UNITED STATES, FINANCES OF THE. UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 791 



to 30-48 per cent., or 1 *64 per cent. The en- 

 tries of dutiable merchandise for consumption 

 fell off during the same period from $144,012,- 

 940 to $133,330,848. 



The failure of the tariff revision to produce 

 the expected reduction of revenue, and the 

 plans for a further reduction which had been 

 brought forward, were discussed by the Presi- 

 dent in his message, and by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury in his report. The following extracts 

 summarize the Secretary's views : 



The question recurs : Shall we now seek again for 

 that reduction which was not attained, and is it now 

 advisable to attempt a reduction of the revenues for 

 future years to arise from duties on imports ? There 

 was general agreement that a substantial reduction of 

 the tariff should be made. The estimates of the Tar- 

 iff Commission and of the Senate committee show what 

 was the contemplated reduction. The actual results 

 so far obtained indicate that the reduction labored for 

 has not been effected by the new tariff act. It is to " 

 be considered, too, that the failure is not to be charged 

 to the increase of importations keeping up the amount 

 of customs revenue. The statistics of our foreign 

 commerce show that there has not been an increase 

 chargeable therewith. As to the principles of reduc- 

 tion, if a revision be practicable, there seems to be lit- 

 tle disagreement. The reduction should be made on 

 articles entering into general consumption as neces- 

 saries as sugar, molasses, and the like rather than 

 upon luxuries upon raw materials, rather than man- 

 ufactured, with due regard to the fostering of domes- 

 tic industries and occupations, especially those not 

 fully established. In the report of this department 

 last year, the reduction as applied to the principal 

 classes of dutiable articles was considered somewhat in 

 detail, and, adhering to the views there expressed, a 

 repetition of them is unnecessary. 



It may not be deemed expedient so soon to make 

 again a revision of the tariff to effect a reduction. 

 And there are considerations which are apt upon this 

 head. The new tariff act went into operation, in all 

 its parts, on the 1st day of July, 1883. There has 

 gone by since then but little, over one third of a fiscal 

 year. It is a short time in which to learn with accu- 

 racy how so important and wide-reaching a law as 

 that, touching all the business and industrial interests 

 of the country, will permanently affect the revenues. 

 It is known that in some respects the first effects of it 

 may not be relied upon as stable. . . . On the whole, 

 then, this department does not recommend an imme- 

 diate revision of the tariff act. It adheres, however, 

 to its conviction that ultimately the just and expedi- 

 ent method of relief from taxation, and of limiting the 

 revenues to the needs of an economical Government, 

 must be found in a reduction of the duties on imports. 

 .... Propositions are made to repeal the whole sys- 

 tem of internal revenue. As to this, I repeat my 

 remark of last year : " I see no public sentiment or 

 political action, indicating a desire on the part of tax- 

 paying citizens to strike out this class of taxes." 



The President said : 



There are cogent reasons, however, why the nation- 

 al indebtedness should not be thus rapidly extin- 

 guished. Chief amo ig them is the fact that only by 

 excessive taxation is such rapidity attainable. In a 

 communication to the Congress at its last session I 

 recommended that all excise taxes be abolished except 

 those relating to distilled spirits, and that substantial 

 reductions be also made in the revenues from cus- 

 toms. A statute has since been enacted by which the 

 annual tax and tariff receipts of the Government have 

 been cut down to the extent of at least fifty or sixty 

 millions of dollars. While I have no doubt that still 

 further reductions may be wisely made, I do not ad- 

 vise the adoption at this session of any measures for 



large diminution of the national revenues. The re- 

 sults of the legislation of the last session of the Con- 

 gress have not as yet become sufficiently apparent to 

 justify any radical revision or sweeping modifications 

 of existing law. 



Notwithstanding these recommendations, a 

 bill was reported by the Committee on Ways 

 and Means of the House, March 11, 1884, plac- 

 ing wood, sawed or squared timber, sawed 

 lumber, salt, and coal, on the free list, and 

 making a "horizontal" reduction of 20 per 

 cent, in the duties on all other articles, except- 

 ing wines, liquors, silks, precious stones, and 

 certain kinds of glass, with the proviso that the 

 rates shall in no case be reduced below those 

 of the " Morrill " tariff of 1861, and that no ar- 

 ticle in the cotton schedule shall pay more than 

 40 per cent, ad valorem, no article in the wool- 

 en schedule more than 60 per cent., and no ar- 

 ticle in the metal schedule more than 50 per 

 cent. 



UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. The 

 United States Fish Commission was estab- 

 lished in 1871 by a joint congressional resolu- 

 tion, which became a law on February 9th. 

 The text of the resolution is as follows: 



Whereas it is asserted that the most valuable food- 

 fishes of the coast and the lakes of the United States 

 are rapidly diminishing in number, to the public in- 

 jury, and so as materially to affoct the interests of 

 trade and commerce : Therefore, 



Be it resolved, by the Senate and Home of Repre- 

 sentatives of the United States of America in Congress 

 assembled, 'That the President be, and he hereby is, 

 authorized and required to appoint, by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate, from among the civil 

 officers or employe's of 'the Government, one person of 

 proved scientific and practical acquaintance with the 

 fishes of the coast, to be commissioner of fish and 

 fisheries, to serve without additional salary. 



SEC. 2. And be it further resolved, That it shall be 

 the duty of said commisbioner to prosecute investiga- 

 tions and inquiries on the subject, with the view of 

 ascertaining whether any and what diminution in the 

 number of the food- fishes of the coast and the lakes 

 of the United States has taken place ; and, if so, to 

 what causes the same is due ; and also, whether any 

 and what protective, prohibitory, or precautionary 

 measures should be adopted in the premises ; and to 

 report upon the same to Congress. 



SEC. 3. And be it further resolved, That the heads 

 of the Executive Departments be, and they are here- 

 by, directed to cause to be rendered all necessary and 

 practicable aid to the said commissioner in the prose- 

 cution of the investigations and inquiries aforesaid. 



SEO. 4. And be it further resolved, That it shall be 

 lawful for said commissioner to take, or cause to be 

 taken, at all times, in the waters of the sea-coast of 

 the United States, where the tide ebbs and flows, and 

 also in the waters of the lakes, such fish or specimens 

 thereof as may in his judgment, from time to time, 

 be needful or proper for tfie conduct of his duties as 

 aforesaid, any law, custom, or usage of any State to 

 the contrary notwithstanding. 



For fifteen or twenty years public interest 

 in the fisheries had been constantly increasing, 

 this being largely stimulated by the action of 

 the French Government in fostering the still 

 infant art of fish-culture, which, although dis- 

 covered before the middle of the previous cen- 

 tury in Germany, and never really abandoned 

 in Europe, was not deemed worthy of gov- 

 ernment aid until the successes of Re"my and 



