The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-03-09

NIL hbhhbD' 'hO"'b'
mnntnl policy and has been maintained In
def rnce W every principle ~ Justice. Sen
Muf Coke, in giyIng n historical resume NJ
tariff duties, states that iu liNl, when tie
first tariff law WIS Iasqrd. the average nl
ulurou duty WIS only "a per cent, and
this duty was levied 10 give our infant In.
dusirics start, subsequently duties we're
raised 10 an average OF per cent, aud In
l7J2 TO l3l per cent. In 1910 the average
rate Of duties was 20 per cent In 1921 the
average was ~ per cent, and under the act
NJ 1898, Just forty years after the first tarill
law had administered IN nlimont Of ~ per
cent. as n purely temporary expedicnt to
our "iniant industries" tho rations of tRat
"iniant" were increased to an average OF
II per cent. In 1888 the compromise tariff
bill went into effect, gradually reduced TIE
duties until 1912, when they were not to eX-
coed 20 per cent, and in 1867 the duties
were only 10 per cent. Mr., Coke says;
From 1916 until 1861, when the first of the
series of acts raising ultimately impost du-
ties to the present high protective average
of 10 per cent, known as the Morril tariff,
was passed, a period Of sixteen or seventeen
years, is the only period in the history of
our government when we had a strictly
revenue tariff. 1t is the only period when
high protection has not prevailed, when "in-
FAINT industries" have not been fed with
government bOunties, except that incidental
protection which of necessity follows reve-
nue. tariff During this period two great
facts were demonstrated to be true: First,
that protection is not necessary to a healthy
growth of manufacturing industries; and
second, that low duties produce greater
revenue for the government than high pro-
tective rates. While manufacturers did not
become enormously rCh as before and
since under high protection, they were
prosperous, their business was'healthy, and
their progress solid, as the history OF that
time abundantly shows
The cry for protecting bounties from the
government in these sixteen years, after the
"infant industries" had been gradually
weaned off from the public teat was hushed
in the presence of the palpable and notorl-
Gus fact that the country has never been
more prosperous, that the manufacturing
interest had never rested on more solid
basis, and revenues for the government had
never been more abundant. A more COM
plete refulation of the sophistry on which
for nearly seventy.tiye years the people of
this country had been taxed to build up and
enrich manufacturing class could dot be
desired than this simple recital of well-au-
thenticated facts. But the civil war came,
great revenues were needed, the country
navIes, and how to raise the immense reye-
nues necessary to maintain them. Here
was the opportunity to increase tariff
duties to the highest possible figure, and
we'll and thoroughly it was embraced and
utilized. The war tariff acts were pass
ed in rapid succession, each going beyond
the other i'll piling up duties, until every
conceivable article that could minister
to human necessity, desire, con,
vaDieOpp or was nlappd
on the dutisble list. The. object
then was ostensibly revenue; nothing was
heard Of protection. The debates on these
various acts discussed only the best
methods of raising revenue so much needed.
1t was not until 1870, when slight reduc-
ton was made on few immaterial items
OF the tariff list, that we hear again of pro-
lection. The manufacturing enterprises
which, under the revenue tariff Of 1916, had
been made hardy and vigorous and self
reliant and self-sustaining, by being turned
out to the same competition that all other
enterprises in this country have always had
to contend with, after being pampered with
bounties under the war tariff" with its
enormous duties, again put in their APP
pearance as "our infant industries" need
ing protection. and protested against
and successfully resisted any
material or important reduction, just
as they did two years ago, and as they are
striving now to do again. a temporary"
war tariff, proiessedly to raise revenue
when enacted, which produces Sl3O0O0,00O
per annum in excess of all the requirements
of the government, is now sought to be es-
tablished as permanent, fixed system for
protection.
Senator Coke brings into the boldest pos
sible prominence figures which explain why
protectionists and mOnopolists are so deter
mined TO maintain the present iniquitous
tariff. lie says
During the fiscal year Just closed the
value of dutiable merchandise imported
into the country from abroad, as the treas
urer's report shows was $iiS,06l 5S7.95.
Upon this merchandise was collected at the
custom-house, Sl93 500, S0767, being an av
erage of 43i per cent. This is the entire
revenue of the government derived from
the tariff of the last fiscal year. Now, what
amount do the manufacturers receive from
the tariff? BY the census of 1870 it was es-
timated that $4,000 100000 worth of manu-
featured articles were consumed annually
in the United States. The figures for 1880
are not yet published SO as to be accessible,
but following the ratio of the increase
in population and everything else, they
must amount to at least s. 900, 100000 each
year. All these manufactures being in
creased in cost TO the consumer by the
amount of tariff duty, which, as | have be-
fore stated is an average of 10 per cent,
which goes to manufacturers, it is
easy to see on that basis what the
share of the manufacturer would
be- But | will discount that per cent. so
as to more than cover all contingencies and
all drawbacks, and say they only receive
under the tariff % per cent. on the sum to.
tai of manufactured articles consumed in
the United States, and it amounts TO the
enormous sum of 81, 2J0,0O0,0OO annually.
And the amount increases each year with
the population and trade of the country.
So, for the year 1881, the results of tariff
taxation and the distribution of its pro-
cccds may be tabulated thus:
Revenue received b tLc sOrS.A. -.-.----
Bounty received by manufacture
crs .............,.............. l2JO,O OOO9 W
So that for every single dollar paid into
the national treasury under the existing
tariff, six and a half dollars, at the lowest
calculation, go into the pockets of the man.
ulacturers. IL this vast sum of money was
collected annually from the pockets OF the
people directly, to be given 10 the already
richest class of people in this country each
year, its monslrous iniquity would, of
course, be so apparent as to defeat it. But
il is collected indirectly, though as surely,
in an increased price of everything they
consume. in everything they eat, drink and
wear; in every tool and implement they work
with: in every article which enters into
the construction OF the houses they live in.
whether used.fOr strength, or utility, or
ornament; in every book or newspaper they
read. This tax is all-pervading as the at
mosphcre they breathe and. they have been
50 accustomed to IL that they neither feel
nor appreciate its enormity. There was a
time when their fathers thought "Our in !
FAINT industries" needed protection, and |
they have been born and reared under the /
system which had its origin In the highest |
impulses Of patriotism and In the brOadest |
reasons Of national policy. The Infant"
has grown into stalwart and aggressive /
manhood, is able not only 70 take |
care Of himself but 10 make the /
industries Of other countries seek pro-
lection against lin in their own home |