Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1883-02-16

protective policy, ana charged that it is
delusive, and unnecessary for be develop
ment Of our manufacturing Industries
He demons rated the fact that protection
is only perfect when the duties are pro
hibitory, and that, as a rule the higher
the rate of the tariff, the smaller the reve-
nue. received in the shape Of duty by the
government He showed that so long as
the idea of protection" as such, is recog
n;zed in legislation upon the tariff, that
no fair reduction of the burdens of the
people resulting from this source will ever
be accomplished,
The uaequivocal doc rine of the Demo
cratic party upon this question, as every
Democrat who has been elected to Coz
gress ought to know, is that a tariff upon
imported articles is on ' justiiable rs
nnoons of "a sing revenue TO car J on the
government, and that it shou Il be evied
for that purpose only e; but SO adjusted in
fixing the schedules as 10 afford accidental
pro ection to meritorious and undevelop-
ed home industries. In the abstract, the
party recognizes the just and Democratic
doctrine OF tree trade bu. as il is
necessary that about 5000, 100000 be an
nuallv raised for carving on the gov.rn-
ment and effecting he gradual extinction
of the war debt, the wisdom OF raisiHg
Of fro
else and custom tax.s, in preference to
direct taxation, is recognized and main
tanned
The theory of the Democratic party, is
that the Federal Government has no pow
er TO impose burden on the entire peo-
pie IL the shape OF impost duties, for the
purpose of cutting off foreign competition
with American capitalists engaged in
manufacturing. This is what is meant by
the expression uniformly found in lie
platforms of principles p omu'gated to
the people by successive Democratic ma
tional conventions: Tariff tor revenue.
with incidental protection This IS the
doc rine of the Democratic party on this
question; and if this doctrine he wrong,
then the party is wrong. All members OF
| Congress who have been elected by Dem
ocratic constituencies ought. ther, lore, o
keep this doctrine constantly in view u
the tariff legislation which is now pend
ing before Congress.
| A recognition of this principle would
demand as the first sep in tariff reform,
that the duties be materia l. reduced up
there are no importations and 10 duty
derived II is fact. shown by the Stats
tics of the government, that, of the thou
sands of articles and classes of goods on
the tariff schedu Is, more than half of the
whole revenue derived from impos by
the government is obtained from sjE OF
the taxed articles, viz: Sugars, wool sad
wooden goods, iron and s.ee' silk and silk
en- goods, cotton goods, and flax and man
faciurers thereof Far more than half OF
the articles now on the tsrif schedules,
upon which the people pay dlty APP
proSimatlng o an average Of 30 per cent.
yield no recsRYe 10 tie g5osrame.t riateper.
the duty being a proEihitory one in the
interest Of New England manufacturing
monopolies Can any Democratic con-
gresham, who does not nnw vote to re-
duce he duty upon all those articles. ever
dare to solicit the supper, Of Democratic
vo ers again
It was principle laid down by Adam
Smith, the great Scotch philosopher and
political economist, that every tax ough;
to be so contrived as both to take out and
keep out of the pockets of the people as
little as possible over and above what i,
brings into the public treasury Of the
State The wisdom Of this maxim has
been generally recognized by political
economists aud statesmen, even in mon
archical and essentially paternal govern
ments. Let US see how far the existing
toriff laws of this alleged republican gov
eminent conform to this principle. 1t is
estimated that the total value of manufnc-
tured articles consumed in the United
States annually is $4,000 100000 The
value of the dutiable merchandise impor-
ted into the country during the past fiscal
year was SJO6,645 ,657 il, aud the duty
received by the government Sa15, 395.62S
SO, the average aa ralorum duty being Az
per cent. Making allowance for the i'm
portations of such articles as are in the
free list, it appears 20 he an entirely rea-
sonable and safe estimate to say that they
pay an average Cd oClorum tax Of % per
cent. upon all manufactured articles they
consume; in other words that the tariff
laws increase the price of all maGufactur
ed articles an average of % per cent
| From this it results that during the last
6.e-s year, as a result of the tariff laws,
the people of this country paid tax Of
% per cent on $4,000, 900, 900, or 81. 25O,-
100000, of which only S215 395,G2S So
wen. into The public treasury, while ST.
034 ,604 81 AZ went into the pockets Of
manufacturing companies.
Could any more forciole exposition of
the outrageous iniquity of the existing
tariff laws be asked, and will any Demo-
cratic Congressman, who has any reputa-
ton to take care Of dare to became pa,ti-
cops criminis in this great iniquity, in vio-
lation of the Fundamental principle of his
party's teachingss
A call, signed by we'lknown anti mon
OF in portS Of fl,n