Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-04-13
none Of the requirements Of a sound


fiscal policy.
So far the committees proposal
now for that of Messrs. Powers Il |
Weightman. Down to this point |
we have derived very large por
ton of our argument from the ma
terials furnished by their paper, but |
when they come to make their coun-
ter proposition we part company
with them entirely. Their proposal
is based on the extreme protection
principle, that which would exclude
all foreign competition. 1t is that
First-If the proposed duty on
crude quicksilver of 10 per cent. be
adopted, then the duty on mercurial
preparations should be % to 80 per
cent.
Second-If mercury continues to
be free, the duty ON mercurial prep
arations should be 20 per cent. as it
is now except in the case of calomel,
which is 30 per cent.
Some important considerations
must be brought up for considera-
ton before we can assent to these
propositions, of which we will first
consider the second, which is the
arrangement now in force. We
must here call attention to the fact
tnat the rate of duty imposed upon
an article is very far from expressing
the difference in price between the
domestic and imported manufacture
Thus with duty of 80 per cent, if
the duty were the limit of difference.
pound of American calomel sell
ing here for 81 90, a pound of Eng
fish would sell for 81 80, instead of
which it fetches 81 20 where the
American sells for 81 90. The ex-
penses of importation, the number
of hands it passes through, the diff
ference in exchange, the expenses
of re- packing, ETC., etc, will account
for the excess. Now it is evident
that but for one consideration this
difference would amount to prOhi-
bition; the consideration is that for
some reason the English calcmel is
in higher esteem than the Ameri-
can. Both, for instance, are sold to
doctors, but those who have judg-
ment in drugs prefer to give 81 90
for an English article rather than so
cents for the American. Now, we
are not in favor of prohibition in
the case of any commodity except
those which are used exclusively
for immoral purposes, such as opium
prepared for smoking, and obscene
pictures and literature. For all
other articles we prefer competition,
which is set aside by both measures,
that proposed by the committee and
the counter proposition of Messrs.
p. & w. The former precludes
competition by crushing the home
producer, the latter by excluding
the foreign competitor. We would
therefore prefer to both measures
quicksilver free and low duty on
preparations of it, say 10 per cent.
ad valorem. This would admit for
eign preparations at rate allowing
fair competition between them and
those of home production, and so
produce a revenue, while the tax on
imported quicksilver would benefit
no one except the miners, who seem
to work their quicksilver mines at
profit without it.
Since the above was written we
have examined the bill as intro
duced into the House by Mr.. Wood,
Chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee; this wereceived through
the courtesy of our distinguished
representative, the Hon. John F.
House. Our observations as given
above were grounded on what we
had learned of the measure in an
earlier stage of its preparation, and
we are glad to find that it is mOdi-
fed in some of the features which
we have pointed out as ObjectiOna-
bic, and, among others, that no duty
is charged on imported quicksilver
or on cinchona banks. This will
render it unnecessary for us to carry
our structures any further as relates
| to opium and cinchona banks. We
are happy to find these features
altered, as we are anxious to give
our full support to the new tariff
bill. We still think, however, that
the crude opium is taxed too high,
and also the salts and preparations
derived from cinchOna barks.