Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-18
What the Free Trader. Want

The following resolutions were adopted at the meeting of the Free Traders in New York last week:
 Whereas, Nearly IS years have elapsed since the tariff on imported goods, then high iy protective, WAS increased by 90 per cent, with the double object of increasing the eve nue and of compensating home manufactur- CTS for the internal revenue tax laid upon them: and
 Whereas, The war necessity for large reye- nues no longer exists, and the favored man. ufacturers have been relieved almost entirely of internal revenue taxes; and
 Whereas Under the heavy burden of tariff taxation still maintained our manufacturers in general are excluded from the markets of the world and our shipping driven from the seas, while no advantage has accrued there from to the workingmen; and
 Whereas, The enormous surplus revenue of the government is developing dangerous schemes for public plunder and causing cor ruption in the body polite; therefore
 Resolved, l. That 1t Is the imperative and immediate duty of the national government in accordance with the public declarations Of the President, the Secretary of the Treasury the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and the leaders of both parties in the Senate to reduce taxation by not less than $75, ,0O0, 900 per annum.
 2. That at least nine-tenths of this reduc- ton should be made in those duties on i'm ports which weigh down our manufacturers by making the cost of materials excessive which oppress our agricultural classes with out any compensation whatever, and which. by diverting traffic from its natural channels, at once destroy our carrying trade and cut us oil from the most profitable lines of com mercial intercourse.
 3. That this necessity admits of no delay and that it Is not necessary to wait for the re- port of commission before proceeding to general reduction of extortionate taxes and che abolition of glaring abuses.
 4. That the enormous duties now imposed on steel, increasing as they do the cost of an article of prime necessity ID all manufactures and augmenting the already oppressive bur dens on our farmers by raising the rates of railway transportation, ought especially to be reduced without waiting for a general re- form of the tariff We resent, as an insult to common sense, the pretense that the tax of 100 per cent upon steel rails Is kept ID for the benefit of the steel making workmea, who, in 1880, received, as the census shows, less than S5, ,0O0, 900 in wages, while their employers received an acknovledged profit of Sl4 ,OO0, 900, and an actual profit of $20,- nOO, GOO When less than 10 per cent. Of the price of steel rails is spent in wages, we can not be persuaded that tax of 100 per cent l is necessary to secure those wages to the workman
 5. That we cordially approve the proposi- ! ton of the Hon. 4. s. Hewitt, in the House of Representatives, for the repeal of all duties on raw materials and waste products. and the reduction of duties on ali manufactures, 50 \ that no duty, except on luxuries, shall ex- | ceed 50 per cent on the cost prlce; and we | return especial thanks to our New York Rep | resentatives, Mir. Hewitt and Mir. Cox, as well as to Senators and Representatives in | Congress from other States and from both | parties. for their untiring efforts in the same | direction.
 6. That the disastrous decline of American | shipping calls for instant attention and rem \ edy; and that no real remedy can be found | in subsidies to few favored lines but must | be sought in the abolition of tonnage taxes. | consular fees and other needless burdens, | and in the policy of free ships" for foreign | trade.
 l [. That we recognize the difficulties in the way of a complete reform of our revenue sYs- | tenn, and are opposed to violent measures but ve demand, nevertheless, that a begin | ming be made at once, and that progress be l steadily continued toward the removal oi every tax which is not needed by the govern.
 ment and does not pass into the national l treasury for the benefit of the whole people.
 8. That we earnestly ask the attention os | all men and women working for wages and all recipients of sLaal incomes to the faci that under policy pretending to have nKsi
 regard for the good of the masses, and par ticularly for the comfort of the working
 man" /" the cost of living in the United States,
 notwithstanding it's unparalleled natural xe-
 sources, has been made greater than in any other country; and that this evil Is not com
 pensated to them by any corresponding In
 crease of wages, as is clearly shown by tho
 recent investigations of the Massschusettl
 Bureau of Labor Statistics, which prove that l while wages in that highly ''protected' State
 since the beginning of an era of unpreeedent- ed industrial activity in 1878. have advanced
 on an average, less than per cent 1.-the cos
 of living to the laborers has advanced oTel
 21 per cent.
 9. That the time has come for the union
 without regard to party affiliations, of al
 citizens agreeing in these sentiments, ank
 that practical effort should be et once begul
 so to concentrate opinion in every Congres
 sional district that soundness on the question
 of tariff reform shall become the first condi
 ton for the support of a candidate in eithe'
 political party.
 Mir. G. H. Putnam moved that q resolution
 be added providing that David A. Wells and
 J. s. Moore be requested to prepare prae tical scheme for 6 revision of the tariff bassi on the customs receipts of 1881, which sha1
 simplify and reduce the present auties. plac on the free list the raw materials required bl
 manufacturers, yield an ample reysnas. an'
 indict no injury on existing Anexioan indus tries The resolutions and amendment yer ] unanimously adopted