting to near three
hundred millions per annum are ne
cessity, and will be until we largely re-
duce our public debt. No matter what
we may say now as TO Tie amount of
that public debt nri-i ally, or as to
how it was incnrred. | know gentle
men may stand up in Congress now
leen hundred millions more of public
debt than there was any necessity for
Iincurring. Senator Jones, of Nevada,
in a speech delivered in the Senate du-
ring last winter "a Republican, decla-
red that in his beliefthe country might
have gone on the markets of the world
and have borrowed money and have
got through with the great struggle at
much less cost; but, gentlemen, ten
or twelve years ago was poor time for
the Government to borrow money, and
the party in power then were compell-
ed to do the best they could in the ext
gencies that surrounded them. And l
have never yet heard any man COM
plain of Abraham Lincoln, of Stanton,
of Chase, or of Seward, who were the
men that at that time controlled not
only the money-getting but the money
spending of the Government. have
never heard them complained Of-or
either of them-as to honesty, as to in
tegrity, and as to faithfulness TO the
Constitution and laws of the country.
We did under the circumstances the
best in the power of the people to do;
and We were left with this enormous
debt that still remains against the peo-
pie of this Government. More than
| two thousand one hundred millions of
debt the people of this Government
must provide for, and provide for the
paying of the interest on the debt, to-
gether with the ordinary and other ex-
traordinary expenses of the Govern
ment. One hundred millions, in round
numbers, is collected through various
sources from internal revenue taxation.
FORM oFINTERNAL TAXES.
These are from tax upon liquors,
upon tobacco, and upon banks and
bankers. A tax upon spirits by the
gallon, tax upon retail and wholesale
dealers; a tax on manufacturers of to.
bacco; tax on banks and bankers
comprise all the taxes paid by the peo.
pie of the sixteenth District in the
matter of internal revenue-and this is
measure of the Republican party
this system of taxation that in 10y
judgment falls as lightly on the people
of ihe country as any system of Taxa
ton that could be devised, and SyS.
tenn that the people OF this district dc
not desire to see changed--a system by
which near one hundred thousand dol.
lars per annum is collected from thi:
district-a system by which the labor.
ing man, the farmer, the mechanic, is
scarcely touched in his. means save in
the use of liquors and tobacco, volun
tary contribution that gentlemen make
to the Government of the United States
at their will. In this direction, re-
peat, we gain hundred millions an
nually.
THE TARIFF DUTIES AND PROTECTION
OF HOME INDUSTRIES.
And then in the matter of custom:
duties, the remaining two hundred
millions is gained; and upon this prop
esition the people of this district take 6
Igreater and deeper interest than in any
other question, in my judgment, tha
will come before the present or any sue
ceeding Congress in the next ten years
There are customs duties levied upor
productions and manufactures of for
eien countries coming in competition
with home productions and manutac
lures that afford to great extent pro
lection to American industry; and ir
the matter of protection to American
industry, the people of the Sixteenth
District, l presume, are more nearly
interested than in any other of tht
questions that may come before Con
gress. Take, for instance, the produc
tion and the manufacture of iron, which
has done more for the people of the dis
trict in the last ten years than any 9th
er form of industry that has sprung ul
amongst you. 1t has made this town
! of Bellaire what it is. 1t has dOn'
much towards building up the town
up the river-Steubenville, and tn,
other towns in the district oD the rive
border.
DEMOCRACY HOSTILE TO HOME INDUS
> TRIES.
. And yet we find party almost will
, a solid vote in Congress ready at a0.
time and at all times, to strike dowr
j the protection afforded to the Americai
!, manufacturer. And that contest will
, come in Congress sooner or later.
. THE TEN PER CENT REDUCTION.
! Two years ago, the Forty-secont
, Congress, yielding to the clamor tina
was raised at the time of the reduction
,, of taxes, struck down your tariff ten pc
, cent; and that affected every iron man
: ufacturer, every producer of glass, anc
/ every citizen OF the Sixteenth District
: to great extent.
: NEED OF PROTECTION.
Why, the people of the West ant
South to-day are more directly inter
ested in protection than any other sec
: tion of the American Union. 1t was