Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-12-10
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.


submitted in the report Of Hugh McCulloch, sec
retary OF the treasury 1t is learned that the total
revenues Of the government for the last fiscal
leaving surplus snsp of
demption. The actual and estimated revenue for
the hscal year 1854 is $50 ooo ooo and the esti
aues expected during the ensuing year SlS5, 900.
goo win come from customs taxes and $1l5, 10000
nom internal revenue. The secretary estimates
than .oco,oo6 ana ia argues r; ass' that Something
should be done to relieve the people of this un-
necessary taxation.
After noting the rapid. growth Of the manufact.
OF protection and through the stimulus of war,
until point has been reached where the capac-
1ty OF the various manufacturing institutions far
tary says: 1.-THE all:important question, there
iore that presses itself upon the public attention
Y, how shall the country be relieved from the
plethora Of r. manufactured goods, and how shall
that our power to produce is much in excess OF
the present or any probable future demand for
home consumption: The existing iron, cotton
pac1ty. could meet In six neutrality-suspicious. in .
shorter tme-the home demand for year. tits
certain, therefore, that unless markets now
we can share in the trade which is monopolized
by European nations, the depression now SO Sc
verely felt win continue, and may be-
come more disastrous. The secretary sees
in the increase of the foreign trade, and recon-
mends the appointment of q commission to in
vestigate the subject-a commission, composed
Of men not welded TO the doctrines Of free trade
or Observation-Disclosures men, who will pros
ecute the inquiry thoroughly, comprehensibly
and impartialfy. He says: "When the real con-
dit1on Of our foreign trade and the character Of
the competition in which we must sooner OF 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
though they may be levied for revenue only,
must be in large degree protective. 1t is upon
must mainly rely for its large current expendi-
Large revenues viii be derived from the taxes
upon whisky and tobacco, il the tax on the latter
article should be retained, but our chief revenue
how these duties may be imposed and distributed
as to neither imperil our manufacturers nor OBJ
struct our foreign trade, while the treasury IL
ssSt II an easy viii be the
says the proposed commission should regard two
points as settled: That the public revenues are
not to be In excess of what may be required for
reduction of the public debt; that our manu-
factures, which, under the fostering care of the
government, have attained such gigantic proper
tions and whose prosperity is essential to the
jeopardy by rapid and sweeping changes in the
tariff. and that all reductions of import duties
should be made with view to their ultimate ad.
they are now in large degree excluded. In view
of the urgency of demands for relief, the secre-
tary recommends the removal of the existing
duties % upon raw materials which sre
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
a f0 ho0 f1A NS< <n
be reduced. This also, the secretary says, can be
effected without prejudice to our export trade.
"In regard to our internal revenue taxes"
@ tbs to say as
whisky, ought not to be and will not be needed
for revenue II appropriations are kept within
reasonable bounds and rigid economy is estab-
lshed in all branches Of the public service, see
no good reason for their continuance. Taxes upon
agricultural productions, although indirectly
levied, are inconsistent with our general policy,
and tobacco Is the only one Of these productions
generally used, ana which adds SO much to the
comfort of the large numbers Of our population
who earn their living by manual labor, cannot
lection of the tax is expensive and troublesome
to the government and is especially obnoxious
and irritative to small manufacturers the tax
In be
pealed without a 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. Wehave been out OF the carrying trade
80 long and foreign companies have such enor-
nous capital invested that an attempt on the
part of the United States to gain supremacy on
these would meet with most vigorous c0mpeti-
ton. Hedeems government aid essentially nee
essary, aud unhesitatingly expresses the opinion
that without it the foreign carrying trade viii re
main in the hands of foreigners.
Secretary McCulloch's views in regard to the
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 which it is based, and that the system be con.
tinued substantially as it now is, except that the
tax on circulation be repealed. Z.