The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-07-13
Views of a Tariff Commissioner,

Judge Underwood, of Georgia,
one of the tariff commissioners, gave
his views as to what the commission
should do:
81 have no idea what the tariff
commission will do, nor where it
will SIT, nor when it will meet. Ny
views on the tariff question, stated
briefly, are these exactly; l am in
favor OF raising the revenue to de-
fray the expenses of the gov.
ernment economically admins
tered and to pay the public
debt within a reasonable time by
duties on the imports. The neces-
sity involves the overthrow of the
internal revenue system. In levying
duties [ am in favor of levy
ing them upon such articles
as we make and produce.
In levying the duties upon those
articles a discrimination should be
made in favor of lower duty upon
articles that are in common use by
the great majority of the people, and
higher duties upon such articles as
are usually denominated luxuries.
In adjusting the tariff free list and
a comparative free list should be
made up of articles that we neither
produce nor manufacture. In doing
all this particular attention must be
paid to the effect of any tariff upon
the agriculture, commerce and me-
chauic arts. Before any proper re-
VISION of the present tariff can be
made, the tariffs that have hereto
fore existed must be fully examined,
the amount of revenue raised
and upon what raised, and the effect
upon the prosperity of the country.
The revision of the tariff does not so
much involve any particular princi-
pie of universal application, but to a
great extent must be controlled by
the experience of a country and the
effect of previous tariffs. Underly-
ing the whole question of the revi-
sion of the tariff is "a proper adjust
ment of labor to capital. The inter-
ests and peace of the country re-
quire 1t. Generally, my views upon
the tariff may be found in the Wing
platform of 1874, as defined by Mr..
Clay himself, and in Mr.. Folks letter
to Kane, said to have been written
in July or August, 1874, and in Folks
inaugural address on the 4th of
March, 1845."
Continuing, Judge Underwood
said: "The present tariff was
adopted at a time when the national
debt was very large to meet the ex-
igencies of the country, and needs
revision, reform and reduction. AS
to how it will be done we will be
obliged to wait until we can get the
facts. We will have to go back to
the tariff eff 1916 and to the amount
of imports brought into the country,
the amount of revenue raised by that
tariff upon those imports, and all
tariffs since that date and the pres
ent tariff before we can act under
stanningly upon this question. But
you can see that L am clearly in IA
yor of a revision of the tariff. 1t
does not always follow" said
Judge Underwood, "that reduction
of the tariff on an article works the
reduction of the price. There is the
article of coffee, upon which former
ly IL don't remember under what
tariff there was duty of thirty per
cent. Coffee was put upon the free
list, and Immediately the govern
ment of Brazil imposed an extra
duty and the price remained the
same, the government of Brazil get
ting the revenue and we losing, al
though we paid the same price for
our coffee, There might be many
other illustrations given to show
what delicate thing the tariff is"