Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-06-06


still wines costing less than 40 cents
per gallon. The increase in hops is
one hundred per cent, and it Is six
ty per cent on the still wines. The
I15 per cent on the cheap wines Of
France aud Germany was consider
ed too low, and it was deemed best
BY the ways aud means committee,
to protect Ohio aud California
wines, by raising it TO 155 per cent,
aud thus compel the 100000 for
eigners who now use the former, to
change their habits or clscto pay
the difference in the price out of
their own pockets. Maccaroni and
vermicelli are also taken from the
free list and taxed 40 cents in or
der to accommodate a few dealers in
these articles who have friends on
the committee. The World closes
its article on this subject with the
following explanation Of a motion
made in the House to raise the duly
on bi-chromate OF potash:
"The richest chromate mine in
the world is in Pennsylvania. 1t IS
owned by some milliOnaires in Ma
ryland, who have bought up cYerY
wretchcd little chromate mine thai
has been opened, and thus have
gained n complete monopoly Of al
the chromate produced in the Uni
ted States. This article is the
foundation of dyes. Every fence,
house, or barn that is painted, eve
nv calico dress that is worn, has re-
quired the use of bi-chromate. The
price in England is 6 pence pound,
and the duty of 3 cents per pound
amounts to an ad valorcm duty of
25 per cent to which must be add
ed freight, packing, and charges
fran ahroad-- Rstb-o%-srr-tfTf pro
lection is not enough, and the House
in Committee of the Whole actual
ly increased the duty so per cent. on
the present rate, and made it A
cents a pound, thus openly pro
claiming TO the world in general
and the people of the United States
In particular, that the great end of
government is to tax every poor
woman wearing a calico dress, ev-
cry farmer who paints his house or
fence, in order to enrich the poor
millionaires of Maryland and Penn
sylvania, because they are so unfor-
tunate as to have the richest chro-
mate mine in the world. We con-
clude as we have begun, by saying
that from the scrOfulOus tariff-ma-
kers OF 1861 to 1874 nothing but a
leprOus offspring can be expected,
and the little leper tariff proves it."
From the above it will be seen
that our rulers are always devils
ing means by which 10 rob the peo-
pie. When the average reader sees
anything in the Congressional news
about the chromates and bi-chro-
mates, he docs not pay much atten-
ton TO it, but just such clauses
draw from the pockets of the poor
annually, many millions of dollars.
They are bled to death without
knowing it. They think that their
principle trouble grows out of To-
cal taxation, but they have been ex-
hausted under the terrible suction
of the tariff before the State coll
lector comes to them. They never
use any article of every day neces-
ity without paying duty. Salt,
leather, iron, woolens, all the uten-
sils used in the kitchen, at the
table, on the farm, are subjected to
terrific duties simply because they
are indispensable. Thousands of
articles are taxed simply for the
benefit of the manufacturer. Even
potato digging and the quarrying
of stone must be protected under
the pretence that we must foster
American skill, and protect Ameri-
can labor. Our principal tax-pay-
ing is done at the blacksmith shop,
at the dry goods store and the
grocer's, but we are followed by the
invisible United States officials
VINO nIyC uOHe their wOrK at the
sea-board, all the time and every
We pay double prices for
slate-pencils, for hair-pins, and for
a thousand articles, in the sale and
of which only few per-
sons are Interested. Often a single
company, composed of two or three
individuals, through the instru-
of the Ways and Means
Committee, can levy contributions
on 40 millions of people, S9,900,000
Of whom are in perfect ignorance of
the fact. In this way the Ways and
Means committeeman become mill
Iionnaires themselves, and the COM
panies amass wealth with Il sudden
ness that equals the stories that we
read in Arabian tales. The Ameri-
can people will never get to the
cause of all their distress
until they pay more attention to
that polypus tumor, that noiseless
that devil fish which goes
by the name of "the tariff"
IN