Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1875-05-26
Smuggling and High Tariffs.

was unused.
Smuggling and High Tariffs.
The suggestion has been made
that if the tariff on silks were
reduced one-fourth an almost COM
plete stop would be put to the
smuggling operations which have
been carried on so extensively and
so successfully for some years past.
With a reduction in duty to the
extent named, it is thought that
the profits to be reaped from 7mug-
Cling would be so materially denim
ished as not to be commensurate,
in the estimation of smugglars,
with the risks taken and the eX-
pense including that of bribing
venue officers, necessary to be
incurred. OF course it is equally
as true of all other articles import
ed as it of silks, that the less the
tariff which is imposed, smaller is
the temptation to commit any in
fraction of the law. When the
duty goes beyond a certain point
and what that point is can be
easily ascertained with sufficient
nearness to answer all practical
purposes-dishonest men can afford
to bride revenue officers handsome
ly to pass goods duty free, and have
fair margin left. Part of this
margin is exhausted in the under
selling which is forced upon them
to enable them to realize quickly,
but the great bulk of it inures to
them as profits upon the fraudulent
transactions in which they are en-
gagged. Smuggling must be profit
able or it will not be carried on,
and the moment it ceases to offer
rich prospect, that moment it
will diminish. 1t will not be kept
up for the mere fun of the thing,
ald therefore the most effective
way to put stop to smuggling is
to make it pecuniarily unprofta-
BILE. A government which by levy
ing an unusually high tariff on any
staple article invites INSCRIPTIONS
men to connive to defraud the
revenue is not wholly free from
blame in the matter; and as a
matter Of policy it is certainly
wiser to reduce duties one-fourth,
for example, and collect all the
government charges, than to re-
tain the duties at higher figures
and lose third of the revenue by
fraud. 1t is to the interest of all
consumers and of the honest mer-
chant that the tariff be so arranged
as to leave little to be gained by
the shrewd devices and contrivan-
ces Of dishonest men. This could
be easily done with a tariff levied
for purely revenue purposes. A
tariff, pure and simple, is the best
protection the people can have
against frauds. 1t is when the
tariff is made to serve some other
purpose than that Of raising rev.
enue-when it is designed to afford
protection and is in a measure pro-
hibitive-that the temptation to
defraud the revenue becomes pow
erfui and often 'overcomes men who
are not honest from principle. The
further from simple revenue and
the nearer to absolute prohibition
q tariff is, tbs greater the incen.
tive to dishonesty, because the re.
wards which are offered are the
greater.
When the tariff is high enough tc
incite men to attempt to defraud
the revenue, the people must look
for protection to the officers whose
sworn duty IL is to enforce the laws
and to prevent their violation. II
those officers are honest, faithful
and efficient men, the public have
q reasonable assurance that the
revenues win be protected; but II