The Portland daily press., 1888-08-22
MAJOR NC KINLEY IN THE SOUTH.
His Speech at the Assembly of ceor-
gia chautauquans.
The difference Between a Protective
and Revenue Tariff
Logically Defined and Discussed In
Relation to American Needs.

| VIM. Mckinley, Jr., speak on the subject of
| protection Mr.. Mckinley was introduced
by Judge Howard Van Epps, and spoke as
| follows:
| FeIIo1v Citizens:
| make my Acknowledgements to the Pied
mont Society for the courtesy and cordiality
| of its invitation, which has given me the on.
| blage of the citizens of Georgia.
| have come upon the suggestion of the
| committee to address you upon public cues
tion of great national import,w which concerns
| not only the prosperity of one section of our
common country, and which is of Command
ing interest to our sixty millions of people.
| IL is no new subject propose to consider,
1t is as old as governments by men. Taxa
tion with few exceptions has been the chief
| of the Republic
The Government was scarcely launched
| before its discussion commanded the best
| thought of the statesmen of the time, and in
| varying degrees it has been prominently be-
fore the public ever since. The different
theories OF taxation hare an interest now
which they have never possessed before.
| Public thought is awakened and the citizen
is investigating for himself. Frank discuss
| Ion and thoughtful consideration of the two
| conflicting theories are therefore demanded
| in the present state of the public mind, as
| well as the condition of our national Treasury
How taxes are to be raised to support the
| Government, and by what method can they
| be levied and collected as to bear more lightly
| upon the people, and at the same time pro-
mote rather than retard national prosperity,
| is the scope of the theme which propose to
discuss before you today.
| There are some things upon which all are
| IN accord, ana which are so manifest as to re
| qulre no argument or application. They
| are admitted facts Among them are that
| the United States must have sufficient mon
| ey to meet its current expenses and matur-
To n hot fha fnd Gkakn
| political society is without assets, without
money, and has no income, except what it
secures by taxes collected from its people. 1t
must collect Its money, whatever may be its
actual requirements, either by direct taxes
or by duties upon imports. There are few
people to be found in the country who seri-
ously favor the system of direct taxation for
governmental expenses, that is, taxing the
people, their property, real and personal,
their professions and employments. The
American sentiment is practically unani-
nous In favor Of raising at least large share
OF the revenue for the Government by levy
ing duties upon foreign importations.
II requires nearly $3.50, 100000 every year to
meet the necessary wants of the public service
ana there is general assent to the proposition
tnat the bulk of this vast sum shall be raised
from customs sources. Up to this point there
Is SUBSTANTIAL concurrence, and here indivld-
uai ana party sentiment divide, and believe
honestly divide, and to these lines of division,
and the principles upon which they respec-
lively rest, invite your respectful considera-
tion.
Free-traders, so-called, or, to be exact
the advocates of revenue tariff, believing
with the other school of political economists
IN import duties, insist that duties shall be
LEVIED upon that class of foreign products
wnlch are not produced in the United States,
the principle being that revenue is the sole
and only object of such taxation, and that a
duty levied upon such foreign products as
nave little or no home competition will Sc
cure tne largest revenue with the smallest
rate OF duty. And this is altogether true, for
whenever syou can find a foreign article
which the people of this country require and
which OF necessity they must import any
duty, however low, indeed the very minimum
VIII produce revenue; for inasmuch as there
Is no home produced article to contend for
any part OF the home market, importations
Will go on unchecked, and the revenue de-
rived therefrom will be only limited by the
extent OF the importations Influenced by the
necessities of our people and their capacity
to buy. An Illustration familiar to all Of you
Is the products of tea and coffee. Neither
OF these great staple articles is produced in
the United States. The demands of our peo-
pie Tor these products, and they extend to
every home and fireside in the land are sup
piled from abroad. Now, any tax thereon,
however slight and insignificant, would pro-
duce very considerable revenue to the
Government; and this illustrates what is
commonly understood as Revenue Tariff"
foreign competing product, it is made so low
having revenue only in view, that the effect
Is to destroy home competition and increase
the revenue therefrom by increasing impor-
tationS.
Hon. j. Randolph Tucker, of Virginia, an
eminent lawyer and experienced statesman,
in speech delivered in the House of Repre-
sentatlves May Is, 1878, defined a revenue
duty as follows
Therefore, as no higher duty ought to be laid
On
any particular article it follows that the true reve-
nue. duty Is the lowest duty which win bring the
required revenue"
This definition is fair and frank one. and
l accept it. A revenue tariff is, therefore,
such one as will produce the largest reve-
nue. from the lowest duty. The lowest rate
OF duty Will encourage importations, dlmin-
ish Isl home production, and inevitably increase
tne revenue; IL Will OF necessity check COM
petition at home and send our merchants
abroad to buy; 1t affords no protection, not
even Incidental, for the very instant you dis
cover that such duty favors the home pro-
Queer, that instant you discover that impor-
tations and revenue are checked, and that
our own producers are able to control the
home market, or part of it, Then at once
the advocate OF a revenue tariff reduces the
duty, bringsl It down to the true revenue
standard; for it must not be overlooked, ac-
cording to that free trade maxim, where
protection begins revenue ends" and the
question OF revenue is always controlling
revenue tariff is inconsistent with protec-
tion; it is intended for wholly different
purpose. 1t loses its force and Character as
genuine revenue tariff when it becomes to
any extent protective. 1t has but ona OBJ
Ject. 1t can have but one effect-that Of
opening up our markets to the foreign pro-
ducer-impoverishing the home producer
ana enrlching his foreign rival
england is more nearly free trade coun-
try than any other and her system of taxa
ti lion furnishes an unmistakable example of
tne practlce and principle of revenue tariff
Her import duties are imposed almost exclu-
slYely upon articles which cannot be pro-
duced by her own people upon her own SOIL
IoDacco, snuff, cigars, chicory, cocoa, cur
rants, ags, raislns, rum, brandy, wine, tea
and coffee. these are the articles from which
ner customs revenue is derived-articleS, in
the main, not produced in England, but
which must be supplied from abroad; while
practically all competing products of foreign
make and production are admitted through
her custom houses free of duty.
a brief statement of the dutiable imports
OF Great Britain will not be without interest.
1t will be observed that her duties are
more largely imposed upon peculiarly Ameri-
can products than upon any others. The
duty upon tobacco is, according to moisture,
from c4 to 92 cents per pound for the raw or
unmanufactured article, and il manufactured
1t pays duty of from $1.04 to $1.16 per
pound. The manufactured article is made
dutiable at 20 cents a pound greater than the
raw product, which, with all of England's
bOasted free trade, is intended as protec-
tion to those engaged in the manipulation of
tobacco. 1t is almost prohibitive to Ameri.
cans who would export manufactured tobac-
co. The ad valorem equivalent of the duty
on tobacco Is nearly 200 per cent. Cigars
pay duty of S1.32 per pound, and from to-
bacco and snuff over $43, ,000, 900 of duties are
collected annually. The duty on tea is 10
cents pound. How would the American
enjoy paying such duty upon this article
of every day use? The duty collected from
this source is over $1S,000,0OO annually.
Coffee pays duty of cents pound, but If
ground, prepared, or in any way manufac-
tured it must pay duty of cents pound
another example of where England pro.
tects those engaged in manufacture. Cocoa
pays duty of cents pound, but if it is in
any form subjected to manufacture it pays
cents pound, the duty on the manufactured
article being double that on the raw mate
rial.
Besides the articles have named, there
are about ninety or hundred others, chiefly
of American production, patented and other
medicines, which are dutiable at 1886 per
gallon. More than $96,000,0 or nearly
one fourth of the British revenues, are
raised from customs duties. !
You will note the character of taxation 70
which the revenue reformer invites tpe Peo-
pie of the United States. Both -sfie Dreak-
fast table snd the sick room are Im m2de to |
bear larsfRe arysRepi 81 taxation. 1t is not with
a'it signifcance that the nearer we approach |
~. '., s,stayn tho more generous the bestoyva1
tsi9 Is D ~ htisS commendaton. Every stem we
ol ,o sn that direction, every enlargement ~