The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-06-02
NH. MORRISVN's SPEECH.
4 MlsTERIr pRODuCTJON sUHMITIED
TO CONGRESS.
Protection thr Taxation ~ one Class Ia
uenent Another.

Now York world1
The speech OF Mr.. Morrison on his
Tariff bill IL the most mnsterIy produc-
tion submitted to the consideration OF
Congress for u long period. II is n
speech to be thought over, studied aud
preserved for references. H. IL maga-
zine Of theories and facts such ns few
men could have gathered. arranged with
rare discrimination aud simplicity. "
is telcscopic in It's ooinprehensiveness
aud microscopic IN the minutcness Of It's
details. Withnl its literary style Is
clear and forcible. und It's tone modest
/ ana unassuning
The speaker opened with n few we'll
| chosen words as to the importance Of
the reform which he proposed, and nj
tackled u protective tariff on the moral
ground that Protection was spuiiutiou,
the taxation OF one class If clizons h.
benefit another He then entered upon
u historical review oprove that the as
sertion that all prosperous countries
have built up THEN trade through sys-
tom Of Protection was Il fnlIney He
aketuhod the prosperity Of Holland aud
! the free cities Of Italy under ~ Free
Trade system. aud traced tho supremacy
of England back to her adoption of tho
same policy. Yet England. when she
began her tariff reforms In 1910, only
lowed duties on 1900 articles, while we
now levy dSiies upon nearly 1000.
American tariffs were then taken up
aud discussed with accurate brevity.
aud the growth of The present system
from March ., 1861, was closely fol
lowed. The first strong protective
measures were originally Justified ns
war necessities, bat tho iniuuity in
creased with the restoration of pence.
He denounced the present tariff unhcsi.
tntingly - nrither 4 measure for pro
lection nor for tevcnue. II was simply
a. cover for fraud and IN instrument Of
monopolisis. In illustration of It's all
surditea he gave several interesting
facts. IT n woman goes into d store to
buy II yHrJs OF calico for n dress slc
must purchase 10 G5-IOo yards for the
Treasury. II Il man wants 900 foot Of
marble he must purchase 2is feet for
tho Government. aud for every ten
yards of bunting we use we must buy
II 10 yards extra. In 1876 we imported
pD92 pounds Of blankets. from which we
received u revenue of 4si5i ~, thus pro
tccting 1O.oo0,oo pounds Of home made
blankets aud increasing their price fifty
cents n pound. The Government got
SSl5t In the transaction and the mnnu-
facturcrs Sb.oUn.0 900. In the same way
the Government. by It's curious devices
for revenue taxation, receives sl7, ,OOo, 900
annually on several leading articles.
while the actual cost to the people IL
that sum and @33o, ,0Do, 900 besides In the
way OF bounties.
The reforms which Mr.. Morrison pro
poses are simpliiicntion Of method and
reduction of rates The system Of
double duties dd faioreD, and specific is
complicated. and only ono should be np-
piled to each article The reduction OF
the levy should be gradual, and that
proposed still leaves the tariff rates very
high and incidentally protective. There
romans an average duty of thirty per
cent on cotton fabrics. twenty-five per
cent on iron and steel, and about forty
per cent on woolens. in answer to the
argument that reduction Of tariff rites
Will decrease the revenue, Mr.. Morrison
insists that the resulting increase Of i'm
poriation will tend rather 10 an Increase
Of revenue, and ho strengthens this po.
sition with examples from our own his
tory. To meet the objection that no
In the tariff should take place
during the present season of depression,
he quotes the protectionists, who in
sisted In the day Of our prosperity that
our financial success was tho best proof
of the soundncss of their system. | So |
depression should be considered u
Of its unsoundness.
In the course OF his discussion of the +
various issues involved, Mr.. Morrison /
treats the question of the influence Of u |
tariff on the wages OF labor. He ex- 7
poses the fallacy Of the theory that we |
cannot compete with tho pauper labor
Of Europe by showing how our well-paid |
agricultural labor actually does com
pete with that Of the Old World in its /
own markets. In the Same way tho
well-paid workmen of |
Great Britain compete with artisans on
The Continent and with the starving
laborers of India and China. Incident
llly also the speaker disposes Of the
error that we are not prosper
Gus II the balance OF trade be against
Us. He settles the whole subject with
III anecdote connected with tho bust
ness Of Mr.. Hooper. Of Massachusetts.
That gentleman had shipped $4,000 worth
,f goods to China. They were sold Mt
heir port Of destination for $50. 900, and
hat amount was invested in goods
which sold In Boston for 100000. The
merchants had made $92, 900 in the
operation, and yet the transaction.
'iewed from the balance Of trade stand
'oint. showed sadly against us, the ex-
,orts being only $4,000 against $4,000
If imports
This running commentary is not
designed to give synopsis Of this power
ul speech but merely to call attention
o some OF the points made, and to ex-
'ress our admiration for Mr.. Morrison's
n synopsis can do justice.