The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-06-10
MoRRIs0N's TARIFF SPEECH.

III the country ever had any mlsglvlngs as
to the ability of Mr.. Morrison, of H., chair
man of the ways and means committee in
congress, on account of the manner In which
he was assailed and moderated by the radi
cal press when assigned by Speaker Kerr to
the important position ofleader of the house,
such misgivings may be safely dismissed.
His speech In the house on the 25th ult., on
the tariff question, stamps him one of our
best informed and ables, statesmen. Never
before, is the universal admission, has the
subject, in a single speech, been so intelli
gently, ably and exhaustively handled. lis
by all odds the master.speech of the session,
on that or any other subject.
We PROPOSE as soon as relieved from the
present pressure upon our columns, TO lay
the speech before our readers. Meantime we
give brief synopsis of it, copying manly
from the ST. Louis Republican.
Mr.. Morrison showed that the present tariff
serves the purpose neither of revenue nor
protection. The treasury officers condemn
1t because the high duties 1t imposes promote
fraud and offer premium to unfaithful off.
cials; and the universal complaints from
manufacturers about the depressed condition
of their industries are refutation of its
boosted protective properties. II was iu
1864 that the protective saturnalia set in =,
when the duties were increased by the Morrill,
tariff bill from an average of 33 per cent. to-
AZ per cent. This bill was declared by its
author TO be "a temporary war measure
but, says Mr. Morrison, the war ended elev.
en- years ago, and this temporary war meas
ure is in force still" Under the circum.
stances at is difficult" he added, ito ESCAPED
the conclusion that selfish greed had much
TO do with its enactment, and no less with its
maintenance" He shows the hollow trick
of the protectionists IN laying n tariff of POI
per cent on cattle, horses and mules, on the
preface of protecting agriculture, and de.
clares that the tariff act Of 1867 was simply
an agreement between the wool.growers and
wooden manufacturers, ratified by congress,
TO increase the duty on foreign oool and
wooden fabrics. 1t added 80 TO 60 per cent TO
the duties, and, yet, woollen manufactures
langulsh, with wages lower than they were
before the war, while wool-growers receive
less for their wool than they did under the
tariff OF 1857. The next revision of the tariff
was in 1870. At the time there was a treasury
surplus Of 500, 900; and, says Mr. Merri.
son, mo one will contend that these new du-
ties, with large surplus IN the treasury,
were for any other purpose than 20 tax the
people for the benefit of those engaged in the
nickel, oil and grinds,one business The
removal of the tax on tea and coffee is de-
nounced as scheme Of the protectIonisis to
warrant the maintenance Of far more oppres.
.sive taxes on home manufactures; for while
the removal of these tea and coffee taxes took
from the revenue about s2OOOC,COO, the re.
moval of the tariff on other articles that yield
u that amount of revenue would have exempt.
ed the people from the annual payment OF
five times as much in the shape Of protection
10 manufacturers. All the tax on tea and cot.
Gee goes 10 the government bui what are
called protection duties force the people 10