92 



'I he Grape Culiurist. 



AV'ine and Fruit Reporter. 



TO OUR HEADERS. 



Th') Committee of Ways and Means 

 has proposed to Congress a specific 

 duty of 50 cents per gallon on all 

 kiuds of imported Avines, — a rate, 

 which would increase by about ICO 

 per cent, the present duty on the 

 bulk of the imported article. 



We have been requested by some 

 of the leading houses to prepare the 

 following memorial on the subject, 

 for presentation to Congress. 



All of our readers who Avish to 

 sign it, will find the original at the 

 ofiice of the Wine and Frvit Beporter, 

 45 Beaver street. 



Our out-of-town readers will be 

 welcome by sending a collection of 

 signatures from their respective 

 places to P. 0. B. (3,014 New York 

 City. 



The Memorial of the Undersigned, 

 dealers in wines and liquors, at the 

 city and port of New York, To the 

 House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America, respect- 

 fully represents : 



That your memorialists ask leave 

 most earnestly to remonstrate against 

 the adoption of the proposal made by 

 3"0ur Committee of Ways and Means, 

 to increase from twenty-six to fifty 

 cents per gallon^ the duty upon the 

 importation of low priced wines. 



Hailing with livel}^ satisfaction the 

 prospect of relief held out to the 

 trade in the contemplated reduction 

 of the duty on brandies, they find 

 themselves constrained by a sense of 

 duty to submit to your honorable 

 Body the consideration that the great 

 advantages to be anticipated from 



this measure would be more than 

 counterbalanced by the results which 

 cannot fail to ensue upon the pro- 

 posed enhancement of imposts with 

 which it is coupled. The consump- 

 tion of imported brandies, which are 

 used chiefly for medicinal purposes, is 

 necessarily limited; while cheap 

 wines form a principal element in 

 the alimentation of ever}' cultivated 

 nation. 



The increase proposed would not 

 only be destructive to our trade, but 

 would press severely upon the mil- 

 lions of our people, the great majority 

 of whom would be driven to foi-ego 

 the use of an invaluable tonic, which 

 would bo converted into an article of 

 luxury, like the high grades of wines 

 which are subject to no higher duty. 



We beg to consider the fact, ascer- 

 tained from the ofiicial statements of 

 the custom authorities, that the 

 quantity of wines, which hitherto 

 paid the lowest rate of duty, about 

 twenty-six cents per gallon, is equal 

 to ninety-four j)er cent, of all the 

 wine imported, and we think, impos- 

 ing such an enormous duty just on an 

 article that is destined to be a bever- 

 age for the mass, to be an act of 

 great injustice committed against the 

 people. 



The American people are in want 

 of a drink. A nation has trans- 

 planted itself, but not its vines, fro-m 

 one hemisphere to another. AVe live 

 in a dry climate, and under moi*al 

 conditions exciting to body, brain, 

 and nerve ; and there is no other 

 liquid to satisfy our just demand 



