Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-12-10

WASHINGTON, Dec. From the mass of figures
Submitted I'D the report of Hugh McCulloch, sec
redary OF the treasury ii is learned that the total
revenues of the government for the last fiscal
year were S34S, 519 $780, and that the expenditures
Were sZyO 9lo rs leaving surplus of S57 $685. 1876,
% Nnlch S54,OO0 600 has been applied to bond re-
compton. The actual and estimated revenue for
the fiscal year lS645 is $3.50 600 000 and the esti
mated expenditures are $500, 100000. Of the reve-
Aues expected during the ensuing year SlS5, 0OO.-
V0O Will come from customs taxes and SLID, OOO,OOO
rom internal revenue The secretary estimates
that the treasury surplus in 1856 will be not less
than $4,000, 0OO, and argues that something
should be done to relieve the people of this I'M
necessary taxation.
After noting the rapid growth of the manufact-
uring interests of the country under the system
OF protection and through the stimulus of war,
until point has been reached where the capac-
Hy of the various manufacturing institutions far
exceed the demand from consumers, the secre-
taEy says: 1.-The all-important question, there
tore, that presses itself upon the pubic attention
Is how shall the country be relieved from the
plethora OF manufactured goods, and how shall
plethora be hereafter prevented? 1t is obvious
that our power to produce is much in excess or
the present or any probable future demand for
nome consumption The existing IRON, cotton
and WOODEN mills, if employed at their full ca
Raclty, coulo meet IN SIX months-PerhaPs IN "a
certain, therefore, that unless markets new
practically closed against are opened, unless
we can share in the trade which is monopolized
by european nations, the depression now so Sc
yerely felt will continue and may be-
come more disastrous" The secretary sees
FRueA from ll1S u0taVOraD1o cOnQltlOn OF affairs
In The increase of the foreign trade, and recon-
mends the appointment of a commission to in
VeStigate the subect-a commission, composed
OF men not welded to the doctrines of free trade
or protection-fair- minded men, who will pros
ecute the inquiry thoroughly, comprehensibly
and impartially. He says: "When the real con-
dtsion of our foreign trade and the character of
the competition in which we must sooner or later
engage are fully understood, it will be found
that our inability to make that trade as free as
our best interests require lies in the necessity
il,1TlO dIIff i0I oil
though they may be levied for revenue only,
must be in large degree protective. 1t is upon
such taxes, therefore, that our government
must mainly rely for its large current expendi-
lures and the reduction of the national debt.
Large revenues will be derived from the taxes
upon whisky and tobacco, if the tax on the latter
article should be retained, but our chief revenue
must be derived from import duties. TO show
how these duties may be imposed and distributed
rs to neither imperil our manufacturers nor OBJ
struct our foreign trade, while the treasury La
kept in an easy condition, will be the
task of the commission" Secretary McCunoch
says the proposed commission should regard two
points as settled That the public revenues are
nCt to be In excess ofwhat may be required for
the support of the government and the gradual
reduction of the public debt; that our manu-
features, which, under the fostering care of the
government, have attained such gigantic proper
lions and whose prosperity is essential to the
welfare of all other interests not to be put in
Jeopardy by rapid and sweeping changes i'll the
tariff and that all reductions of import duties
should be made with view to their ultimate ad-
vantage by opening to them markets from which
they are now in a large degree excluded. In view
OF the urgency of demands for relief, the secre-
sary recommends the removal of the existing
duties upon raw materials which
70 be used in manufactures. He SAYS this
can be done in the interest of our foreign trade
He also recommends that the duties upon the
articles used or consumed by those who are the
least able to bear the burden of taxation should
be reduced. This also, the secretary says, can be
eheeted without prejudice to our export trade.
In regard to our internal revenue taxes"
says the secretary 81 have to say that, as these
taxes, with the exception of the tax upon
whisky, ought not to be and will not be needed
for revenue If appropriations are kept within
reasonable bounds and rigid economy is estab-
lshed in all branches of the public service, see
nogOod reason TOR their continuance. Taxes upon
agricultural productions, although Indirectly
LEVIED, are inconsistent with our general policy
and tobacco is the only one of these productions
which has been taxed. An article which is so
generally used and which adds so much to the
comfort of the large numbers of our population
who earn their living by manual labor, cannot
properly be considered luxury, and as the col
lection of the tax is expensive and troublesome
to the government, and is especially obnoxious
and Initiative to small manufacturers, the tax
upon tobacco should, in my judgment, be re-
moved The tax upon whisky could not be re-
pealed without disregard of public sentiment,
nor without creating necessity for higher du-
ties upon imported goods, but while this is true
the tax upon the alcohol used in manufacturing
might be removed with decided benefit to home
industry and foreign trade"
On the subject of our shipping interests Secre-
tary McCulloch urges the prompt removal of the
unjust tariff taxes which have driven American
vessels from the sea and paralyzed ship building
IN this country He does not, however, consider
The restoration ofour merchant marine an easy
matter. have been out of the carrying trade
SO long and foreign companies have such enor-
NOUS capital invested that an attempt on the
part of the United States to gain supremacy on
theseas would meet with most vigorous competi-
ftOn. Hedeems government aid essentially nee
essary, and unhesitatingly expresses the opinion
that without 1t the foreign carrying trade viii re-
main IN the hands of foreigners.
coinage OF silver dollars are expressed in the
Presidents message. He believes that unless
both the coinage of silver dollars and the issue of
silver certificates are suspended there is danger
that silver and not gold, may become our
metallic standard
IN conclusion, the secretary recommends that
Immediate action be taken by Congress relative
to the basis of national bank circulation now
seriously threatened by the rapid call for bonds
on Whichit is based, and that the system be con-
tinued substantially it now is, except that the
tax on circulation be repealed.