Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-12-05

Tbs latter are ncB admissible, and biEet-
allism is only possible With The ec-operarion
Of other nations. which IS not now 60 be
had. For, although France holds the same
friendly attitude, and would be followed by
some of her associates of the Latia Union,
England now, as IA 1878 and 1881, Is IN
willing to depart from her mintage OF geld
aloae in ceius OF unlimited legal tender, and
Germany new. as in 1851, regards the con-
curTencs of England Ia an International
bimetsll.c union as q sine qua mon. suen
being the facts established upon abundant
testimony. official and unofficial, gEsnered
comes plaln that the ehoies OF
Congress in only in fact between
stopping the coinage Of silver dollars, or
risking by further coinage tue inequiva-
unit, risking the fall OF the valae OF 2i5,-
coo, 600 silver dollars from their legal do
mestic rating TO their commercial interna-
tieHaI value. which is 20 per cent. less. and
Involving sucn dssuse ii cur domestic
trade Of 650, GOO, 900 dollars OF gold coin,
as when gold was sjscted By paper during
the war.
The only choice before Congress, there
fore. is the choice between one-Inesall:sm
and two-metallsm. The silver dollar can
net be kept in equivalence with the gold dol
lar II the coinage OF silver continues. The
gold dollar can not be kept in full domestic
circulation if the silver dollar is suffered to
fau Coming Eaere nacessitates it's fall.
Donbtiess some may hope thai naore silver
dollars can be ceined, aad yet their equiyR-
Ienee with the monetary unit net be lost. It
IS respectfully submitted that there Is ne
compensation for that risk, and that jndg-
ment SO accordsnf of the great business
classes who carry on the exchanges OF the
country Hust be accepted as = final estimate
OF that risk.
Mas inventions and industries ara hana-
Eerlng down the prices Of all ths products
of mans labor. If one New England town
by enc weeks labor can shoe all the feet in
Cincinnati, Chicago, and st. Louis for q
year, when years. work was too little one
decade ago, how shall not the price OF shoes
go downl Everywhere the effort is to OBJ
tain shelter, clothing. food, and the orna-
menes of these necessities Of life at s smaller
expense of mental energy aad bodily toll.
The history of inventions il the record of
permanent reductions OF the cost of getting
mans necessities. This reduced cost makes
possible the enlargement OF the comforts of
al, higher ana higher standard Of life for
the poor. How shall the reduced cost NOS
appear in dropping priest But things on
hand bought to sell fall while aald To the
trading classes fall OF prices when COM
prissd in too brief periods can not but
bring some measure of distress; when
continued for too long periods, can net but
entail a general depression Of trade. But
when 1t is neither sudden nor prolonged
enough 60 throw large numbers cut Of en-
pleyment, the great mass OF working men
and women ind in lower prices almost I'M
mixed good. Wages are always at once ex--
changed, with some deduction for saving,
and if prices are lower the same wages buy
more. Even where reduced prices necessi-
taos reduced wages land on Che whole, even
In Europe, the return TO labor grows more
and more) the wage receiver gets the advsnt-
age Of wages being slow TO move, rs he gets
the GiSadvantage OF their being the last to
move when from 9 degradation Of the unit
OF value, or its legal equivalent. prices meas
ured by that unit going up, the same wages
buy less. To keep the unit of value ole is
the true limit Of legislative control over
prices.
THEaTARHF LAWS.
Besides the reforms which ara desirabls for
she effective administration of any system
OF taxation levied through imported msr-
ehandise, and are Indispensable for the adj
miaistratien Of customs laws which, like our
own, are chaos rather than system,
venture to hope that In due season it win be
the pleasure of Congress to consider some
ether reforms Epon which, as is requisite, all
parties may agree, and that are OF = differ
ent scope. Like our currency laws, eur
tariff laws are legacy of war. II its ext
gencies excuse their origin, their defects ara
unnecessary after twenty years of peace.
They have been retained without sitting and
Discrimination, although enacted without
legislative debate. criticism or examine ton,
A horizontal reduction Of 10 per cent. was
made in 1872. but was repealed in 1875,
and rejected in 1884. They require
AT cur custom houses u force sufficient
to examine, appraise, and levy du-
ties upon more than 4,lS2 different
articles. Many rates OF duty begun in war
have been increased since, although the late
Tariff Commission declared them injurious
to the interests supposed to pe benefted'
and said that a Production would be con-
duciys TO the general prosperity They
have been retained. although the long era
Of falling prices in the case OF specific duties
has operated q large increase of rates. They
have besn retained at an average ad valerem
rate for the last year OF over 80 per cent,
which is but 21S per cent. less than the higA-
est rate eli the war period, and Is nearly d
per cent. Alore than the rate before shs LATEST
revision. The highest sAduTabe rates OF
duty, which were adopted in 1862 to offset
internal taxes upon almost every taxa
BILE article, have in most been
retained new from fourteen TO
twenty years after every such
intsrnal tax has been removed. They have
been retained while puraly revenue duties
upon articles not competing with anything
produced in the thirty eight States have
been discarded. They have been retained
upon articles used as materials for eur own
manufactures in 1884 adding $50, Oo0, 600
TO their cost, which, ii exported, compete
in other countries against similar manufac-
lures from untaxed materials. Some ratas
have been retained after running the in
Other Tstes have 6esn retained after effect
ing a higher price for domestic product at
horne thar it was sSld abroad for. The
general high level of rates has been retained
on the theory OF oounterValling lower wages
abroad, when, in fact, the higher wages of
American labor are az once the secret and
the security Of our capacity to distance all
competition from ''psuper labor" in any
market. All changes have left unchanged,
OF changed for the worse, by new schemes
of classification or otherwise, q complicated,
cumbrous, intricate group OF laws which
are not capable Of being administered with
ing IN the ordinary course OF business is i'm
ported unless the price here Of the domestic,
as well of the imported, article Is higher
by the amount Of the duty and the cost Of
seA-translt than the price abroad, the pref
encs of the taxpayer tor duties
upon articles not produced In the
United States 10 Justified by thu
fact that sueh duties cost him no more than
the Treasury of his country gets. AS for
duties affecting articles that are als9 pro-
duoed in the United States, the first to be
safely discarded are those upon materials
used BY our ewn manufacturers, which new
home and abroad, with the manufacturing
nations, none of which tax raw materials.
1t is not 10 be doubted that in any reform
which shall finally receive the approval Of
the two Houses OF Congress, they will ma
tuTely consider aud faVorsbly regard the in
tsrests which can only gradually snd care
fully be adjusted, without loss, to chsagss
in the legislative conditions for their advauc-
lag prosperity. With this view, have in
yited, Ii sSms 2, 900 circular letters to our
manufacturers aud merchants, their en-
-