Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1888-09-18

to buy and had to use, amounted to $1,OOo,-
GOO, 600, or to about five times as much as
the tax received by the Government for the
use of the Government. In other words,
the whole country vast taxed about 81 ,O00,-
q 600 for the benefit of a comparatively
small portion of the country. And that is
said to be Justice; that liz said to be fair
play; that is said to be for the benefit Of
the American people. Why don't they
carry it out? Why don't they, when they
find in Port Huron a lawyer-I think
/ NAV name them because I am q lawyer
myself-when they find one, the proceeds
of whose profession don't afford him and
his family a comfortable support-why
don't they tax you all for his benefit, 80 as
to protect him?- Or when they find a doc
tor whose income is not sufficient to sup
port him or his family, why don't they tax
all the people Of Port Huron in orde. to
add to the wealth of that DOCTOR And 80
on with everything else. Why don't they
do it? And yet they do tax a man, or did
tax him, and do yet, pretty highly some
times, on the medicine that he is obliged
to take. I remember one of the most sat
isfactory votes that I cast when in the Sem
ate Of the United States WAS to abolish the
tax on quinine, go that a man with the
fever and ague could have his quinine
without being robbed of his means of sub
s~istence. [Applause.]
WAVES h BANDANA.
know there are a few cases, but they
are very few and exceptional and not of
sufficient importance to make it necessary
tor me to speak OF them to-day. in the
limited time I have to speak, in which the
duty or tariff tax is not all paid by the
consumer, but they are 30 trifing in
amount and 80 insignificant that it is not
necessary that I should occupy your time
with them. The principle, the general
fact. is that this tax-(Here the speaker
was interrupted by cheering and applause
which followed his producing a bandana
handkerchief.) Well, gentlemen, this is
a good, honest handkerchief, and I could
have bought it a good deal cheaper if it
had not been for the tariff tax. CGreat
laughter and prolonged cheering.
Now, there are men who say the con-
sumner don't pay the AK. 1 have said that
that is q most audacious assertion, and 1
have tried to show you that he must neces-
sarily pay the tax. But if they want au-
thority upon that subject let me refer to
some men who have spoken upon it and
whose words will hardly be gainsaid.
First, 1 will go back to John Quincy Ad-
AIMS, and I daresay there are plenty of Re-
pubiicans and some Abolitienists in this
crowd who have great veneration for that
mans memory. KNEW him we'll; I served
in the House of Representatives with him,
and 1 know how intelligent he was, and 1
know how frank and outspoken he was.
In the year 1882 he was Chairman of he
House Committee on Manufactures, and
he said in a report made by him in that
year:
1.-THE doctrine that duties of import see1n
to cheaper the price of the article on
which they are levied seems to conflict
with the first dictates of common sense.
The duty constitutes a part of the price,
the whole mass of the article in the mar
ket. It is substantially paid upon the
article of domestic manufacture, as well as
upon that of foreign production. Upon
one it is bounty, upon the other q burden,
and the repeal of the tax must operate as
an equivalent reduction of the price of the
article, whether foreign or domestic. We
say SO long as the importation continues,
the duty must be paid by the purchaser
of the article. The general and per
the price of the article to
the extent of additional duty, and it is
then paid by the consumer. If it were
not 80, if the general effect of adding to the
duty was to reduce the price of the article
upon which it is levied, b converse OF
the proposition would also be true, and
the operation for increasing the price of the
domestic article would be to repeal the
duty on the same article imported, an K
pertinent which the friends of our internal
industry will not be desfrous of making.
We cannot subscribe, therefore, to the doc
trine that the duties of imports, protective
of our own manufacturers, are paid by the
foreign merchant or manufacturer"
ANOTHER HIGH AUTHORITY.
But John Quincy Adams knew better,
and he was too honest a man to make such
a false pretense. Well, what said President
Arthur? In his annual message to Congress
in 1928 President Arthur said:
81 recommend ar enlargement of , free
list; that is, of goods that pay no ddty-so
as to include within it the numerous ar.
ticles which yield an inconsiderable rev.
enue a simplification of the complex and
inconsistent schedule of duties upon Ger.
tain manufactures, particularly those OF
cotton, iron and steel, and q substantial
reduction of the duties upon those articles
and upon sugar, molasses, wool and WOODEN
goods"
Wall that Ia nrecisaly what the Demo