802 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The Special Commissioner of Eevenue (Mr. 

 Wells) says : " Although it is an interesting 

 fact, that investigation under such circum- 

 stances should reveal any degree of national 

 progress, at the same time the demand for 

 relief from the producing interests of the coun- 

 try, both manufacturing and agricultural, is 

 most urgent and general ; and however it may 

 have been heretofore, it is certain that at pres- 

 ent, in many descriptions of manufacture, the 

 internal rates of taxation, superadded to the 

 high prices paid for raw materials and for 

 labor, sweep nearly all the profits into the cof- 

 fers of the Government, and in many instances 

 actually offer a bounty to the foreign com- 

 petitor." 



Those who find their industrial pursuits thus 

 injured, or in danger of destruction by a for- 

 eign competitor, were urgent that Congress 

 should advance the rates of duty upon their 

 manufactures. Such a measure might afford 

 them a temporary relief without exerting any 

 beneficial influence upon the great problem be- 

 fore the country. No such advance of duties 

 was required for the necessary increase of the 

 revenue, as has already been stated. Such legis- 

 lation, therefore, could be sustained only upon 

 the still disputed principle that it was the duty 

 of the Government, in all cases, to protect man- 

 ufactures. 



The special facts thus far stated relative to 

 the operation of the currency, the internal 

 revenue and tariff laws, present a very imperfect 

 view of th ft condition of the great industrious 



mass of the community. Before the war thi 

 revenue of the Federal Government was about 

 $60,000,000 annually, chiefly derived from cus- 

 toms and land sales. No direct tax was levied 

 upon the people, except for State and local 

 expenditures, and these were moderate in 

 amount. But during the last year the Gov- 

 ernment took from customs and internal rev- 

 enue alone nearly $500,000,000 from the peo- 

 ple, while the State, county, township, and 

 city taxes have also vastly increased. The 

 prices of all articles of prime necessity have 

 also greatly increased, while agricultural prod- 

 ucts generally have advanced little more than 

 the appreciation of gold. Wages are higher, 

 but the advance is not proportioned to the rise 

 in rent, fuel, and household necessaries. The 

 Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee 

 of the House of Congress says : " A printer in 

 Washington now gets $24 per week, and works 

 but eight hours per day, where he formerly re- 

 ceived $14 per week, and worked ten hours 

 per day, and yet he will tell you that his con- 

 dition and means to support a family have not 

 been bettered." The industrial classes have 

 been growing worse off, able to purchase less, 

 and to save less ; this poverty reacts on both 

 traders and manufacturers. 



The Commissioner of Internal Eevenue thinks 

 there have been three causes for the abnormal 

 condition of the country, and suggests three 

 corresponding remedies. The first cause has 

 been a scarcity of skilled labor, which no legis- 

 lation can remedy, except by creating encour- 



