Our Tariff Taxation

If our tariff taxation were direct and inmediato, it could not be preserved br a single year. lts odious feature re suc'a that it would créate & rebellie n and popular insurrection to get rid of it if there were no other remedy. Bnt it is indirect, obscuro, and little known ft undurstood by the people. It entero into the prico of the ariielo taxed, aid not one man in a hundred knows why the gooda for which he poya so high aro subjected to auch an imposiiion. Heroia is the uiischief of these indirect taxes, and herein is the honest, diroet tax, Almot-t evevy man carrics a watch or has a clock in tbe house. ïhey are taxed 25 per cent., or one-quarter of the wholc valué. Upon every pound oí cnffoe thero is a tas of three cents, and if it is ground and prepared, five cents. Upon all cötton manufacturera - and what person is there wbo does not wear them- thero is a duty of thirty-five per oent., one-third the price. Tbis is an immense imposition, and in some cases it is still vvorse. With the profíts which are rnade upon it it is safa to say that every man who wears a cotton shirÉ or carries a pocket-handkerchief paya twice ns mueh for it as lie would if it wa=s not lor tho abominable tariíf. Orangcs and lemons pay n duty of twenty per cent , or ono tífth of their vulue. Pig iron ia neven dollars a ton, oíd ssrap six dollars, and steel railway barsl. cents por pound. Thcse cxtraordinary ratea enter into t:c valué of everything ia which the ma'erial of iron is admitted. Thcy are tho most oppressive upon the farmer, who, in sume 8ort or otlier, is a grent consumer of tbem, and wíio conld obtain bis supply at a smaller comparativo rate if it were not for this excessive duty. Oils that enter into pa'mting aro twenty or thirty cents a gallon, wbioh constituía an intolerable oxaction. All kinds of Bpioes are from tive to twenty cents a pound. Black pepper is five ceuts, and cayeDne is ten oents. Wines of all kinds, in caek, ae charg3cl fifty cents a gallon if they aro b;ught for fifty cents to a dollar n gallon In otber words, for every gallon of wiue that 3 consuined tha priuo of nnothcr is paid to the governUpon champagne the duty is aix diillurs a dozen upon piot or quart bottles. This is 3 tax of do less thar twenty-four dollars a gnllou. In a quart bottle thero ara, eay, eix driüks, i are chargod over eight ceuts eaoh. All liquors entered as ines, containiog m jrc ihan 25 per cent. of alcohol will be forfeited. Brandy is charged two dollars a gallou, and tea fiftcen cents a pound. Sugar is irorn two to three cents a pouud, and molaeses is five cent a gallou. Salt is 10 per cent A glunce at the abovo will disclose how ubominably the pesple are taxod undef tho present tariff. In fact, upon al! our importatious there is a duty of forty-eight per cent. upon tho average. VVere we relieved of this, or were it cufc down, 8aj to ten or fifteen per cent, uhich ought to bc enough for the support. oí an economical governmeat, how much e.;fier it would bc for the laborng clasPes to make bolh ends meet - how much tnoney they would have at tho end of the year, which is now spont in defraying theae duties ! Why are we burdened wiili ihis oppressive taxation ? It is not because tho Treasury requires. Many rf these dutios are protective, esoi'ciallv tinon iron and cottnn facture. Tbey s;op all impm-tatíon, and :il!ow ihe domestie manulacturer to churge ahnt st any price he chooses for ,!h. Ho inakes frona one to two bandred per cent. In order to have such exhorbitant profits, tbe manufacturera oontioue to buy the passage on their billa through Congress. Yes, literally buy, is llie word. ïhey spood hundreds nf tliousaiiii", if noï'millions, smong tba peoplc's representativeer. Thus tbo people are Bwindled aud robbed - thua tiicy have been plundored for years, and will be BO in the futuro, until they elect uien in Congresswlio ard pledged ogainst this inqaitoUs high tarift' system, nnd wbo h;ive tho iutugrity to maintiáo thoir position agiinst oorruption in any of its form. Tlie first question of the day is tarilï reform. The hipbest duty for the -itati'Snjan and the journalist is to of. rm t'io people how and for what they an; tax d, snd to suggest the moao by whioh they oan bc relieved from it. Tbe Democratie is tlie (ree trade and low revenue tariff party. The Republican is tho higli tariff, or the friead to monopoly organization.