The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-02-08
Wushincd0Il.

Washington.
THE TARIFF QUESTION ABLY DISCUSSED BY
SENATOR COKE, or TEXAs--vIRGINIA MEN,
BEES or CONGRESS At wORK-EXrENsf0N
or NATI0NAL-BANK CHtRTERs-TUE APPOR-
TIoNuENT BILL UNDER CONSIDERATION IN
TUE HOUsE--PERsoNAL AND BRIEFS.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
! WASHINGTON, February 1.-SenafOr Coke,
Of Texas, brother OF the Messrs. Coke, oil
the Richmond bar, is one OF the strong
men Of Congress, and his speeches are al
ways full of vigorous thought. Now,
while he has not the grace Of oratory OF
Vest or Lamar. he l. as earnest as a
covenantcr, and whether you agree with
| him or not you are bound TO concede
that he Il big-brained and studious states
man. He Is taril-rciormer, however, OF
the strictcst sect, and shares with Mr.. Beck
tonight the reputation OF having eX-
hausted that side Of the tariff question.
l.. .. Washington has Just remarked to me
that the speeches OF the Texas and Ken
tucky senators referred TO are the ablcst de-
livercd on the tariff since the war. Cover
nor Coke to-day addressed the country
through the Senate for over three hours,
and even Texan pro;ectioniSts had right
TO feel proud Of the effort. In his opening
utterancc he declared in favor OF revision
Of the tariff and the reduction Of custom
duties TO n strictly revenue standard. He
said. in fact. that the present tariff is I'M
constitutional, unjust, and oppressive, and
ought not TO be tolerated by a free people.
TIIE COMMERCE OF No COUNTRY
in the world. he asserted, is 80 hampcred
and Shackled for the benefit OF the few as
: that Of this country. 4 tariff for revenue.
( he couiendcd, is necessary and cOn.titu-
tional, and the protection that follows, he
said. is merely IN incident. The present
iarin was adopted TO meet the cXigencieS
Of a >tupcndOus war, and il was never. hc
declared, designed to be permanent. The
tariff OF 1880, he said, gave an at cdi0rcm
average Of g per cent: Of 1891, | ! per cent. :
1916. 30 per cent; 1924, 81 per cent; ISIS,
/ ~ per cent. Then came the tmif OF 1882.
with the notification excitement. followed
by the compromise tariff Of 1898; chen the
tariff Of 1912. when 20 per cent. was TO he
the average. The tariff Of 1916 reduced. he
Said, duties. and that OF 1851 brought the
average down to 10 per cent. After giving
these statistics he discussed the present
tariff, which he denominatcd the temporary
war-iarin,.
IN REPLY TO NB. MORRILL,.
he said that while some protection may
have been necessary in the infant days OF
/ the republic The policies Of that period are
not applicable TO our country at present,
with it, bOundlcS> resources. ON this
point he quoted from distinguished pro-
tectionistS and leading iournaI,-British
and American. In further replying 10 Mr..
/ Morrill,. who had attributed our prosperity
10 the policy Of protection, he said OF the
4 $3.50. ,947 exports for the last fiscal year
that S729,Gj0,0lG We're agricultural pro-
duets raised by farmers. He then went on
/ 10 argue that these producers are sufferers
from the present tariff. Senator Coke
next declared that ne knew 10 politi-
cal party in this country that
advocated free trade. The division,
said he. is not between free trade and pro-
lection. but between revenue tariff with
protection as an incident, and II protective
tariI with revenue as IN incident. II oul
manufacturers, ho added, had been Injured
to the task Of taking care OF themselves.
the incidental protection afforded by q
revenue tariff would have been all they
would have needed in the eases OF 1873
After explaining 'hc frce-tradc policy OF
Great Britain. he quoted statistic, in re.
gard to the decline of the carrying trade OF
the United States, and declared that tho
farmers, who furnish almost al or cN'
ports, are yitally interested
IN BUILDING Up AMERICAN SinPriNC.
and in not being turned over 10 the tender
mercies Of foreign ship-owncrs. He eN'
planned at length international trade, and
asserted THAI the American people are 10y
hgh-talin taxation cifectually excluded
from its benefits. He next stated thai
Great Britain is our best customer for cot
ton. brcadstuns, &C.. having paid us il
1850 for 2.554, 4S9 bales of cotton, Will,
only l,7g5,33I bales were consumed in tn,
United States, and hence, ~ we close 0ul
ports against her manufactures, she stimu
hates East India, Brazil, Egypt, and heI
other customers to produce our products
80 ~ to exchange them with her. lie mex
proceeded TO reply TO the assertion OF Mr.
Morrill, that agIicuturists are compensated
Tor what they pay under the tariff by tn
home market created for their products
and comtonded that the manufacturing
States grow as much in value ~ they con
sumo. and hence leave the purely agricul
lura States out in the cold. Speaking Of
THE GREAT NUMBER or RAILROADS BUILT
since 1860. he said that the cost OF ever
mile oi these was increased 80 per cent. b.
the present tariff. He declared that il IN
South and West will go to manufacturing
AZ the Vermont Senator advises. free trad
will follow, because the present manufac
iurers would prefer TO compete with En-
rope rather than have general home compc
titiOn. He said. however, that the south
en people ought 10 manufacture their owI
; products, build up in their own localities
population to consume their agriculture
: products, and thus establish prosperit
which no competition under free trad
Z even can take from them. II we had
TARIFF TOR REVENUE ONLY