Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-12-20
rue NATIONAL rARiFT.

THE NATIONAL TARlFF.
The agitation Of the tariff question In
the Atlantic States shows that the people
there have become aroused to the fact
that they are o%utragsously taxed BY tho
opcrstions Of our national tariff. Even
Henry Ward Beechsr has taken the leo
turs Geld in opposition to the tariff sys-
tenn, which no calls "a vicious asslsm'
sr.tion." "One-third Of the wages Of
PRODUCERS" says Bsechsr. "sses to pay
vha. the tariff protects" Persons Who
have given this question careful CON
Alteration know that almost everything
vs eat and wear. almost everything that
We use to procure our feed AID clothes.
are heavily taxed. and tina, whore three
men are benefited by q high taris ninety
seven suffer by its operations.
II il urged by PROFESSIONALS that .
tariff for revenue Al least is nscssssry for
the support Of government. The propo-
sitioa IL true when applied to the present
time. because We have departed 30 far
from correct fundamental principles in
the methods employed to obtain revenues
for the support Of government that
under our present laws there 10 ne other
way Of raising them. But. according to
the arguments Of free trade advocates,
the general government should DO main
tainsd BY direct taxation. similar to the
methods employed BY our State govern.
msnts. Then, although taxation would
be more plainly seen. 1t would be much
less in amount than new. a. II has been
estimated that about thirty per cent. OF
the revenues collected BY the present
methods 20 for expenses Of collection
and In the maintenance Of custom
houses, svenue cutters. etc. And in
stead OF poor men with large families
then having to contribute the bulk OF
taxes for the maintenance OF the govern
mont. a. at present. property owners
would have to pay the amount required.
There are articles in daily use BY our
people upon which they are compelled
to psy forty per cent. more than the
same articles would cost them were IL
net for the tariff. while ct the same time
the government derives but q small sum
in the way Of duties on the articles. To
illustrate: In 1865 there were consumed
in the United States 1,C54.0 Doc tons Of
pig iron. The duty on iron then was 50
Der ton, which Of course increased the
price OF iron used just that amount.
Consumers. therefore. paid that year
Sl4,ssG. 900 more for iron than they
would have paid IL there had been no
tariff on II. OF this amount eItorted
from the people the general government
received only s7ii,3Oe. as only abOu,
ave Per cent. Of the iron used in the
country was Imported. n~inety-avs pei
cent. OF the consumption having been oil
home production. Consumers, there
fore. under the operations Of the tariff,
were robbed Of over sl4 1000. 900 for the
benefit Of . few iron producers In two
or three States. This fact 10 but n Of
many that could be cited 10 illustrate the
injustice Of . high tariff.
The fact that the tariff question Ia
likely to ssain become the principal
issue between political parties makes
the subject under discussion Of vast i'm
portsnce. and should induce those who
are Interested In the discussion Of ma
ti0nal politics to give Il their careful
consideration.