OREGON
ENTERPRISE.
VOL. G.
OREGON CITY, OKEGON, FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1872.
NO. 30.
&l)C lUcclil" vntcvpiisc.
A D EMO CllA TIC PA PER,
FOK TIIK
Business Man, the Farmer
J,td the FAMILY CIRCLE.
MSIED EVERY FUIDAY BY
A. NOLTNER,
v.mtor asi) ruiii.isiiKn.
OFFICE la Dr.Thessing'sDrick Ruilding
O
TERMS of SUBSCIUPTWX:
Riogle Copy one year, in advance,. f2 50
TERMS of ADVERTISING :
Transient advertisements, including all
!ei;il notices. sf. of 12 lines, 1 w.$ 2 50
For each subsequentinsertion 1 HO
One Column, one year $120 00
if Air " " 00
Quarter " " 4!
limine Card, 1 square one year 12
&f Ilt-mitt'iWft to be made tt the risk o
Subscriber, and at the espms? of Agents.
BOOK AND JOB PIIIXTIXG.
as- The Enterprise office is supplied with
beautiful, approved styles of type, and mod
ern MACHINE PRKSSF.S. which will enable
lie Proprietor to do Jb Piiiiting at all times
Neat, Quick and Cheap !
4"j- Work solicited.
All Busline trans.irtion upon a Sprrifi biri..
UUSIXXSS CARDS
II. W ATKINS, M. D ,
SURGIuON. P.ntTi.AM. Oitr.; n.
OFFICE Odd Fellows' Temple, coiner
First ,nd lder streets Residence corner of
Main and Seventh streets.
8. HL'KL.VT.
CH.VS. K. WAKKF.W
HUELAT & WARREN
Attorneys at Law,
OFFICE CIUIIMAX'S liltlCK, MUX STltKKT,
orfcox citv,o::kgont.
March I.s7-J:tf
F. BARCLAY, IVI. R- C. 3.
Formerly Suiyeon to the Hon. II. 15. "o.
3", Vmrs ExiwrU-nte.
ru.urricixo physician axi suhokox,
Mnln Street, Oregon City,
JOHNSON & McCOWN
ATTORNEYS AND rOUNSELMlS AT-LAW,
OREGON CITY, OKEGON.
"WILL I'UACTICE IN ALL THE COURTS
of the State.
jjrfSpeeial attention given to cases in the
U. Si Land Office at Oregon City.
April .", lS7-':tf
W. F. HIGHFIELD,
Et,iblislied since IStO.at the old stand,
Muin St rest, Oregon City, Oregon.
An Assortment of Watches, Jew
elry, ami Seth Thomas' weight.
Clocks, all of which are warranted
to he -a represented.
llepairuigs done on snori nonce,
.lid thankful for past favors.
CLARK GE.EENMAN,
tj 1 1 y 19 ra y in a is ,
cj&JZ3 0 It EG 0 X CI TV.
3U All orders for the delivery of merchan
dise or packages and freight of whatever des
criptiou. to any part of the city, willbeexe
e tte 1 promptly and with care.
A. G. CALLING'S
Pioneer Book Bindery.
Corner of Front nnil Aider Street,
PORTLAND, OREGON.
IlLANK HOOKS RULED and ROUND to
inr desired pattern.
MUSIC ROOKS, MAGAZINES, SEWS
I'APERS, Etc., bound in every variety of
tyle known to t lie trade.
Orders from the country promptly at
fended to.
JOHN M. 15 AGO X,
Importer and Dealer in
HS3S CCS TSCL. fg5
STATIONERY, PERFUMERY. Ac, Ac,
Oregon City, Oregon.
At Chiirtnii'i 4" IVitrnrr' ohl utiitid, lately oc
cupied, by S. Askcrnt'tii, JIaii strtet.
lo tf
DR. J. WELCH,
DENTIST.
OFFICE In Odd FellrwV Ten pie, m
of First and Alder St reds, Po iI'mc'.
The patronage of those desiring superior
operations is in special request. Nitrousox
ide for the painlesH extraction of teeth.
t-T Artificial teeth "better than the best,'
And rheup f the .'if ife?.
Will be in Oregon Cttvon Saturday.
Kov. 3:tf
f. M. TBOMPSSK, C W. FITCU.
THOMPSON &. FITCH,
Attorney? sit JLnw,
.1X11
Real Estate Agents,
EUGENE CITY, OREGON,
orriCKTWO doors xohth of the postoffice.
REAL ESTATE R OUGHT AND SOLD.
LOANS NEGOTIATED, AND AB
STRACT OF TITLES FURNLSIIED.
TfE HAVE A COMPLETE ABSTRACT
V V of Title of all property in Eugene
City, and perfect plats of the same, prepared
with great care. We will practice in the
different Courts of the Stat--. Special at
tention given to the collection of all claims
that may be placed in our bauds. Legal
Tenders bought find sold. sepStr
THE TAItlFF IUITI()V.
SPEECH OP IIOX. .TAS. II. SLATER.
Delircrfd in the Ilonse of Ir;irfcii
titlivtx, April 37, l7:-i.
Mr. Chairman, now that a general re
vision of one tariff laws is under consid
eration, it will be well to consider the
Condition of the country as affected by its
fiscal operations and legislation in the
past and up to the present time. It is
time. sir. that should engage the attention
of each member upon this fioor,and should
secure his best efforts to correct acknowl
edged wrongs and manifest abuses, which
affect the country through its legislation
and the administration of its affairs.
It will not. be denied. I think, that there
is discontent abroad in the land, that the
people are chafed and wearied wiih the
burdens w hich the laws and their admin
istration impose upon them. This is fully
attested by that cry which comes up to
this Capitol imploring and demanding re
lief, retrenchment, and reform.
Wherefore, sir. is it that our ship-yards
are idle, that our commerce has declined,
and that our carrying trade is now in for
eign hands? I low is it that the profits of
labor and capital are so unequally divid
ed, that capi'al concentrated in monopo
lies is favored and protected, while labor
is forced to an unequal contest and with
difficulty ekes out a scanty and precarious
subsistence ? These, sir, are the questions
of the hour they concern the people, and
the evils they suggest find 'their root in
your fi-cal legislation, and their thrift in
an extravagant, piolligate. and vicious ad
ministration of public affairs.
It is not enough that your Treasury is
filled to overflowing by excessive taxes
wrung from the sweat and toil of the peo
ple, but. after all the legitimate needs of
the Government are supplied, swelled to
extravagant proportions, there is retained
in iis vaults trom year to year a surplus
of many millions of the public funds,
equaling forty -wv cent, of our annual
revenues, which is thus rendered unpro
ductive and idle, for no other apparent
reason than to invite lo extravagant ap
propriations and reckless expenditure.
Spies and informers stalk abroad, infest
ing every avenue of business, filching
through moieties fines, and penalties,
wrung from their victims, often by decep
tion, bribery and corruption. Incompe
tent and dishonest men find asylum and
office in every grade of the civil service,
while the Federal Executive and his chief
officers are openly accused, and not with
out reason, of complicity with rings form
ed or existing (or the purpose of further
ing peculating schemes upon the Treas
ury. Sir, this is a picture of the demoral
ization of public affairs more truthful than
pleasing, and presents a condition of the
country, in till its varied machinery ot
governmental adminisrration and its mul
tiplied relations with business. which chal
lentres the considerate attention of its leg
islators, both as to the cause ot these pub
lic disorders, and as to the remedy to be
made U'-H' of to ellect their cure.
It requires no argument to demonstrate
the proposition that it the ills and misfor
tunes which now afflict the country are to
be cured or abated, it can alone be done
by a prompt and effectual removal of
their promoting cause. This may be said
tn be s If evident. Wisdom, then, would
dictate that thorough search be made for
such promoting cause, and when found,
that it be at once and effectually removed
root and branch.
Mr. Chairman, it may be boldly assert
ed as a proposition "susceptible of proof
to reasonable minds that the disorders
and evils so much complained of. such as
t he depression of labor, the rapid growth
and domiiance of monopolies, the decline
of American tonnage and commerce, and
the unequal division ot the joint accumu
lations and profits of labor p.nd capital,
have their origin directly and solely in
ttie financial legi-lation of the country
and in the administration of those laws.
An examination of the financial opera
tions and fiscal legislation of the country
for the past lew years will most fully ver
ify this declaration.
At the close of the last fiscal year the
volume of currency in the United States
could not have exceeded SI .000.00!). out).
In this are included gold and silver, na
tional bank notes, currency and fraction
al c n rency.
Over S700.000.000 of this volume was
the representative of money, a mere shad
ow of the substance, and rested for its ul
timate redemption upon less than SOO.
00O.O00 of metallic currency. The fiscal
operations of the Government for that
single year required seventy per cent, of
all the gold and silver in the country to
pass through the hands of its ieceivers of
customs in payment of the duties upon
foreign importations, and full thirty-eight
per cent, of all the money in the United
States, whether metallic or paper, was re
quired of the labor and industries of the
country in the payment of Government
taxes.
Hut we gain an inadequate conception
of the magnitude of these fiscal operations
and their necessary effect upon the busi
ness of the country .if we confine our view
to a single year. It is only when a pe
riod of years are grouped together that
tue vast proportions of agtrrcates and re
sults are clearly made apparent. The
last six years of fi-cal operations in the
United Sta'es present in the magnitude of
results and effects, a spectacle without a
parallel in the history of fiscal operations
in this or any other country. The value
of figures is lost in the magnitude to which
aggregates are swelled, as the mind is in
capable of grasping the total of results.
During the period of six years ending
June 30. 1871, and to the present, time,
there ha been no want of experiment in
the direction of taxation. Under the op
eration of your fiscal legislation the tax
ga'herer has been omnipresent, exacting
tribute from every class and condition of
society. He has been made to relentless
ly pursue the people, and to exact con
tribution of their substance in the increas
ed cost of every article of primo necessity
or luxury. Kiting up or sitting down,
waging or sleeping, in their eniovments
and in their necessities, in health 'and in
sickness, in lif and in death, they have
known no escape from assessments and
exactions made and effected through the
operations of your laws. Exeessi ve'taxa
tion. producing enormous revenues, has
invited its concomitant evil, extravagant
and reckless expenditure in wasu-rufand
unusual appropriations of th public
funds ; and yet. w ith all the profligacy of
a cuuiwHiiy corrupt administration off
tne pontic revenues, there has been for !
the prst six years constantly retained in j
the Treasury unused a vast surplus of
puouc innus.
Mr. Chairman, during the past six years
ending June 3D, 1871. there was drawn
fioai the labor and industries of the couu- j
try from nil sources of taxation the sum
of $2.tJ0S,S2:j.003 a sum equal to more
than two and a half times the entire vol
ume of the circulating medium of the
country, including all the gold and silver,
with all the greenbacks, all the national
bank notes, and all the fractional curren
cy of the country. Of this amount the
sum of Sl.180.7b0.027 was derived from
duties upon foreign irnports.and was paid
in gold, being an amount equal to about
four times the volume of the metallic cur
rency in the United States. It is also to
be remembered that during this entire pe
riod from thirty to forty per cent, of the
metallic currency, and from twelve to
sixteen per cent, of the combined curren
cy of the country was withdrawn from
circulation and business and retained in
the Treasury.
This surplus so withdrawn from ciren
lation and the business of the country is
stated by the Secretary of the Treasury
at the close of each year of this period.
The balance was. in
lSOC Slf-0.817.OD7
18(17 i'.i8.o7;.;;;;7
108 158.IKiO.082
I8i;:) is;i 781 085
170 177.007 512
1871 138.017.122
Making an average surplus of S112
437.205 constantly retained in the Treas
ury ufu r deducting the sum of $28,101.
122 deposited with the States. Is it a mat
ter of surprise that there is a restiveness
among the people in view of these facts ?
Is it lo be wondered at that the industrial
interests of the country are and hae been
depressed, and that a demand comes up
from the toiling millions. and is somewhat
imperative, for immediate relief, when the
magnitude of the burdens imposed upon
them by legislation here enacted is con
sidered ?
Mr. Chairman, let us glance at some of
the industrial and commercial interests of
the country and see how they have pros
pered din ing this period of excessive tax
ation and enormous fiscal operations, and
discover, if possible, to what extent these
interests have been depressed by taxation.
In the year ending June 30, 1805, the year
preceding the commencement of the pe
riod referred to. the Uegst r of the Navy
vy leported our total tonnage at 5.090.7.1
tons. The suite officer reports our ton
nage in 171 at 4.2S2.G07 tons, showing a
decline in our tonnage of over S00.u;h
tons equal to fifteen per cent, of our en
tire tonnage.
Rut while this pos'tive decline resulted
in six years there was an increase in out
population of at least fifieeii per cent. ;
so that to have maintained our relative
rank of tonnage with population there
should have- been an increase in our ton
nage corresponding to the increase in cur
population. It i i theiefore apparent that
the actual and relative decline of our ton
nage in the six years was equal to thirty
per cent. From the same source we learn
that in the year 1805 the tonnage of ves
sels built in our Khip-ards amounted to
333 805 tons against a tonnage ot 273.220
tons built in the year 1871. a decline of
thirty-one per Cent. ; and as compared
with population a decline of forty six
per cent.
During this period our foreign imports
rose from S231. J3 1. 107 in 1805, to 5 1 1 .
t'.)3.7(IS in 1871 showing that we purchas
ed in the last year largely more than dou
ble from foreign countries what we did
in 1805. More exactly stated, our imports
increased in six years one hundred and
thirty-one per cent. Our exports rose
(mm S30U.3oO.758 in value in 1-05 to
S502.5 1 b.()5 1 in ls71 . showing an increase
of S250.211.8JI3. an increase equal to
eighty-three per cent. Thus it. appears
that our increase of impoits was fifty
eight per cent, greater than the per cent,
increase of our exports. These figures
and statements show very clearly that
while the people have responded to your
tax-gatherers. and your Treasury has been
filled to oveillowing. our tonnage has de
clined thirty percent. Our ship building,
then depressed, has fallen off forty-six per
cent., and the per cent, increase of our
foreign purchases largely exceeds ihe per
cent, increase of our sales to foreign coun
tries : but. sir. they do not so clearly dis
close the burdens which are imposed upon
the shoulders of the consumer and tax
I aver.
Gold is the only measure of values t hat
is known to the commercial world, and in
estimating the weight of taxation in any
given period, unless the fact that, gold is
the only recognized measure of values is
considered, a very incorrect conclusion
must of necessity be the result, and espec
ially so when a depreciated paper curren
cy enters into the fiscal operations of the
country. In 1805 the customs receipts
into the Treasury were S81.f2S,200 in
coin. The receipts f rom all ot her sources
of revenue amounted to S237.075.8JJ7 in
currency, which, when reduced to its gold
value, with gold at 100. or above, as it
was in the fi-cal year year 1805. amounted
to SI 18. 172. -110. "w liicii. added to the re
ceipts from customs, made the whole rev
enues of the Government for that year in
gold 8233.132. G70. while for the fiscal
year 1871 there was collected from cus
toms the sum of S2O0.27O.-1O8 in coin, and
from other sources S 108.1 00. 005 in cur
rency, which reduced io coin value, with
go'd at 112. would make the sum of $150.
115,437, m iking the whole revenues of
that year, estimated in gold. Ihe sum of
$350. 313. 815. showing an increase of $123.
181.175, being over fifty-two per cent, in
crease of taxation in six years, and mak
ing due allowance for increase of popula
tion, the taxes of 1871 was thirty-seven
per cent, greater than in 1805. And yet.
sir. the people have been constantly as
sured by men in high position, speaking
for the Administration and for the dom
inant part)", that the country was pros
perous, the Government honestly and
economically administered, and that tax
ation was being reduced.
Mr. Chairman, during the period I have
been speaking of the duties imposed by
our tariff laws were the highest ever
known in any period of the existence ot
our Government. They have been con
fessedly protective in their character, and
it there is any virtue in the principles of j
protection as advocated by American pio
tectionisls. Mich virtue ought to be found
flourishing since 105. We have already
seen that the first result of these Lig l
tariff exactions has been to largely in
crease the burdens of the people by swell
ing their taxes ; a closer examination w ill
disclose the further fact, that under the
operation of these laws they h ive been
made to bear vastly greater indirect and
onerously nneq il burdens.
Tiie contributions which are levied up
on the people to secure the needful rev
enues for an honest and economical ad
ministration of the Government, when so
levied as to rest uniformly upon all with
out favoritism toward any class or condi
tion, are not to be complained of by the ;
citizen ; but when they are so levied and j
exacted that capital is relieved at the ex- j
pense of labor, when monopolists are
favored and enriched at the expense of j
nOTTRTrST OF
and to the detriment of" the consumer,
ihen there is just cause of eomplaint. for
the reason that taxation is not. uniform,
and docs not rest with equal weight upon
all.
The theory of protection is based upon
the assumption that it is necessary and a
wise political economy to foster home
manufactures by imposing a tax upon all
manufactured articles of foreign countries
offered for sale in the United States, so
that they shall be so increased in price
when placed in the American market that
the American manufacturer, selling his
wares at the same price as the foreign
articles increased by the addition of the
tariff tax. shall be able to realize a profit.
and thereby be induced to continue and
extend his manufacture-". Without stop
ping to inquire into the correctness of
this theory at this poir-. I will call inten
tion to ihe cost which the great body of
the people have been paying as the
price for protection under our present
tariff laws, which are arranged upon the
principle that it is a good and wise policy
lo lay burdens upon the whole people
for the benefit of ten per cent, of our
population, as it is well known lhat less
than ten per cent, of our population are
connected wiih protected industries.
The value of foreign importations into
the United Slates of iron and steel, and
their manufacturers which entered into
consumption in the year ending June 30
liS7I, was S-13,-125 1)J5. and the import up
on these imported products and manufac
tures amounted to $18. ;58, 083. During
Hie same year there was produced and
manufactured in the United States, which
also entered into our home consumption
under the heads of pig iron, railroad
iron, merchantable bar and rod iron, nails
and spikes, axles and like articles, old
rails and scrap iron and steel, all of which
may be classed as primary products, in
value not less than S200.000.00t)
To protect- these primary productions
and manufactures of iron and steel in
that year we imposed a tax of $18,058,083
upon foreign importations of iron and
steel and their manufactures, a tax equal
to f.,rty-lhree per cent, upon invoice val
uation, before allowing the imported
article U be placed on sale in our markets.
And now, sir, what was the result cf the
imposition of such duty t We add forty
three per cent, to the value of foreign
iniuorts of iron and steel at the custom
house, and put $18,058,083 coin drawn
from the consumer into the Government
l'reasury. ami in doing this enabled our
own iron masters to place upon Ihe market
and sell their product for $280. 000.000
which without this duty they would have
sold for only $200,000,000. or the cost and
reasonable profits of its production, there
by enabling them to put into their pockets
S80.0ii0.000. which was also drawn from
t he coiisti ir.er.
Thus the protection of our iron interest
and industries in only their primary pro
ductions cost the whole people in one
year $18,058,083 in duties paid to the
Government, ami $80,000,000 in the en
hancement of the hime product consumed
by the people, which went a a royalty to
the protected iron master. In this way
forty million people are made to pay a
protective tribute upon the primary pro
ductions of iron and steel, tii.it the one
per cent, engaged in their production may
be enriched at the expense of the ninety
nine per cent. : taking, by the operation
of your tariff laws, $80,000,000 in one
year from the whole body of consumers,
and giving it. to the oiie jut cent, engaged
in tiie production of iron and sleel. in the
enhancement of the value of their pro
ductions. Now. let us look at another article, and
its manufactures of large consumption in
this country, one of prime necessity
among all classes and conditions of the
people wool and the manufactures of
wool. In the fiscal year 1871 the importa
tion of wool and woolen mauufic ures
consumed in the United States at invoice
values amounted to $52,700,008. The
domestic manufactures of wool for that
year may be safely estimated at $175,000,
000. including cost of production and the
usual interest for capital : so '.hat this
i amount represents the cost value of the
manufactured product in first hands,
when ready ta be placed upon the market.
We collected at our custom houscsiu Us71
upon in; ported wool ami woolen fabrics
$33.53!) 574. equal to sixty three per cent,
upon the invoice price of the whole im
portation entering into our consumption.
Tne. imported article and the domestic
article were sold in the same market at
equal prices for ihe same quality of goods
One was enhanced sixty-three cents upon
each dollar of its first cost by the tariff
duly which it paid at the custom house,
while Ihe other was sold to the consumer
at sixty-th'ee cents advance upon each
dollar of iis cost value above what it
would have been sold in the absence of
protection. The result is the people
paiu into the I reasury S33.a3'J 4 j. and
to the manufacturers of domesi ic woolens,
in the enhancement of iheir fabtics to the
consumer, the luriher sum of $110,250 000
in currency, as the price of protecting
our industries in wool and manufactures of
wool for one year.
Take another ar'icle of universal con
sumption, the manufactures of cotton. In
the fiscal year ending June 30.1871, the
value of foreign importations of the man
ufactures of cotton entering iuto our con
sumption, as shown by tiie custom re
ports, was $28.587. JiOl, upon which we
paid import duties amounting to $10,773.
832, an average of over forty per cent.
The value of our home manufactures in
first hands is estimated by competent
authority at $70,000,000. The foreign and
domestic production were sold to Ihe con
sumer in the same market. like articles at
equal prices ; the one pays as a privilege
of euteting such market forty per cent,
upon iis invoice value, which is supposed
to be its cost value, which is added to its
price to the consumer ; the other is there
by enabled t add forty per cent., the
margin of its protection, which is also ex
acted ot the consumer. In this way sir.
under the operations of your revenue
laws in 1871. consumption of the one
article of cotton manufactures, paid for
protection S10.773 833 coin into the
Treasury, and S28.0ti0.000 Into the pock
ets of ihe owners of cotton mills in tins
country.
Take one more article as an illustration
of the operation of protective tariff: in
the same year the value of imported
hides, leather, and the manufactures of
leather consumed in th'u country amount
ed IO 5...JOJ.O-I'. U))im nuicu
duties to the Government to the amount
of $5,282,857. an average of twenty-two
per cent. The value ot the home pro
duct of hides, leather, and the manufac
tures of lea her for that year may be
safely stated at $175,000,000, which is
cost "in first hands. The margin of pro
tection being twenty-two per cent..
enabled the home m inufactnres to add
that to their product, and exact it off the
consumer. Otherwise tue importer woum
be compelled to sell the foreiga article at
BANCROFT LIBRARY.
a loss, and importations would at once
eetse. Thus again, in additit n to the $5,
282.857 which the people paid as the
price charged importers of hides, leather,
and the manufactures of leather for offer
ing their wares in American markets, they
aho paid the home manufactures some
$38,500,000 in the enhancement of their
wares under tariff protection.
In this way, in order to protect the four
great manufacturing interests, ttie produc
duction of iron and steel, the manufac
ture of woolens, cotton, and leather, the
people of the United States wlu consume
these products and manufactures in one
year paid into the Treasury $08,254 910
in coin, and by the enhancement of these
great leading and primary articles of con
sumption produced and manufactured at
home they also paid to the American pro
ducer and manufacturer the sum of $02,
500 000 in currency.
It may be urged that these estimates
are more of a theoretic character than a
matter of actual or practical result under
the operation of our revenue laws. But.
sir. whether the amount of $202,500,000
is really a correct estimate and measure
of the actual profits and clear accumula
tions of those engaged in these manufac
tures or not. it cannot be doubted that it
does represent the amount which these
products and manufacturi-'S have been in
creased in cost to the consumer.
When you lay lorty-three per cent, pro
tective duty upon the importations of
iron and steel and their manufactures as a
means of protecting the American pro
ducer, it cannot be denied that such a
regulation i n ibles him to sell for one hun
dred and fort v -three cents that which
without such protection he must other
wise sell for one hundred cents. And
when you lay sixty-three per cent, upon
wool and the manufactures of wool com
ing into our markets from foreign parts, it
cannot be denied that you put it in the
power of the home manufacturer to com
pel the consumer to pay one hundred and
sixty-three cents for that which in the
absence of your tariff he would be able
to buy at one hundred cents ; and so of
every other article which is the subject of
protection by the imposition of a tariff
duty. This 'is the very intent and pur
pose of the law ; this is what protection
means when stripped of all its sophistry
and false reasoning -and assumptions.
Mr. Chairman. I have here a list of
articles of every-day consumption wiih
the per cent, of duty which each article
pays annexed. I have prepaied it with
care, and it will be foaud correct, I think :
Per cent.
Salt 85i013O 10
Plain blenched domestics. . .37.r
Plain brown domestics 50j
Denims, lied tickings, and
ginghams 30
Prints 55 (77) 00
Linens 30 0 40
Glass, common window -l!)i
Gunpowder 30 (a) 40j
Hats and bonnets of straw,
chip or pa!:n leaf 40
Gunny-cloth and gunny-bags. 08
Iron, pig , 40
Iron, bar 50i 0 Gi
Iron, railroad 43
Iron, boiler and other plate. 31$
Iron, halter and trace-chains. 4!K' 00
Sleel 42 (7:j 53J
Leather 30 (ft) 35
Wool, raw 28 Qr, 115J
Wool, cloth 08V
Wool, shawls 53 j
Wool, flannels 05j(7?, 113
Wool, hats 010 101
Wool, clothing ready made. .53
Wool, carpets 10 80
It requires but a glance at this to be
able to see ihe extent to which the con
sumer is burdened by tariff duties which
relent le.-sly exact ti iliu'e ('rem the wants
and necessities of the people instead of
the wealth of the nation to supply your
Treasury. All. the poor as veil as the
rich, must eat. be clothed and have shoes
upon their feet, while the artizni mechan
ic and the firmer must have the necessary
implements to pursue their avocations,
and it is upon these necessities that ihe
heavy hand of protective exaction is plac
ed, so that pressed upon the one hand by
their daily wants, and upon the oilier by
taxation, which only makes their seeds a
greater burden, the middle and poorer
classes of the country are ground as -be
Iween the npp"r and nether millslone."
while wealth, aggregate, corporate and
individual wealth, enjoying an immunity
of protection, laughs at their oppression,
and year by year makes new auditions of
ill-gotten gains.
To further illustrate the operation of
the tariff laws under w hich we have been
living and are now living. I have prepared
a table, or rather bill of goods which ev
ery mechanic and farmer having a family
must frequently procure. The price of
each article, the per cent, and amount of
duty upon each, and cost without duty, is
given :
Coat of wool cloth ready made. . $12 00
Duty 53 per cent 4 1(5
Cost, without dufy.
$7 81
3 $0 00
2 08
. $3 1)2
f
. $3 00
1 40
$1 CO
. $3 00
1 15
SI 85
$4 00
1 30
$2 01
$12 00
4 73
. $7 27
, $2 50
05
. SI 85
. $3 00
1 12i
. $1 87i
. $2 50
'JO
. 1 51
1
.$10 00
. 5 04
Duty 53 per cent
Cost without dn'y. . . .
wool
Duty 80 0-7 per cent.
Cost without duty $1 CO
Wool hat
Duty 013 8 per cent.
Cost without duty
Vest of wool cloth ,
Duty 53 per cent
Cost without dtitv ,
Cost without duty $7 27
tie. 12i cents. . . .
Duty 35 per cent
Cost without duty. . . .
Duty 00 per cent
Cost wifbout duty
Ten yards delaines at 25 c
Duty 05 per cent
Cost without duty
blankets
Duty 101 per cent
Cost without duty $4 9G
Twenty yds common wool carpet. $20 00
Duty 80 per cent 9 42
Cost without duty $10 58
Tolal cost '. $78 00
Total duty 32 13$
Total cost without duty $15 SGJ
Mr. Chairman, the injustice of such a
system of taxation. H difficult of reconcil
iation with any principle of equity or
just statesmanship, and can in fact i;nly
be justified upon the principle that might
makes right. 1 know that Ihe plea is
made in favor of high tar fl's as a means of
protecting American labor against the
pauper labor of Europe and to sustain
our own industries against the cheaper in
dustries of other countries ; but, sir. pro
tective laws defeat their own declared
object, except so far as they are the
means of filling your Treasury with gold
wrung from ihe labor of the country.
Ever since the close r f the war of 1812
we have been experimenting1 with tariff
legislation. We have had high tariffs and
low tariffs, protection and free trade, anil
the statistics of fifty-six years, from 1810
to the present time, alternating with
periods of protection and non-proteciion.
will verify ihe statement that our greatest
strides of prosperity and the most rapid
development of our industrial and com
mercial interests have been notably dur
ing non-protective periods, or ia times of
our lowest tariff laws.
And. sir. an examination of the work
ings, and even the principles as claimed
of protective tariffs will at once disclose
the reasons for this. A high-tariff law is
enacted, laying duties upon a wide range
of articles professedly to foster industrial
pursuits. Everything it touches is en
hanced, for this is the purpose and ob
ject of the law. anil also its necessary ef
fect. Now. mark the results. The me
clianic. artisan, and operative having to
pay higher prices for all they consume,
must have higher wages in order to keep
body and soul together the effort to se
cure higher wages not unirequentiy end
ing in strik"s and a general interruption
of business. On the other baud, the man
ufacturer, paying more for his labor, high
er prices for the materials which enter in
to tiis manufactured products, must
charge all these advances in the cost of
his wares, only to find that when he
thought himself securely protected the
foreign manufacturer enters the ma-ket
paying high duties, and sells in comneti
tion with him at the very door of his own
establishment, an 1 forthwith the home
manufacturer flies to Congress for more
protection.
As an illustration of this fact look at
the statistics of only the last fiscal year.
1 ake i lie article of leather. Nearly ev
erything which enters into the manufac
tt.re of" leather is faxed from ten to thirty
eight per cent., a ruJ the currier, working
under a tariff averaging trom forty-four
fo forty-eight, per cent, upon ovr three
thousand articles. finds his labor enhanced
in cost, and when his leither is ready for
the market, he enjoys thirty five per cent,
protection, and yet the French, the Ger
man, and other foreign manufacturers pay
this thirty-five per cent, duty ami com
pete with him in his own market. Fol
low the product into another form of man
ufacture, boots and shoes. Nearly thirty
pei cent, additional material is used which
pays duty or is enhanced in value from
twelve to one hundred per cent. ; new
additions of labor are made. also enhanced
by the operations of tariff la ws ; so that at
every change in the f rm of ihe product
the weight of tariff exaction is increased
and it is found necessary to give addition
al protection, and yet after you have
piied protection upon protection, repeat
ing it tit every stage of transformation
from the crude material to the finished ar
ticle. ilieAtnei ican manufacturer finds the
foreign article paying all your duties and
competing with him in the market, while
all export is rendered impossible. Why,
sir. in 1871 the foreign imports of leather
and the manufactures of leather which
went into the consumption of this conn
try, paying all your duties, were $10,552.
155. Take the article of wool and manufac
tures of wool. You impose a duty rang
ing from forty-two and a half per cent, on
unwashed wool to one hundred and fif
teen and a half on washed, as a protection
to wool growers. The manufacturer of
woolen fabrics pays heavily in advance
cost of his machinery into the construc
tion of which iron so largely enters which
is heavily protected ; he employs labor
which is necessarily enhanced in price by
a tat iff upon every thing that the laborer
consumes. Thus taxed at every turn, up
on his raw material, upon his machinery,
and his labor enhanced in cost, he finds,
when his fabrics are ready for the mar
kets, ami his profits added, that a protec
tion of sixty-three per cent, upon his man
ufactured product will not keep out the
foreign fabrics. Why, sir. wi'h all ma
chinery of tariff duties to prop, sustain,
and encourage American manufactures of
woolens and to hold the home market for
home manufactures, foreign importations
keep a steady pace with your tariff laws
I:i 1871 there was consumed in the Un
ited Stales $12,800,037 worth of foreign
woolen fabrics, paying an average of for-y-ihree
per cent. duty, which aggregated
$20,024,372 ; and with gold at 112 these
products estimated in currency could not
have been worth less, with importei's
profits added, than $.80,000,000. In this I
have not included the raw wool imported
in that year w hich amounted lo $0,900.
031, and paid $4 515 103 duty. If we look
at our iron manufactures and their statis
tics we shall find similar results.
The fi.si form of ihe crude material, pig
iron, is protected by a tariff of forty and
seven eights per cent. It goes to the roll
ing mill, is transfcrmed to bar. rolled, or
hammered iron, ami is again protected
from fifty and one eighth to sixty-four and
three quarters per cent., according- to size
and shape. If wrought into railroad iron
it is protected forty-three per cent. And
yet. sir. with all this inquisition of duties
as so many securities to our iron interest
and its attendant industries. ar,d wiih
twenty-five per cent, natural protection
in addition, foreign importations ' are not
lessened but cons'antly increase. The
statistics of our customs show that in 1871
we consumed of foteign iron and steel
and their manufactures $08,081,172 in
value, which, if reduced to currency and
importer's profits added, would have
made the. foreign product in value not
less than $75,000,000 or $80.000'000.
Mr. Chairman, the Secretary of the
Treasury in his last annual report very
tersely states the condition of our ship
ping interests in tfiese words: T-
Returns for the fiscal year I.O-'l
show that Ihe ocean commerce ot he
United States is pa,sing rapidly into ihe
hands of foreign merchants and l.ipown-
lory of our own commerce, in t.tis
Uc already given, renders it certain that
without some efficient action on the part
ot the Government, the entire foreign
trade of the country will soon pass iuto
the hands of our rivals.
"The monopoly of the trade between
the United States and Europe, by foreign
merchants and tbipbuilaers carried with
it the monopoly of the shipbuilding for
the entire world, and, as a consequence,
tLe Atlantic trade, the trade ot the Pacific
and the seas adjacent thereto, will be car
ried on in English built steamers." Q
Mr. Chairman, this is a very plain state
ment of an unpleasant fact. A little over
ten years ago we ranked side by sidt
with England as a maratime power, but
now we are officially told that "without
some efficient action on ibe part of the
Government the entire foreign trade of
t he country will pass into the bauds of our
rivals." By what means, sir, Lava we
reached this deplorable conditiou? The 0
honorable Secretary says the causes are
two-fold :
-Fust, the destruction of American
vessels by rebel cruisers during the war.
and secondly, the substitution of iron
steamships for the transportation of pas
sengeis and freight upon the ocean, in
place of sailing vessels and steamships
buiit of wood.''
The firs? of these causes, however po
tent it may have been during the late war
ceased to operate when therVlabama went
dow n before the Kearsarge.
The statistics of American shipping and
ship building show that confederate cruis
ers had far less to do with Ihe decline of
American commerce than your tariff laws, q
At the close of the fiscal year 1S61 the
tonnage of the United States vfs 5,531),
813 tons. At the close of 1805 it. was 5.
100.781 tons a decline of 353.032 tops in
four years. In the next four years' end
ing with 180D, our tonnage had declined
to 4.144.031) tons a decrease of over one
million tons in four vears. Durintr the
first four years referred lo. there weie
transferred of American tonnage t4j, foi
eigu nations 774.052 tons ; and there waa
built in our ship yards tonnage lo the
amount of 1.285.500 tons. From 1805cio
1801) the tonnage sold to foreign countries
was 04.025 tons, and the tonnage buijn
our ship yards was 1.1S0.210. showing
that the deel ne has been more rapid since
the close of the war thau during its pro
gress. Mr. Chairman, the ' efficient action on
the part of the Government" now pro
posed as a means of stopping further de
cline in American shipping and of regain
ing our commercial rank is the subsidizing
of American-built steamships at the rate
of thirteen dollars per ton for five years.
It has come to this, that while we bato
been protecting every other industry and
interest, our shipping interests have been
perishing, and Congress is now asked 'o
ii. crease still further the burdens of the
people by subsidizing ship building lo
save American commerce already dyirg
under American protection.
From 184G to 1801 the tonnage of tbe O
United Stales rose rapidly from 2,562.
084 Ions to 5 539.813 tons a commeic al
growth unparalleled in any ige of tie
world. Tttis rapid growth occurred un
der a strictly revenue tariff, which was:o
low as to be stigmatized as a British fre
trade tariff. F rom 1840 to 18.57 the aver
age duty was twenty-four per cent, nnd
from 1857 to 1801 only 13 8 per cent., up
on till imports, and nineteen per cent, up
on dutiable goods. Then our ship-yard
were busy ; night and day Ihe sound of
the ship-wright was heard all along ibe
indebted Atlantic sea-board from Maine
to Geoigia. Our ship builders and arti
zans were prosperous and contented, and
our seamen laughed to scorn tho boasted
supremacy of the cross of St. George.
After sixteen vears of low tariffs there
came in an evil hour, a change. In 1801
Ihe tariff w as revised and increased to an
average of 20.7 per cent. ; in 1S02 it wnn
further increased to an average ot 32.2
per cent. ; in 1SG3 it Avas again further
increased lo an average ot 37.2 per cvnt.
in 1804 it was again increased to43 7
percent.: in 1805 io 40.00. and in 1807
finally raised to 47.80 per cent. And the
statistics of ship building during these ten
years of high protection show that just in
proportion as we have increased our tariff
exactions, in that proportion Lave our
shipping interests declined.
From 184 0 to 1 801, at least for a great- O
er pari of this time, ships could be bflrilt
in the United States cheaper than in any
part of the world, and a considerable per
cent, ot our ship-building was tor foreign G
countries ; but since Ihe protective era
began all this is changed. And bow
could it be otherwise, when everything of
which ships are built must pay heavy tar
iff duties? Why, sir, the very timbers
which enter into the constructional ships
so largely must pay 20 per cent, duly ;
its iron tot less than 43 per cent ; cables
and chains, 44 per cent. ; copper. 45 per
cent.; hemp cables and cordage, 37 7-80
per cen'. ; rope from 17J to 27 J per cent. ;
sail ducking. 35 per cent. ; oils and paints
from 37 lo 51 per cent. ; arid tbeo very
bunting which floats at the inast bead is
taxed 117 j ier cent.
Depression, decline. andedecay of our
commerce in the legitim.ne and necessary
results of these high protective tariffs, as
they are termed. This conclusion is
abundantly supported by the statistics of
our shipping and ship-building all along
from 1810 to the present time. These rec
ords show lhat under low tariffs our com
mercial interest and ship building have
prospered most, while they have invaria
bly retrograded or come to a stand still
during peril ds of high tariffs.
We are told however, that t is not the
tariff which so injuriously affects our ship
building, but that its decline in late years
is entirely owing to the change from tbe
use of wooden to iron ships for ocean ser-
vice, which these apologists say occurred
in early years of the war gA slight exam
ination of this apology will at once dispel
ihe illusion.
The building of Iron fhips began m
1855. ami not in 1801. In 1856 the build
in.r of iron ships had so far succeeded in
EiTo-'.and as to cause a marked decline in
ship building in the United States which
decline accelerated by the financial crash
of 157. continued until 185f, alter which
ship-building began lo revive, and at the
opening of the war iron ship building bad
been successfully and profitably entered
upon in our yards Bat since tbe war.
under the operations of our excessively
hib taruls. me uunuofs vi hum oujj,.- ua
almost, if not quite, ceased. There is no
pood reason why we cannot build iron
hips as cheap us any other nation upon
eaitb. No other country has the material
in such inexhaustible quantities as ours,
and our laboreis and artisans are certain
ly not behind any in the world ; in fact, a
superiority is u I most universally claimed
and accorded to (hem.
Why, sir. before the revolutionary war
we produced iron for export io the mother
country, and since ihe organization of the
Government under the Constitution its
oroductions has always stdily, and 1
Ccnduded on Fourth
5
O
O
O
0
O
o
o
0
0
O
0
o