The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-10-30
" bring erder GU, Of chaos than any one man


bring order GU; Of chaos than any one man
!. in the United States"
The democrats at Cinclunati took General
Garfield at his word and cut Nr. David 4
, Wells on their Platform Committee. Mr.. Da
yid 4. Wells row states whit he meant by the
plank which he prepared for the Cincinnati
platform, and General Garfield by his own
words ana acts IN Congress and by HIS accept
aucc OF the compliment paid him in conse
qucncc of those acts and words by the Golden
Cmb Of Great Britain, stands bound to keep
his place on that plank by he side Of Mr. Da.
yld \. Wells, the one man more fitted in his
Judgment to bring financial order out Of a tar
III chaos than any other man in the United
! Statcs,--N J. WorH.
! TARIFF FOR RErENUE ONLY.
! The undersigned, having been requested
! from various sources to explain what they nm.
dcrstood by "A Tariff for Revenue Only,"
submit the following statement
! Flrst--A tariff for revenue does not mean
free trade for under the present system Of de.
irving from duties on imports large proper.
=, ton of the revenue necessary 10 dcIay the
large expenditure Of the national Government
n tariff for revenue necessarily means com
parativcly and absolutely high tariff, and one
! that IN all conscience ought to satisfy any rca-
sOnaDle demands for projection.
! SecOnd-A tariff for revenue does not mean
/ Il further continuance Of high taxation i'm
posed originally and solely to meet the ext.
gcnCics of Il great war in time OF peace, when
all necessary for such taxation has happily
passed away.
Ihird-It does not mean the further cOutinu-
anCe o! n mixed system of duties, somuCh spec
llcally per pound per yard, per gallon, or per
bushCl, aMd then, in addition, so much al val
n pr,li off
crs-Can readily tell what such duties amount
To in the aggregate, They were intentionally
made complicated To prevent knowledge; they
afford constant temptation on the part .: i'm
porters 10 deceive, aud on the part of officials
10 abuse their trust. such duties ought TO be
rcpugnaut 10 the whole moral sense of our PEG.
Pile Such duties, furthermore, act a. prohibit
tors Of imports, aud so dry mp commerce, in.
crease enormously the cost Of commodities to
the people, and prevent the Treasury from ob.
tanning revenue.
In support of these statements take the fol
lowing illustration and proof: In 1879 50 we
imported S33 800 600 worth of WOODEN Goods
in this vast amount only S'j,039 IN value rep
resent imports of blankets, and the people of
the United States use annually blankets To- the
value of S2O00OGO0 Now the reason why
only $4,000 worth of blankets were imported
in lS19-S0 is that on the commonest, cheape,t
class OF blankets, such as the poor man only
can buy and must have, that the miner the
traveller, the employees on our raj roads ca
mails, FORCES, and furnaces generally buy and
use such blankets cost 80 cents per pound in
Europe, the duty Is 20 cents per pound and 80
per cent ad valOrcm. Now, how many per
sons know how much these mixed duties
amount to? They amount to 100 per cent
How many persons, when the facts are eX.
plalned, would cOunteDance such an Outan ont
steal? How many members of Congress would
ever be returned by their constituents if they
voted aye on q plain and simple proposition
to tax an essential article Of consumption to
our poor 70 such a degree: In 1878 8 the du.
ties on blankets were so heavy that almost
none were imported; lhe Treasury deriving
from our imports the ptiiul sum Of 81 ,233S3
while the people were no doubt unnecessarily
taxed over and above what the blanket mills
could require for protection, several millions
OF dollars A tariff for revenue only LAS will
he seen by the classification hereafter submit
ted of 40 per cent. would give some revenue
from tais source to the Treasury and still pro
teCt the domestic manufacturer.
Again, worsted yarns, which cost IN Eng
land 81 cents, are charged with duty of 20
cents per pound and 30 per cent. al valorcm,
equal to over 99la per cent The consequence
was that, in 1879, we imported and consumed
exactly SH worth in value and the Treasury
received just $3.50 in revenue Worsted yarn,
costing in England 40 cents, is subject to du-
ty OF 80 cents per pound and 30 per cent al
valorem, or equal to 9G15 per cent. In 1879
we imported exactly SOB worth Of such the
treasury received IN revenue S9943
Certainly no one will dispute this demon
stration, that ii the above products were sub
jected to duty of 40 per cent. al vaorem, the
Treasury would receive more revenue and
therefore diminish the necessity for taxing
other things in order to secure revenue. A tar
III for revenue, therefore, means giving the
Treasury something and taking load of taxa
ton off the shoulders of the masses of the peO
pie.
Fourth-A tariff for revenue only means
simplifcation Of our tax laws more receipts
INTO the national Treasury, the lifting of a load
of not less than several hundred millions of
direct and Indirect taxes from the people, and
at the same time lnsurng a continuance OF
protection to domestic manufactures, a degree
of protection greater than was ever granted
under any tariff enacted from the foundation
of the Government up to 1861. 81
The main object is to eliminate from the tar.
If those unwarrantabe duties that prohibit
importations, strange commerce. increase the
cost of living and production in the United
States, and all for the benefit of comparative
ly few individuals. DAVID a. WELLS,
J. 5. MOORE
New York, Oct Is, 1890.