Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-04-15

SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL Is. 1882.
Hewitt's Tariff Reform.
Mr.. Abram S. Hewitt is one of the
most farsighted, patriotic and intelli-
gent men now in public life in this coun.
try. With the culture of ripe scholar
and the training of theorist he unites
an extensive and successful business
experience, such as few men have
had, and his equipment for q
proper discharge of congressional
duties is probably such az none Of
his colleagues can boast of, and few of
his predecessors have ever been able to
show. Mr.. Hewitt, who rarely makes
any superficial public performance, has
lately made speech on the tariff ques.
tion which has suddenly become more
generally acceptable to the public
than any deliverance on this much
mooted question for many years. The
demand for it is entirely unprecedented !;
the New York Chamber of commerce
finds in 1t such q conservation of the
view Of free traders and protectionists,
manufacturers and importers, that it
heartily endorses it and recommends its
suggestions to Congress, and there are
many intelligent people who believe that
Mr.. Hewitt has sounded the keynote for
an adjustment of the tariff dispute and
of a policy upon which the Democracy
can unite and carry the country. The
resolutions to which Mr.. Hewitt spoke
were rs follows:
First. That all raw materials, mean.
ing thereby all materials which have not
been subjected to any process Of manu-
facture, and all waste products, meaning
thereby all waste materials which are fit
only to be manufactured, and all chemi-
calls which are not produced in this coun-
try, and alcohol for use in manufactures,
shall be placed upon the free list.
Second. That SO far as possible specific
duties shall be substituted for ad valorem
duties, and that in determining such speci.
fic duties the average dutiable value of
imports during the last three years shall
which no higher rate of duty shall be i'm
pOoCu tu0u ouAu uOC000SbIy w OVMP0u.
safe for the difference in the cost of the
labor at home and abroad expended in the
production of such products. after making
portatiOn, and that the rate of duty shall
not in any case, except on luxuries, exceed
50 per cent. Of such average dutiable
value.
And in defense of such policy which
he would have Congress formulate into a
law at once he laid down and argued
with singular lucidity these PROPOSE
tions:
Legislation cannot create value, nor can
it determine the rate of wages.
The existing tariff has been as powerless
to produce the prosperity we now enjoy as
it was to prevent the depression of busi-
ness from which, happily, We emerged in
1879.
Access to the open markets of the world
for our manufactured products is essential
to the continuance Of our prosperity.
A tariff designed to produce an ade-
quate revenue on the average of years will
give all the protection which American in
dustry needs.
If We shall fail to deal with this ques-
cAoA ~" 4uu ~ OuCCS ~ 10 A00vAV0U1o GuAt
we shall soon be relegated to the condi-
tion of suffering in which We find our
selves during the trying era between 1873
and 1879.
In the elaboration of these principles
and the practical application of them to
the prevailing conditions of industry
and commerce in this country, Mr..
Hewitt has marshalled facts and woven
an argument with such clearness, skill
and cogency that even those who differ
from his conclusions will find his speech
the best text book of its day on this
branch of political economy. High tariff
men who know that the existing sched-
ule must be revised seem willing to ac-
cept his plan rather than suffer worse,
and free traders who know that the
country is not and will not be for many
years ready to abandon protective duties,
regard Mr.. Hewitt's measures as nearly
all they can now ask and get.
NowAfAafno