How Protection Works

In lus Iníú Bpeeoh at Detroit, Hou. V-: i.l t Wells, late Special Deputy Conimiaajoiier ol' Interna! Revcnue thus Bpoke of the taritt' on BORE'Wa AND rAlil'ETS. Bóme years ago an ingonious Yai invciiiiil ;i machine for inakitig sorowa, and, like niany other fint inventora, the invention was not to Irim romarkably prufitablo, but it was profitaMe 'to tbo ootnpany iuto whose hands %ho machino feil, and for ycars past the OOmpany ownin tho maohinop kiicvn as tho ProVidenCG Or Rhode {stond, or American Borcw Company, havo doolared annual dividend the extent from 510 to 150 per rent. But, in order to do that, 1though'you have a imichine which made Bcrevs chrapor and bcttcr than over befbre-, and whieh, through it invention, Ëhrew hundrods, ind, poeeibly thousnnJs, of workmon out of amployment, in order to make it a completo suceess, there had to bo at tho amo timo a littlo protcotion of Amprioan indostry, and Congross put on, and still maintains, a duty on tho importation oi scvews of 125 per cent., or 11 oen ts per gross, when tho samoscrews oa-H be bought in Englánd for 8 dr '.) ets. What is the result ■ ? ïho total revenuo derireá l;ist jrear by tho treasurey from tht) importiition of serews known as ■ won.l BCTBWB," was fl!H 75, wliilo the ninount of taxes imposcd upon the peojile through tho unnecessarily inoreased cost of the artiole can not bü estiinated at loss tlum from f 000,000 to $800,000. A duty was imposodon thelmportatíon of manufactured oarpets, ratiging frora 50 to 90 per cent. Koir, what has boen the result? I hold in ïny hand two pooimens of the common .carpeta - tlio inlirain oaipot' and the tapostry Brussel ciirct. These are Rüglish carpeta. Thfy are sold at wholnsale eTerywhefe for 60 eenta o yard, and it would coat to import them, yrith thp preKcntdnly and premium on gold of 12 per cent., ond ordinary freigkts and oommission, without one cent profit to the importér, ut ln.t $1 11 per yard. Now, the price of the urna ídentioal atterns nnd ntyc. of o.rjvts of American m.ikc in thiN country, l)V(:i by actual exámination, i íl 10, thm pvoving that in respoót to tbis ;rtiole, oertainrjr the price ot the whole doincstio consumption is mihanoed to just about the extent of thc duty. Now, if tho duty was placed t 25 per of-nt., those samo carpets would bo imported into this country and laid down with a ptoftt to tho !nIorter of 10 por cent., for 1)0 cents a y.rd. But the American manufaoturer is not satir-íied with that; he is not satisflod with receiving a profit of .'t') iv-rti s a yard, but he demanda 50 oents o yard, and yet, ii' anybody woro to proposo to reduce tlie duty otv carpots from 50 to 90 per cout. down to an avorage of 23, tlioro wouldbc BUch a clamor Botup tli.it yon WQuld think that tho whole fabric of American iiidustry was coming down about our ears, nd that oíd night and chaos were about tp resume their ancient roign. (ui result is that tho people h.-tvo boen taxed on their carpots, tlirougli their in- creased jíricc, to thc exteñt of at least $6,000,000 per annuni, whiln the f?overament has received no revenua whatever from these carpots, for, practically, nono are imported. ■JIIE TEA, OOFÍBE, AND SUOAK DUTY. ilr. Wells denounoed the attemptto repeal the duty on toa, coffee, and sugar, as a Bwiadlc, designed to prevent necessary reforms. and s.iid : Now, just to Ulustrata the oharacter of the swindles attempted under that head, let me give you a practical illustration : - The duty n tea, before the reduotiop, VM '2' cent a pound, Wbioh yieldfd thc revenue about $10,000,000, which, with ■10,000,000 people amonnted to a tax of 25 cents a head, or Icbs than half-a-cont a week. Now can you, or any one, point - i,, -i ;iv 11 - "fjrvi irt'rmitr_(j)Hoctfllj. the proceeds of whicli all pass into the treasury, and nono, hardly, into thc pockets of tho exchangere, which produce so large resul ts or benefit to the counti, , witii so littlo injury, as tho duty on tea ? Place in contradistinction to it the duty upon blankets. In ISüO you could buy a pair of what is called ten-four Holland blankets for about $X Now, we aro 40,000,000 of people, or nearly so. Sunpöse we uso 0,000,000 pair of l!".ukets iithe couxse of a year, and thoir pri; is inhangei1, as oomparea with the prieo en 18ü0, to thc extent of $2 por pair, thon you havé a tax upon blankets oí $10,000,000 put upon the people, which is equivalent to the whole revenue which is drawn from the duty on tea. And that is not tho wholo story. In 1860, with a duty of 15 to 20 per cent upon blankets, the government derivad an annuni revenue from their importation of about $ÜGO,000 Today, with the cost of blankets increased, from three dollar to íive, with a tax on the people amouuting to millious of dollars, tho wholo amount of revenue dorived from the importation of blankets which paated into the treasury last year was loss than 11,900