New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-03-10
DUTIES ON BOOKS.
AN APPEAL FOR THEIR ABOLITION.

nortant is that of duties on books. olhcr uucs"o"'
relate 10 money this TO education The loss Vi " '0
dollars TO the Treasury, or to certain cass VI nun"
factures is not to be compared with that WHO" ,'
,.o,a srs,an nv obstrrcting the avenues to lh'eiH
gence and thought. ,, oro nec.e
As the world is ROW orsahlzeu' ooo"' w
saries of life, or even more, tiieN ''c "0
civilization They to the mind "hau 'oou = "
the body. and without them healthiu grown y ~
t.rded or wholly checked. Nations are TO-DAY IT,
,.octod more for their advancement i'll WISDOM an"
-, the arts that emlcllish life than for their arnae
and this advancement may be measured d, ' W.
fusion among the people OF books anu "''"'
The wants of bare necessity are hn".eu )" "
and cost Those of civilization are oil MINNIE an" II"
crs,e,nc variety. knowledge, science ana tas'e W
ve,on new wants that give impetus TO manuiac'hcs
.,d set in motion the wheels of commerce.
In the year 1888, a. reported by the 'o''"'o7 j.,
of Education, the expenditures i"r common ~ GOA
,he United states reached the vast sum Oh @ii''''
ase We willingly submit to this outlay because
,o,;eve that education is the cornerstone Oh o'
And vet while with one naN"
~ snepd onr money lavishy 10 %
knowledge free to all, with the other We ,,H u.o
door against it by taxing the very pooh' WA wc
have Taught our children and ourselves " ''"1 ,,on
conn anxious that our people should ha'o ,
ing Of knowledge but if they seek 10 20 NV
become truly learned, we refuse t'e" It..
means that have no parallel III INC ''
of mankind, civilized or savage ,, :. NOT
What is acquired in our common s'"oo' a
education but only the tools Oh h"o" .,so
success in life depends largely on our N.'I"e not
tools sharp and using them cfcienlN' i" "
error TO suppose that after spending 0" =, ~
cboo, the work of education is finished ~ - -
s'"''. ,. ,ocnn and the whole after-lfe should be
n. 20 completing the structure of when Only "'c
foundation was laid in youth , s
We seem to less for our o"SP''"7 ''"
our cattle Animals for breeding purposes "e -.
opr tariff admitted free. We thnk IL l"'po''""' "
,roye the bodies of our hcifers because iheN haNc
a commtable value, but we do not 'on'e'" o,
lee ~ improve the minds of our chl"reh IN
ri,pc them untrammelled access to the best "i''o"
of the world .s 90 books i
without precedent among men, past Ut ptV'0
Cow, If the foreign nations 50 IMPOVERISHED '''''
in order TO raise the revenue needed ior to" sup
mort. they are forced to tax everything i"'por''u'
hoots with the rest but the policy OF taxing iheso
r,,c,es as protective measure has never peen
sdopted in any country but ours Every "o'V'i'''"'
in Europe except spain admits books Hce' eve"
Russia selfcentred and inoerant as she i VI iol'
deas They are free il sweden. Norway "Ic"
britain. the German Empire, Austria. Beieium ana
Franco Even China and Japan. nations Whl'h we
IN our nride and self-conccit call uncivilized anu
whose peope we shut out from our shores nav
sufficient intelligence to make tarll 'ia'' III '"'
respect should put Us to the blush
The only nations in which duties Oh pooh7 "'o
charged the following tsee Sena'e Do'"'
lss4 Foreign TarnsD:
Liberia.
uayti. to 90 cents per volume
Jexico. about 40 cents per 100 pounds.
Argentine Republic, per cent
Guatemala 10 per cent
spain about so cent, per 100 pounds.
of these six countries. two are peopled by negroes
all are poor and burdened with debt, ana some Oh
Them are only recently emerging from the dominion
Of superstition and misrTe. But bad as their hh'h
cia and Intellectual condition may be- they 40 ho'
try to make it worse by imposing restrictive tax Oh
knowledge. Their duties are small, While our foh
and powerful Nation with an Overlooking Treasury
exacts a sum two and half times as hgh a. inc
highest of them greater than that OF all the ma
Ions Of the earth added together
IL NAV be stated that al The European countries
above named paintings and engravings are also rec
except in Spain, where duty Of one pcscta on ea'h
picture is exacted. The painting Of Turner recently
purchased by public>prited amateur in New-loTk'
might travel free through every custom house IN
Europe until it reached spain. where II would be SUD
caches The United states it viii be weighted with
duty 10000 times a. great, or say S3oVQo. location,
This is not a case Of patriotism, or Of protection.
ours is not the only nation that has adopted the
policy of encouraging domestic industry. Uernaiy'
Austria. France and Russia are thoroughly protettNe'
but they able that there are other tniilss
worth possessing besides money. Expression OF me
mind and improvement OF taste are more Honoia t
to a people than the misery occupation OF heaplhs
one dollar on another. The worst lhins Una, can
happen Is 10 let our people discover 1ndt
and education in this country cannot coeAsl. ii
We compelled To choose between the TWO the Issue
Our policy Is so opposed that Of every other en-
liyhtencd nation that the difference cannot be mar
monized. If we are right all the resi- OF the ""iI'
must he wrong; there IL none 10 initiate or aPoio,
gizc for Ne must accept the pity or cen'uie "i
mankind, and submit 10 be looked upon a. " SUP.
rcal sordd people. devoid of taste and culture car1i
.crped in the isHobic pursuit OF getting money
II not always 80. in the first iaIi ol ~.
framed by the wise men who Won our independence
and who founded our political Institutions no,Hr
made free and they 80 continued i"r n.AfN
half a century. The law of al imposed duty 81
only 3 per cent, and this continued town 10 l7'I
when the War Tariff raised the rate 10 10 per cent IL
Is only since 1853 that the present rate Of - per cen"
The Tard Commission appointed by President Ar
thur in le.2 recommended That the then existing dutv
of IL per cent be continued and that books by oFe1h
authors. not reprinted in the United tate, for ne
and for sale. should De free In tie face 81 tl.'
report the duty nearly doubled.
BY our present law books. etc. are admitted nee
religious society or for any college. school etc. why
If il j. because they are necessary aid 70 euuca
ton then The whole argument for the duty falls 10
the ground, unless take the position that tthOuSi
education is good thing, protection Is belter.
surely it i more useful that man should own a
volume than that lac should be compelled 10 resort 10
public library look at it. If IT is his own he can
study IL until he has mastered it, contents. but IL
brarics are few, and 10 most readers inaccessible
our existing tariff does. it is true admit without
that we told be content. But this concession is
an Insignificant matter for these amounted last year
i @port S%.' report pe of Barcau of sta'tics
Moreover, old books not tic ones We most need
This is Of intense movement, when even steam
and electricity too slow. Twenty years count o'
more 10 than century did 10 our ancestors. The
student the scientist. the chemist the ply slcan, the
engineer. and even the skilled workman, must keeI
up with the time. and he can ONLY DO tins by IN
forming himself of what the latest and most advanced
thinkers and workers are doing, not in America atone
but in the world beyond. Ii Is not enough tiat We
should have what all the of mankind knew twenty
gears ago. within that period the wonderful dis
soveries in chemistry. dycing. Photographic steam
utionzed the industry Of the nations and altered
the map of the earth, and vet our tariff binders u
from reading Of these things in foreign works. unit
the knowledge has ceased to be practical useful
II thirst for know ledge Of Pastcur Koch. Darwin
Huxley. told that We must satisfy ouf~cvc'
With Bacon. Addison. Schiller and Jeremy TAYLOR.
When present tariff under onsdciaon il