CONGRESS. (PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



193 



invited to aid in maintaining the present situation; 

 and he is told that a high duty on imported wool is 

 necessary for the benefit of those who have sheep to 

 shear, in order that the price of their wool may be in- 

 creased. They of course are not reminded that tho 

 farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, 

 in Ids purchases of clothing and woolen goods, to 

 pay a tribute to his fellow-farmer as well as to the 

 manufacturer and merchant ; nor is any mention 

 made of the fact that the sheep-owners themselves 

 and their households must wear clothing and use 

 other articles manufactured from the wool they sell 

 at tariif prices, and thus as consumers must return 

 their share of this increased price to the tradesman. 



I think it mav be fairly assumed that, a large pro- 

 portion of the slieep owned by the farmers through- 

 out the country are found in small flocks numbering 

 from twenty-five to fifty. The duty on the grade ol 

 imported wool which these sheep yield, is ten cents 

 each pound if of the value of thirty cents or less, 

 and twelve cents if of the value of more than thirty 

 cents. If the liberal estimate of six pounds be ai- 

 lowed for each fleece, the duty thereon would be 

 sixty or seventy-two cents, and this may be taken as 

 the utmost enhancement of its price to the fanner by 

 reason of this duty. Eighteen dollars would thus 

 represent the increased price of the wool from twenty- 

 five sheep and thirty-six dollars that from the wool 

 of fitly sheep ; and "at present values this addition 

 would amount to about one third of its price. If upon 

 its sale the fanner receives this or a less tariif profit, 

 the wool leaves his hands charged with precisely that 

 sum, which in all its changes will adhere to it, until 

 it reaches the consumer. When manufactured into 

 cloth and other goods and material for use, its cost is 

 not only increased to the extent of the farmer's tariff 

 profit, out a further sum has been added for the bene- 

 fit of the manufacturer under the operation of other 

 tariff laws. In the mean time the day arrives when 

 the fanner finds it necessary to purchase woolen goods 

 and material to clothe himself and family for the win- 

 ter. When he faces the tradesman for that purpose 

 he discovers that he is obliged not only to return in 

 the way of increased prices^ his tariff "profit on the 

 wool he sold, and which then perhaps lies before him 

 in manufactured form, but that he must add a con- 

 siderable sum thereto to meet a further increase in 

 cost caused by a tariff duty on the manufacture. Thus 

 in the end he is aroused to the fact that he has paid 

 upon a moderate purchase, as a result of the tariff 

 scheme, which, when he sold his wool seemed' so 

 profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to 

 sweep away all the tariff profit he received upon the 

 wool he produced and sold. 



"When the number of farmers engaged in wool- 

 raising is compared with all the farmers'in the coun- 

 try, and the small proportion they bear to our popu- 

 lation is considered: when it is made apparent that, 

 in the case of a large part of those who own sheep, the 

 benefit of the present tariff on wool is illusory ; and, 

 above all, when it must be conceded that the increase 

 of the cost of living caused by such tariff, becomes a 

 burden upon those with moderate means and the poor, 

 the employed and unemployed, the sick and well, and 

 the young and old, and that it constitutes a tax which, 

 with relentless grasp, is fastened upon the clothing of 

 every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons are 

 suggested why the removal or reduction of this duty 

 should be included in a revision of our tariff laws. 



In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer 

 of our home manufactures, resulting from a duty laid 

 upon imported articles of the same description, the 

 fact is not overlooked that competition among our do- 

 mestic producers sometimes has the effect of keeping 

 the price of their products below the highest limit 

 allowed by such duty. But it is notorious that this 

 competition is too o'ften strangled by combinations 

 quite prevalent at this time, and frequently called 

 trusts, which have for their object the regulation of 

 the supply and price of commodities made and sold 

 VOL. xxvm. 13 A 



by members of the combination. The people can 

 hardly hope for any consideration in the operation of 

 these selfish schemes. 



If, however, in the absence of such combination, a 

 healthy and free competition reduces the price of any 

 particular dutiable article of home production, l>cl"\V 

 the limit which it might otherwise reach under our 

 tariff laws, and if, with such reduced price, its manu- 

 facture continues to thrive, it is entirely evident that 

 one thing has been discovered which should be care- 

 fully scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation. 



The necessity of combination to maintain the price 

 of any commodity to the tariff point, furnishes proof 

 that some one is willing to accept lower prices for 

 such commodity, and that such prices are remunera- 

 tive ; and lower prices produced by competition prove 

 the same thing. Thus where either of these condi- 

 tions exists a case would seem to be presented for an 

 easv reduction of taxation. 



The considerations which have been presented 

 touching our tariff laws are intended only to enforce 

 an earnest recommendation that the surplus revenues 

 of the Government be prevented by the reduction of 

 our customs duties, and, at the same time, to empha- 

 size a suggestion that in accomplishing this purpose, 

 we may discharge a double duty to our people by 

 granting to them a measure of relief from tariff taxa- 

 tion in quarters where it is most needed and from 

 sources where it can be most fairly and justly ac- 

 corded. 



Nor can the presentation made of such considera- 

 tions be, with any degree of fairness, regarded as 

 evidence of unfriendliness toward our manufacturing 

 interests, or of any lack of appreciation of their value 

 and importance. 



These interests constitute a leading and most sub- 

 stantial element of our national greatness and furnish 

 the proud proof of our country's progress. But if in 

 the emergency that presses upon us our manufacturers 

 are asked to surrender something for the public good 

 and to avert disaster, their patriotism, as well as a 

 grateful recognition of advantages already afforded, 

 should lead them to willing co-operation. No demand 

 is made that they shall forego all the benefits of gov- 

 ernmental regard ; but the v 'can not fail to be admon- 

 ished of their duty, as well as their enlightened self- 

 interest and safety, when they are reminded of the 

 fact that financial panic and collapse, to which the 

 present condition tends, afford no greater shelter or 

 protection -to our manufactures than to our other im- 

 portant enterprises. Opportunity for safe, careful, 

 and deliberate reform is now offered ; and none of us 

 should be unmindful of a time when an abused and 

 irritated people, heedless of those who have resisted 

 timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radi- 

 cal and sweeping rectification of their wrongs. 



The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of 

 our tariff laws is not underestimated. It will require 

 on the part of the Congress great labor and care, and 

 especially a broad and national contemplation of the 

 subject, and a patriotic disregard of such local and 

 selfish claims as are unreasonable and reckless of the 

 welfare of the entire country. 



Under our present laws more than four thousand 

 articles are subject to duty. Many of these do not in 

 any way compete with our own manufactures, and 

 many are hardly worth attention as subjects of reve- 

 nue. A considerable reduction can be made in the 

 ;:tte, by adding them to the free list. The taxa- 

 tion of luxuries presents no features of hardship ; but 

 the necessaries of life used and consumed by all the 

 people, the duty upon which adds to the cost of liv- 

 ing in every home, should be greatly cheapened. 



The radical reduction of the duties imposed on raw 

 material used in manufactures, or its free importation, 

 is of course an important factor in any effort to reduce 

 the price of these necessaries ; it would not only re- 

 lieve them from the increased cost caused by the 

 tariff on such material, but the manufactured product 

 being thus cheapened, that part of the tariff now laid 



