Athens weekly banner. (Athens, Ga.) 1889-1891, June 18, 1889, Image 5

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Hr 'Tr§l -TAX The taxation of luxuries presents no feat ures of hardship; but the necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the dutv upon which adds to the cost of living in every home, should be greatly cheapened.—President Cleveland. SOME EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH lower by reason of numerous labor-saving I product of 1880 would have been worth I the proportionate increase was 7 per cent. inventions and increased use of the power $6,624,835,056, or $1,155,255,865 in excess ajpou of nature—steam, electricity, etc. This re- I of the actual value. Where do the benefits duction in prices is falsely attributed by the of the high tariff appear? monopolists (those dear friends of low prices) to the very tariff which clogs ’and hinders reduction, as if the brakes increased the speed ofn train. The truer comparison is not between then and now, but between here and there—between prices in the LABOR. But the wage-earner has not fared even so well as the manufacturer. The average (r hand of employes in manu facturing establishments in 186Q was $247. nure ana mere—Detween prices m the T „ , , _ OQQ United States end prices abroad, and be- *“/*** h T f SS*® tWAAn rtrinnes -nrifV. lnnr *«*.:«* ’Uw-'U P® r CCIlt. Ill 1880 tllQ Wftff© W&S HON. A. H. COLQUITT, OF GEORGIA, IN TEB SENATE OF THB PKLIVERED UNITED STATES, MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1888. The President recommends that no sur plus be raised by taxation. Some of our public men differ with the President on this subject. To the tax-payers they say: ■ • If you will just continue to raise the we will contrive to spend it.” It money we win conwive spenu u. x must be admitted that the surplus is larger by virtue of the economy of the Adminis tration ; they argue that proper extrava gance would have reduced it. This is the Republican form of opposition to the wise policy of the Administration. Possibly they think a spirited foreign policy might consume the surplus, and even ren der higher taxes necessary. The opposi tion of a small minority of the Democratic party is of like character. Wonderful enough is it that the Republican party should take this ground of opposition, but it passes wonder that any man calling him self a Democrat should oppose this most Democratic policy—oppose it even at the risk of dividing the party on so plain an issue. They go with the Republicans in preferring, if taxes must be reduced, to take them off from the unnecessaries of life rather than the necessaries. * * * * tween prices with low tariff and high. Quinine illustrates the latter difference con spicuously. Everybody knows about that. Steel rails have fallen et have fallen even in America by virtue of the Bessemer process and numer ous improvements. The credit of this fall is gi ven to the tariff. As well attribute the in the price of cotton since the inven tion of the cotton-gin to the policy of pro tection. Compare the prices of steel rails in the United States with those of England. Last year the average price here was $37.13 I or ton; English rails could have been laid own here at an average of $23.60 per ton. Yet the monopolists say we ought to be content; that prices are low, ana that the liifle of $18.50 extra a ton is insignificant; and so is it with a thousand ottibr articles. THREE KINDS OF TARIFFS. average wage an increase of only 20 per cent, in twenty years. Had there been a gain of 16.6 per cent, from 1860 to 1870 and from 1870 to 1880 under a high tariff, as there was from 1850 to 1860 under a low tariff, the average wage in 1880 would have been $392 instead of $346. Wages continue to increase, taking one decade with another, under a low tariff or under a high tariff. The improvements in machinery, con stantly going on, enable the wage-earner to get more money, while the employer jys out less money for the same product 1850 the average individual product was worth $1,064 and the employ^ received $247, or 23.2 per cent. In 1860 the product was valued at $1,438, and the worker re ceived 20 per cent, of it, or $288. In 1870, on a greenback valuation, which, however, In discussing the effect of the tariff on does not interfere with the comparison, the prices we observe that a tariff mav benuga- I product was worth $2,060 and the employe tory, prohibitory, or operative. It is nuga- was P a 'd $328, or 18.4 per cent. In 1880 tory when the duties are laid on articles in I l*her was even cheaper, the 'average indi- the production of which we surpass all other vidual yearly product beingvaluedat$l,962 countries—such as wheat and cotton. 8ueh I and the workingman receiving the average yearly wage of $346, or only 17.7 per cent. countries—such as wheat and cotton. Such duties would yield neither revenue nor pro tection. Nobody cares to have a nugatory tariff. It is prohibitory when the duties are so high as to prevent importations and to com- I pel all such commodities to be made at home,* no matter at what disadvantage. When the tariff is prohibitory Government gets | * or tae ”'gh tariff, nothing, and all excess above fair profits goes into tribute. This is the form the monopolists prefer. of the product, as against 18.4 per cent, in J18T * ' 1870,20 per cent, in 1860, and 23.2 per cent, in 1850. Wages were higher in money in 1880 than in 1850, but they were, not so high in the former year as they ought to have been or would have been were it not THE SURPLUS. The President’s message shows that on the close of the fiscal year, June 30, for the years mentioned the surplus was ae follows: COMMERCE Much has been said as to the increase in Tf ;; . i our foreign commerce, and very little as to nor manufactured in this country, andit L P an ^ tured $S,658,873^ wMA was Xdf per cent, of the total’ H Vkdd P° rt - In 1870 exported $47,921,164 frttle tribute * h com P aratlvel y worth (in greenbacks) »f manufactured 111118 lnDute - goods, but they were only 10.63 per cent. the tarif f causxs waste. of the total export. In 1880 the value of The effect of the tariff in causing waste manufactured goods exported had risen to readily shown by illustration. . Suppose | 879,510,447; but-they were only 9.65 per 1885 $17,859,735 84 1886 49,405,645 20 1887 65,567,849 64 1888 (estimated) — 66,182,214 72 Such is the surplus for separate years, Mich its enormous annual growth—Pelion upon Ossa, Ossa upon Pelion—so that, de spite of a strain upon the powers of^Gov- crnme.it to apply U, purchasing l»Wi jfl enormous premiums, some at 24 per cent., the estimated aggregate at the close of the present fiscal year was $140,000,000. Later information places it at $155,000,000. * * * * * This mere surplus above what is needed would build three State capitols in every State in the Union as magnificent as that now being constructed in my own State and leave untouched a large surplus still. It would support all the State and Territo rial governments for two years, and still leave a surplus. It is much more than twice the entire cost of the Federal Gov ernment for any year before the war. lys Great Britain can sell an article in-the United States for $1, while our manufact urers cannot sell it for less than $1.40. Now, let Government put on a duty of 60 per cent. Then the British manufacturer can not sell here for less than $1.50. The American may sell at $1.49 and control the whole market. The American manufact urer then makes 9 cents, while the Ameri can consumer loses 49 cents. In this trans action 9 cents of the increase goes to the manufacturer and 40 to waste. » * * To understand the operation of the pres ent tariff it is necessary to compare it with forjner tariffs and the tariff of other*coun- I and cotton, tries. Comparison is~Yhe"gr6ftt means of knowledge and improvement, age rate of duties on all im; first twenty-one years ofthe less than 20 per cent. During 1812 existing rates were doul measure. "The tariff of abominations,” which shook the Republic to its found*. crea sed to $1,603,693,404, a gain of 118.8 tinns. somewhat exceeded nnr nrnsant term I i j. r . j j .r . •<> THE TARIFF. The next proposition is that taxes should be removed off the necessaries of life rather than from its superfluities. This proposi tion would seem to be too r lain, direct, and honest to admit of successful contradiction. It is indeed a truism which does not need argument. The two terras, “tariff,” "in ternal revenue,” sound at first equally hanniess. Each is but a particular form of tax; but the operation of the two taxes is widely different. Of the various broad distinctions between them one of the most important is emphasized by the fact that the tariff is a tax on necessaries—the inter nal revenue a tax on superfluities. Both taxes are indirect; so that by shaping ex penditures they may to some extent be avoided. But of all taxes the tariff is the most unavoidable—the internal reve most easily avoided. tions, somewhat exceeded our present tariff. The Walker tariff of 1846, the beginnii of a great period of prosperity, averagi 23.20 per cent, duty on all imports and 26.22 on dutiable imports. The tariff of 1857 made the average duty 15.66 per cent, on 1 baff”bein' all goods, on dutiable goods 20.12 per cent. 8 b e carri There it will be seen that the tariff of Alex ander Hamilton was only about one-third of our present tariff. In 1795 it was 11.21 per cent, on all goods imported. A FORTY-SEVEN PER CENT. TAX. The i mports of this country for the last fiscal year, ending June 30,1887, were $692,000,000 Of which were free of duty.. 232,000,000 Leaving dutiable 460,000,000 Duties collected 218,000,000 Brag* 47 per cent. The tariff Is levied on thirteen leading schedules, embracing more than four thousand articles. Of course a great system is necessary for the collection of these duties, involving custom-houses and custom-house officers revenue-cutters, inspectors, searches ant seizures, forfeitures, and the like. The process of collection involves the right of search of men and women, who are pre sumed guilty, and » pre and required to prove tnei innocence, not by oath, but by exposure of their trunks, boxes, and their "very persons. The system is highly complex and unintel ligible, hard to understand, and difficult to escape by shaping expenditure to avoid it. * ' rrhl The higher the rates of duty the more con trary is it to sound principles of taxation and political economy. It deviates more and more from the true ends of taxation till it becomes antagonistic to the chief objects of government—the maintenance of justice and equity. WHO PAY TARIFF TAXES? less during the twenty years than the ten years. In 1850 the value of farms was $3,271,- 575,426; in 1860 it was $6,645,045,0*07, a gain of $3,873,469,681, or 103.11 per cent, in ten years of low tariff. From 1860 to 1880, during twenty years of high tariff, the value rose to $10,197,096,776, an in crease of $3,552,051,769, a very little more actually.in twenty years than in the pre- m m■ ■ li if if ceding ten years, and only about half as much proportionately, the gain being 63.45 per cent, in the twenty years of high tariff as against 103.11 per cent, in the ton years of low tariff. HIS GAIN UNDER LOW TARIFFS. In 1850 the value of live-stock on farms was $544,180,516; in 1860 it was $1,089,- 329,915, an increase of $545,149,399, or 100 per cent.; in 1880, after twenty years of high tariff, it had risen to $1,600,464,609, a gain of $411,134,694, which was $134,- 000,000 less increase in twenty years of high tariff than ten years of low tariff, and only 87.74 per cent, of increase in twenty years, after a gain of 100 per cent, in the preced- g ten years. The value of farming implements and machinery in 1850 was $151,587,638, and in 1860, at the end of the low-tariff period, $246,118,141, an increase of $94,530,503, or 62.36 per cent. From 1860 to 1880 the in crease was $160,401,914, or 66.17 per cent, the total value being $406,520,055. In 1870 the specie value of implements and ma chinery was $280,732,034. If the gain from 1870 to 1880 had been 62.36 per cent., as it was from 1850 to 1860, the value in 1880 would have been nearly $50,000,000 greater, or, to be exact, $455,796,514. In the ten years of low tariff ending with 1860 the acreage in farms had in creased 113,651,924 acres, and farm values $3,373,469,681. cent, of the total export. In 1870, after ten years of high tariff, we exported less manu factured goods, reducing values to specie, than in 1860. After ton more years of high tariff we exported less proportionately than in 1860. On the other hand, our exports of agri cultural products were 81.14 per cent, of our total export in 1860, fell to 79.34 per C6nt. in 1870, while in 1880 we sent abroad merchandise of this character worth the enormous sum of $685,961,091, which was 83.25 per cent, of our total export. After twenty years of high tariff, we exported, in 1880, over 2 per cent, more of agricultural product? than in 1860, chiefly breadstufls The~SV5r~ orts in the ipublic FARM MORTGAGES. Most of the farmers had a clear title to their land, a mortgage being a rare excep tion. In the twenty years of high tariff ending with 1880 farm acreage had in creased 128,869,297 acres, and farm values $3,552,051,796. A much greater number of farmers on a much larger acreage made a very little more gain in wealth in twenty years than did a smaller number of farmers on a less acreage in ten. years, and even this comparatively small increase is only apparent and not* real. A correspondent of the New York Times, basing his calcu lations upon Michigan records, estimates that farms in that State, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Ne braska, Kansas, and Missouri are mort- ;ed to the enormous extent of $3,422,- ,000. A very recent issue of the Farmers’ Review, of Chicago, prints state ments of correspondents from which it ap- —ared that of counties reporting jn Ohio per cent, of the farms are under mort- ;e; in Indiana, 26 percent.; in Illinois, per cent.; in Iowa, 44 per cent.; in Ne braska, 61 per cent.; in Wisconsin, 32 per cent.; in Michigan, 50 per cent.; in Ken tucky, 23 per cent., and in Dakota, 69 per cent. gencies which spring out of war. Does any I for the shivering men and women who such emergency now exist? The exper.di- dwell in the land of the blizzard, they gra- tures for the fiscal year on account of war ciously offer the comfort and protection pensions and interest on the war debt are estimated at $120,000,000. This would seem to constitute a full-grown emergency. The expenditures on account of pensions and interest on the war debt are obligations growing out of the war, and it would be manifestly inappropriate to meet them by tariff taxes on the necessaries of life, which we are taught to believe are peace taxes, pure and simple. * The internal tax upon spirits in 1865 was $2 per gallon. It has been reduced to 90 cents. When the war taxes upon the neces saries of life have been reduced a propor tionate amount it will be time enough to commence the further reduction or repeal of the whisky tax. NOT UNDEMOCRATIC. It is further alleged that the internal- revenue taxes are undemocratic. A per sistent and irrational effort is being made to array the people of the South against them on that ground. How is the claim sustained? By assertion, naked, bold, reck less—that, and nothing more. There are no facts to sustain it. There are no fair infer ences to justify it. These taxes have been in force ever since the war. If. it be true that they are in violation of Democratic principle, it is surely possible to find some authoritative utterance against their con tinuance by some convention of the party met to formulate its principles and to nomi nate its candidates. No such utterance can be found. No such declaration was made in either of the conventions of ’68, or ’72, or ’76, or ’80. No such declaration was embodied in the platform of 1884, on which the present Chief Magistrate was elected. On the contraiy, these taxes and the pur poses for which they are collected were dis tinctly recognized, and the pledge was given to the country that the proceeds from them would be " sacredly devoted ” to the relief of the people from the remaining burdens of the war, and to be made a fund for the payment of such pensions as Con gress may from time to time grant. If these taxes be undemocratic it is a little remarkable that not one of the five National Democratic Conventions that have assem bled since the war has put upon record any such declaration. ***** that may be found in untnxed whisky. To the Western farmer, who finds all the pro ceeds of his toil eaten up by outrageous taxes on all he buys, with no compensating benefits by reason of protection in anything which he sells, they oiler a deluge of cheap whisky. To the entreaty of the Southern farmer for cheap iron, cheap farm tools, cheap bagging and ties, cheap salt, in mockery of the hardships under which he struggles, comes the ready offer, in bland benevolence, of untaxed whisky for whites, untaxed whisky for blacks. FREE WHISKY FOR ALL. To the struggling needle-women, who demand cheap tnffeaa, cheap needles, cheap buttons, cheap scissors, cheap thimbles; to the toiling working-man who asks a cheap ening of the few articles that are necessary to the comfort of his humble home; to the freedmen who ask cheap food, cheap cloth ing, cheap books, cheap agencies in their progress and elevation; to the manufact urer, who demands cheap raw materials as the sole condition to his successful compe tition with the whole world; to the ship ping interests, which plead for free ships as a means of restoring the commerce of the country to its pristine glory and great ness—-to each of all these worthy repre sentatives of outraged and failing interests comes the cruel, the impious, the shameless offer of free whisky. It is the sum of all jood. It is the cure of e very ill. If is the inspiration of despairing hope. « Let him drink and forget nis poverty, and remem ber his misery no more.” I need not re peat that whatever is taken off the internal taxes on whisky means so much unneces sary tax laid upon the necessaries of life. THE BLIGHT OF FREE WHISKY. The total imports and exports of mer- T chandise in 1860 were valued at $317,885,- the warrf j 252, and in 1860 at $687,192,176, a gain of 116.17 per cent. In the twenty years of high tariff succeeding, the total value in per cent, during two decades of high tariff as against a gain of 116.17 per cent, in one decade of low tariff. # Great Britain took 62.60 of our exports in 1860 and 61.65 per cent, last year, over ag products of agriculture, which ed fro _ . OUR TARIFF THE HIGHEST. . From Mr. Switzler’s table it appears that I the tariff of the United States, 81.64, is indebtedness to Cuba for sugar. She thus more than double that of Russia, which is lights, profits, and commissions 15.45; it exceeds the combined tariff of I whlch we.ought to and would make with m our ports to Liverpool in her own ships and bought in open market where all the world competes. Instead of paying us directly, she loads her vessels with her manufactured goods and pays sun dry little bills which we owe here and there, such as $45,000,000 balance due Brazil for Russia and Italy, the sum of these being our °, wn “ g°°£? wer ® less than 30 per cent.; it exceeds the com? P** 1 ®. ^ ° f ® bined tariffs of England, France, Germany, I P resent burdensome tariff. and Austria-Hungary, which together amount to 30.42 per cent. Says Mr. Spofford, in the American Al manac, referring toJGerman statistics: “ In 1879 heavy additions were made to the tariff on imported goods, and Germany has returned to an extreme protective system.” The extreme protection afforded by Ger many is found in a tariff rate of 9.02 per cent. Three times the German tariff, 27.06 WHO OWN THE VESSELS. per cent., lacks 4.48 of the present tariff of lSfio’J! 1870 American 22647 the United States, is less than the tariff pro- I From 1860 1870 ’ Ame can ’ “ ,647 » posed in the Mills bill, and would be de nounced as " free trade ” by the monop olists! What would they think of a return to the extreme protection rate of Germany, 9.02 per cent. ? Let us see who owns the vessels which have transported the enormous quantities of merehanduein the last thirty-seven years exported from and imported into this coun try. From 1850 tp 1860 the tonnage of ves sels entered at seaports of the United States from foreign countries was as follows: American, 29,404,994 tons, or 67 per cent.; foreign, 14,392,560 tons, or 33 per cent. From 1860 to 1870, American, 22,647,333 tons, or 46 per cent.; foreign, 26,451,441 tons, or 54 per cent. From 1870 to 1880, American, 28,518,537 tons, or 28 per cent.; foreign, 74,465,573 tons, or72percent., anti from 1880 to and including 1887 (seven I am in favor of real, honest, bona fide protection—protection against all wrong and injustice—even against the injustice, wrong, and gross partiality now practiced And yet*the United States are the most I joawj^ericau, 19,^866 tons,or Si per in the sacred name of "protection. “ .. . 3 cent - foreign. 73.897.204 tons, or 79 tier ^HEIR DEPRESSING INFLUENCE. The depressing influence of farm mort gages is now felt in my o wn'St&ttf-ttS never was before and I hope will never be again. Complete records are not at hand, but when ten States are reported to be mortgaged in an amount almost as large as the entire increase in farm values from 1860 to 1880, it is very safe to declare that while the farmers’ gains in the ten low- tariff years, from 1850 to 1860, went into their own pockets, the increase in farm values' during the twenty vears of high tariff, from 1860 to 1880, did not begin to be sufficient to satisfy the mortgages placed on farms during the latter period. In other words, the farmer worked for himself dur ing the ten years of low tariff, and for the money-lender during twenty years of high tariff. The present high tariff is a blight upon the country and all its interests—upon agriculture, upon commerce, upon manu factures, upon population, upon wealth, upon railroads which unite distant sections, and upon the ships which ought to carry our products of agriculture and manufact ures to the uttermost parts of the globe. The comparisons which I have made are instructive, but the idea is not a new one. Mr. Calhoun, in a speech in the Senate on March 16,1842, contrasted with much more force and clearness the years of high tariff, from 1824 to 1882, inclusive, with the suc ceeding years under the lower and compro mise tariff, from 1832 to 1840, inclusive. ***** In the light of the wise and sober utter ances of the sage of Monticello, I declare that no greater wrong could be perpetrated on my section than to abolish the whisky tax. It would flood our States with cheap whisky, demoralize and brutalize our labor ing class, and render worse than nugatory the labors of a quarter of a centuty in the interest of their advancement. It would be an outrage on all our people, but against the negro race it would rise to the propor tions of a hideous and appalling crime. A distillery upon every spring branch, a peck of corn bartered for a quart of whisky, a jug of the devil’s swill in every cabin will convert every neighborhood into a pandemonium, and expose to danger the rarity of every Christian household. Faiu- lies would fly into the town; aiid'cities and abandoH-thfrUGURtry to the orgies of sen sual, drunken, debauched wretches. It is a universally recognized principle in all civilized governments that luxuries and articles promotive of vice are esi dally fitting subjects of taxation. T1 principle is of wise and just application n all governments, but peculiarly so in those which depend for their glory, their greatness, and their perpetuity on the virtue and intelligence of their people. It is impossible to deny honestly and logically the justness of the principle or the fairness and propriety of its application to the taxes in question. Burdens upon vice are incentives to virtue. It is right to make vice and vicious tendencies pay dear for the privilege of existence. I am not for giving to whisky, so far as the per mit of Government can give it, the unre strained freedom of the country. Untaxed whisky will be cheap whisky. Chea] whisky will necessarily result in increase* consumption. Increased consumption will be followed by increase in lawlessness and crime and degradation. » CHARGES OF CRUELTY AND OPPRESSION, FEDERAL METHODS NOT APPLICABLE. Under the constitution of several of the States—Georgia is among them—the levy of taxes must be made ad valorem. You could not transplant the Federal method into that system. If it were possible to do so by any scheme or device whatsoever, the fact that the surrounding States might not adoptasimilarpolicyorimposeacorrespond- ing rateof taxation would render the scheme an utter failure. With the tax in Tennes see at 10 cents per gallon and with no tax at all in Illinois and Kentucky, how could the Georgia manufacturer compete in the sale of his product taxed at 90 cents per gallon? Laws could not be framed to remedy the difficulty. Besides, to transfer the system to the States would not relieve the harshness and cruelty complained of; the collection would be made then by offi cers of the State, as they are made now by Federal officials who are citizens of the State, identified with the people and enjoy- THE REAL PROTECTION. There is a dim but false idea afloat in some minds that somehow the importer, the middle jonan, or the foreign manufacturer pays the tax. By tracing the transaction the mistake is revealed. The duty is, in the first place,'paid to the custom-house officer by the importer. The importer adds the duty to the price with his profits on both. He sells at the increased price, in cluding the profit on prime cost and duty, 18 the retailer, and he sells to the consumer at a price including his profit on the entire cost. Out of the pockets of tho consumers comes, at Iasi, the uttermost farthing. , In the State tax the tax-collector pays into the State treasury, but the citizen pays him first. Tho money does not come out of the collector’s pocket. In Federal taxa tion the importer pays into the Treasury and collects afterwards. All the taxes, at last, are paid by the citizen, not by the agents of Government. All these instru mentalities are mere conduits between the tax-payer and the Government. The tax payers do not understand the operation. In State taxes they understand it all—they see . and pay the tax-gatherer and take a receipt. In Federal taxation they do not know who collects, how much he collects, when, how, or for what purpose. They are as ignorant as if they had no interest in the results, so little do the people know of tho direct op eration of the tariff. favored" nation on earth in the abundance I, f*" and variety of their natural resources. cen ^‘ 7n I860, under a low tariff, 67 per They stand least in need of protection, and <? nt ' ? f ou " f ® re,gn tr ^? w “, ca " ied °® ‘. n their tariff is more than double the highest American bottoms and but 83 per cent, in „ __- ot foreign bottoms. In 1887, after twenty-six ^ g 710 I years of high tariff, foreign bottoms did on an average 79 per cent, of our carrying railroads. I trade abroad, while only 21 per cent, en- There were 9,021 miles of railroad in the | gaged the attention of American bottoms, United States in 1850. The mileage in 1860 was 30,635, an increase of 239.6 per'cent, during the low-tariff period. In 1870 there The tonnage of sail and steam vessels was a 'mileage of 62,914, a gain of 72.72 per built in the United States from 1850 to 1860 cent. These figures had increased to 93,349 amounted to 3,666,026 tons; from 1860 to in 1880, a gain of 76.41 per cent. In the 1870, 8,008,881 tons; from 1870 to 1880, twenty years of high tariff, from 1860 to I 2,538,004 tons, and from 1880 to 1887, 1880, there was a gain in mileage of 204.7 1,458,629 tons. per cent, as against a gain of 239.6 per cent. The tonnage of sail and steam vessels of in the ten years of low tariff from 1860 to the United States engaged in foreign trade 1860. How much the duty on iron and was 1,439,694 tons in 1860. After ten years steel rails checked railroad building during of low tariff it rose in 1860 to 2,379,396 two decades of high tariff may not be cor- tons. In 1870 it declined to 1,448,846 tons; rectly estimated, but it is easy of conjecture. I in 1880 to 1,814,402 tons, and in 1887 to 1 989,412 tons—the smallest amount of , , , . American tonnage in foreign trade since The capital employed in manufactunng lg46) when it was 943|8 07 tons. After establishments in 1850 was $538,245,851. twenty-six years of high tariff the tonnage .During ten years oflowteriff, up to I860, of American vessels in foreign trade was it had increased to $l,009,8o5,715, a gain of onl 46 i 0 5 tons more than it had been 89.87 per cent. In 1880 this capital was for ^ y . one years before. $2,790,272,606, an increase of 1/0.34 per In I860, out of a total import and export, cent, in twenty years of high tariff, manu- coin and bul i ion j nc i H ded. valued at $762- facturing, especially for army supplies, bav- 288.550, American vessels carried enough ing been stimulated during and on account to amourvt in value t0 $507,247,757; in of the war. Here the high tariff would 1887> w ;th a total export and import, coin seem to hold its own; but appearances are and bullion included, valued at $1,504,- often, as in this case, deceptive. In 18*0, 571452, American vessels carried only five years after the close of the war, the $222,476,047. worth about 44 per cent, of capital in manufactures was $2,118,208,769 the value carr ; ed j n 18GO, when the total in greenbacks, or $1,765,173,974 in specie. va j ue G f exports and imports was about The ratio of increase on this specie capital half t jj at of 18 g 7> Less than thirty years in the ten high-tariff years from 1870 to of b i g li protection has almost cleared the 1880 was 58 per cent., against 89.37 per seas 0 f American vessels in foreign trade, cent, in the ten low-tariff years from I80O p e f ore t b ey are entirely swept away the to 1860. Had the percentage of increase American people are likely to see to it that from 1870 to 1880 oeen as large as from I a ^ obstacles in the shape of tariff and nav- 1850 to 1860, the capital invested in manu- - would protect all honest industry against being plundered in the interest of a few wire-workers. I would protect the great hard-working mass of toiling people against the deceptions and traps of the bosses and managers. I would give the people an honest platform of honest principles, would take the devil’s hymn and make it serve God—the false protection of monop oly and make it the true protection of the citizen. faeturing in 1880 would have been $550,- 000,000 more than it was, or $3,342,692,837. WHY PKICKS DECREASE. It is true that prices in this age of pro gress are low, and will constantly grow PRODUCTS OK MANUFACTURES. In the matter of products the same phe nomena appear. In 1850 the total value was $1,019,106,616. In 1860 it was $1,885,- 861,676, a gain of 85 per cent. In 1880, after twenty years of high tariff, the prod uct was valued at $5,369,679,191, a gain of 184.7 per cent, since 1860. The same causes which enlarged manufacturing capital in 1861-’65 increased manufactured products; but compare 1870 with 1880. The product of 1870 was valued at $4,232,325,442 in greenbacks, or $3,626,937,868 in specie. If the gain from 1870 to 1880 had been 85 per cent., as it was from 1850 to 1860, the igation laws are done away with. INTERNAL REVENUE TAXES. THE FARMER. But, after all, the farmer who sells his surplus crop in the cheapest and buys what he cannot do without in the dearest market has the best right to complain. In 1850 there were 293,560,614 acres of improved and unimproved land in farms; in 1860 there were 407,212,638 acres, an increase of 113,651,924, or 38.71 per cent.; in 1870 there were a very few more acres than in Since the conclusive showing by the President of the necessity for getting rid of the immense and growing surplus, it has been discovered that the internal revenue taxes are intolerable burdens. It has also been discovered by "some unknown species of political clairvoyance that Mr. Jefferson is exceedingly angry at their existence, and that all the other fathers of the Republic turn uneasily and unhappily in their graves. It is announced with solemn and dra matic affectation of sincerity that they are undemocratic, and that they are odious. Some thick and thin partisans of another and far worse system of taxation have de nounced them. They are charged with being barbarous methods which in Russia lead out to Siberia and to death in its frozen wilds. . . But what is there in all this ? Nothing but a subtle and inexcusable purpose to retard, if not altogether to prevent, a reduc tion of the tariff taxes on the necessaries of life. This is the purpose and the end, with few exceptions, of all the wild assertion and cunning pretense with which the taxes on whisky and tobacco are arraigned before the bar of public opinion. Aroused by the dangers to which a re duction of the surplus may expose monopo lies and trusts, the partisans of high-tariff spoliation have suddenly waked up to the fact that the internal-revenue taxes are war taxes, in a sense which does not apply to contemporaneous tariff taxes on the neces saries of life. It is further charged that there is harsh ness, cruelty, and oppression in the execu tion of these laws. We are told of “Sibe rian exile ” and " Russian despotism. Frightful and pathetic pictures are drawn of martyred men and citizens who have been taken from the bosoms of their fcm ilies, hurried through the forms of trial, and mercilessly condemned to exile and impris onment a thousand miles from their homes. I was shocked and horrified at the thought that numbers of my own fellow-citizens of Georgia were pining away in the dungeons at Albany, N. Y., without the solace and sympathy of friends to-alleviate their ca lamity. I sought for information ; the record is before me. The imprisonments in Northern prisons for the past five years from the northern district of Georgia (there are none from the southern) have been as follows: One for fraudulent accounts, one for nsion frauds, two for perjury, one for ‘ ing into Government warehouse, nine for counterfeiting, ten for conspiracy, thir teen for violation of postal laws, and three for violation of internal-revenue laws. " RUSSIAN METHODS. Mark it I Three victims of " Russian methods ” from both the revenue districts of Georgia for the past five years I One $rould have thought from the passionate denunciations of the internal-revenue sys tern that its officers had put out drag-nets and depopulated the mountain region of my State, with a view to colonizing with suffering martyrs the alleged Siberia of the North. Let us look, to the record again. Three for violation of internal-revenue laws Thirteen for violation of postal laws 1 Why do we not hear of "Siberian exile” and " Russian despotism ’’ in connection with the postal laws ? Why are they not de nounced as odious, and the cry raised, “ They must go; they must go.” The an swer is obvious. The retention of the postal laws is no harrier to the schemes of ing their confidence and sympathy. If it be said that the States would pass laws re lieving the system of its rigor, the reply is, so may the General Government, and Dills are in progress now to effect that result. SMALL INTEREST IN INTERNAL RKYENV Wtfi" ^ The interest of the people of the United States and of my own State in the repeal of the internal revenue is astonishingly small. The repeal will hurt one thousand where it helps one. The reduction of the tariff will help one thousand where it hurts one. at appl to that will be true aa to others. .Of the 800,000 colored people in Georgia not one is benefited by the tariff, nor one hurt by the internal revenue. Of the 900,000 whites, half are women, not one hurt by the internal revenue; of the other half, males, one half minors, not one hurt by internal revenue. Of the fraction of the population remaining, even the drinking men do not think themselves helped and do not regard cheap whisky as a boon to them. THE TOBACCO TAXES. With respect to the tax on tobacco, I would retain the tax on cigars and cigar ettes. They are by ho means necessaries— they are the indulgencies of gentlemen and des. As a measure of compromise to dm compr effect a general reduction of the tariff, I would consent to remove the tax on to bacco in all other forms. ,y, present tariff of. abominations, with the tariff of different periods of our history, showing that the tariff of 1790, prepared by ' Hamilton, the father of protection, com pared with the present tariff of 1888, stands as one to three to a people then of three millions, now of sixty; for a people then scattered and young compared with a coun try now knit together by 120,000 miles of railroad, with telegraphs, newspapers, etc. And still we have “ infant industries ” a hundred years old, growing yearly more clamorous for the bottle. I have shown relative prosperity during the low-tariff period and the high—the former exceeding the latter in the country and in every Stcte in aggregate wealth and in every detail. COMPARISON OF TARIFFS. Finally, I have compared our tariff with iff < * mf the tariff of other great powers with the astonishing result that it exceeds the com bined tariffs of England, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. I know no better way of understanding the subject than by such comparisons. If the protectionists will show us a better way I will follow it. Choose ye between economy and extrav agance, necessaries and whisky, tax and tribute. Thus the two simple, well-chosen propositions.of the President stand con firmed in the light of the closest investiga tion: Opposition to them is only possible by denying truisms; argument only by obscuring them. the monopolist—the repeal of the internal- .heralding “ peace on earth, good will to or 31.64 per cent. The actual increase in acreage in twenty years of high tariff was only 15,000,009 acres in excess of the actual increase during ton years of low tariff, and TWO KINDS OF WAR TAXES. At the bare mention of taxes on whisky and’tobacco the cry of “war taxes” is raised, and night end day are made hideous with visions and howls of war, of bloodshed, of barbarism, of vandalism. But when you speak to them of other war taxes—of taxes 1860; in 1880 there were 536,081,836 acres, on salt, on sugar, on rice, on coal, on iron, an increase of 128,869,279 acres since 1860, on clothing, on wool, on blankets, on farm tools—they are a - ’ gentle as sucking doves No respectable statesman of the country, of any party whatsoever, denies the advisa bility of excise taxes for meeting the emer- revenue laws removes the chief obstacles to the preservation of a high tariff. If objection is made to the internal-reve nue laws because they are searching and inquisitorial, the same objection applies with equal force for tho abolition of the custom and postal laws, all of which are enforced by similar methods and under similar pains and penalties. • MODIFY THE LAWS. If the laws are too rigid in themselves ; if the processes under them are too harsh, let them he amended and modified. This can he done, if necessary, without affect ing their objects or efficiency. During the present Congress numerous bills have been introduced which will remedy all the abuses which have been charged against the internal-revenue laws; but no modifi cation, no change, however beneficent, will suit the high-tariff beneficiaries. A NEW EMANCIPATION. A new act of emancipation is needed, freeing more whites than the Lincoln proc lamation freed of blacks, and setting the blacks—far more numerous now—wholly free. Moreover, and best of all this will be a bloodless victory of the ballot, not of the bullet—a victory of peace, not of war, which, when once inaugurated, will be per manent—promotive of the harmony of the sections and the brotherhood of classes, and They are willing to relieve the distresses of the suffering, monopoly-ridden miners of Pennsylvania by furnishing them abun dance of cheap whisky, but deny them cheap food ana clothing. To the demand for cheap coal, lumber, nails, and blankets Could we' bring the country hack to the sound doctrine that labor should not he pauperized by charity, and that monopoly was not to he fostered by tribute; could we restore to capitalists and manufacturers a manly sense of independence and self- reliance ; could wo lift that noble army of honest toilers, those untold millions who never get protection, from the bondage they are under to support special classes ; could we place labor where in the nature of things it might stand, giving and receiv ing equal benefits; could we by the crush- ing power of public reprobation drive out of decent recognition that man or set of men. who claim the right to levy tribute upon another man’s industry to support his own ; could we say to all parts of the earth that we are one in the blood of a common civilization, and all countries are one in the common wealth of God, and that we come to them upon the wings of our noble ships bearing the endless and varied bounty that God has given us to exchange with them, then we might boast of a Re public that asked nothing but peace—that is the oppressor of none, but tue emanci pator of all. 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