Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-23

FctIeCt' hbu Sucu man as tnat llVed IN
our Northern communities and loft such a
legacy of admiration his statue would before
this be in one or more of our cities. ~
"Hou had some training, Mr. Morrill,, of
course, to undertake such labor as rcvs-
ing the whole tariff list ~
'As a bank director was often sent to
tue large cities and knew their potent finen-
cial men. had been engaged in all the
forms of mercantile business. Besides /
was subsequently in agriculture. When
young fellow | went to Portland, Me-, and
entered the house of the Foxes, who ran
vessels to the West lndeis, sending out
American products aud bringing back the
staples of the tropics--m olasses, etc. |
studied our importations with reference to
the tariff. Tie Boston Courier in its mar
ket reports set the rate Of duty over every
article in the list, which made it essy to run
the eye up from the quotations to the cus-
toms duties and thus / know the duty on
every thing, as | would know the price OF
every article in our stores. At that tirle
Russian iron was 500 n ton and salt was
Sl.25 Il bushel. Before | was OF age | re
turned TO Vermont on visit and an estab-
lishment was to be sold out which dealt in
every thing-dry goods, hardware. agricul-
tural supplies etc, | became the receiver
or trustee to sell it out, and with my part
ner of many years standing, | bought and
conducted it and branches in other towns
until about 1878. when | retired"
you retired from business early"
81 had been ! , or IS years in business.
had u taste for agriculture, was director in
bank, aud had "a pretty general CONVEX
sance with the business Of the country. /
bought goods sometimes in New York, more
generally in Boston, and knew the mills,
the importers-in short, whatever belonged
to mercantile life. ~
GLOW did you pass the bill -
John Sherman occasionally acting
chairman of the committee on ways and
means, and was SO when we had to bring it
to a vote lie said to me: IF you can get
your bill UP to SUIT you, I'll pass il, but 1
do not know any thing about it, The bill was
rather bitterly opposed, and one of its chief
opponents WA James Brooks of New y ork
who had been a sort OF wing for some time,
but had become bitter after the passing of
the compromise measure. Ii, and others
kept calling TINT bill the Morrll
tariff, ard the name adhered to it. The
difficulty of passing a tariff bill which in
Wolves so many interests is to get it through
the processes Of parliamentary form. The
bill was considered in committee of the
whole, and at a favorable opportunity a
motion was made to discharge the commit
lee and Resume the regular business. Then
the original bill was reported by Sherman.
| went to the clerks desk and had to write
as last as | could IN order to get that bill back
into its proper form, to offset such modfi-
cations as mad just been made. In that
original way, as frat made it, it passed
the House during 1860. Mr.. Buchanan was
Ha
ma lie in the Senate, and we might not have
passed it there but for the secession move
mant, which caused tie vacation Of a mum
Der OF seats. The bill then passed on the
:}i OF March, 1861, and Mr.. Buchanan en-
the last day Of his presidency sixnsi it.
Such was the first tariff bill after the Polk
or Walker system Of rubbing protection out.
1t levied specific duties instead of al va
lorem ones, which admitted Of false in =
voices
what was the principle OF that tariff -
The difference between the Two parties
WAS then and is now that the democrats
wanted to raise revenue upon such things
as We did not produce at home. and the
wings wanted to raise revenue upon such
things as We competed 20 produce. Their
idea was to sacrifice the American in order
to emphasize the idea that the constitution
did not sanction protection. The whig idea
was TO raise revenue first. but in such Il
way as that what we were making should
recsivo protection Ivy taxing this foreign
Importation osthat class OF things. That Il
eli there is OF it. ~
MIR. Morrill,, why do We not make as
good broadcloth ms in the west Of Eng
land ~
THAT branch we have not attained eX-
celience IN. 1t comes from the necessity OF
time and the slowly and carefully skilled
labor element IN tho cloth trade. ~ The
senator held out his coat and said; Cloth
OF tnat kind we do not make here. l think
tho tine has come, bowevar, when care aud
tine must be put into many branches CT
our manufacturing. We can make almost any
! kind OF isOor-savlnS invention in America,
and that has become perhaps our too fGciie
resort. We initiate what other countries
make too generally and do not make cnous ID
that is original. Oar coins are attestations
of this neglect Of the art basis IN mechanics;
the engraved heads on our coins ere not as
good as those OF Europe. In England the
head upon the sovereign was, | think, cut
! in France. We have good many foreign
designers in our factories. In some way
manual art must be taught to our ma