Part 324

DICKINSON, PHILEMON, Senator from New Jersey, 251, 309, 380.

Discrimination, in public creditors, see Treasury, report of Secretary.

Distilled spirits, debate on drawback, 43; duty on, proposed, 28, 29; duty on, 113; see Duties on imports.

Drawbacks, see Duties on imports.

DUDLEY, GIFFORD, elected doorkeeper of House, 22, 315.

Duties ad valorem, laid, 41, 43; collection of, bill reported, 57; on imports, bill laying the same considered, 15; subject brought before the House by Mr. Madison, 22; scale adopted in 1783, 23; debate on, in committee, 23, 33, 44; effect of high duties on smuggling, 44; debate thereon, 69, 73; debate on limiting the time of the bill, 77; amendment proposed, 81; withdrawn, 83; another moved, 84; bearing of the debate upon protection, note, 84.

Duties on Imports.--Debate on, 22; importance of the subject, 22; deficiency of the Treasury, 22; the propositions by Congress in 1783, suitable for a basis, 23; heretofore approved by the States, 23; tonnage duties added, 23; necessity of the measure, 23; motion to fill the blanks of rate of duty as proposed by Congress in 1783, 23; filling the blanks should be postponed until the business is more mature, 23; immediate filling not necessary, 23; the proposition considered in a revenue light alone, 24; system of the plan proposed, 24; its simplicity, 24; something more than a temporary measure should be adopted, 24; list of articles on which duties should be levied proposed, 24; a single system embracing the most material and productive articles is best at present--a plan comprising all is a work of time and leisure, 25; to establish a permanent regulation now is most satisfactory to the public, 25; five per cent. on all imports excepting a few articles enumerated for specific duty proposed in 1783--the history of the ancient world shows protection to domestic manufactures, 25; the fostering hand of the General Government should extend to all manufactures of national utility, 25; any system of imports must be founded on mutual concession, 26; the means of encouraging agriculture should be considered, 26; of this we have the monopoly, 26; commerce, labor and industry, should be free, with some exceptions--every nation should have means of defence within itself, 26; imposts the easiest system of revenue, 26; but in what manner shall it be done? 26; specific duties on enumerated articles desirable, 26; a political necessity exists for encouraging manufactures, and raising a revenue, 27; what articles shall be taxed, what amount of money will each yield, and in what manner shall it be collected? 27; these questions should be the subjects of two bills, 27; in laying duties where the quantum is unascertainable, they should be low rather than high, 27.

Rum.--Fifteen cents per gallon proposed, 27; fifteen too high, ten moved, 27; committee not prepared to enter on the business in the accurate manner proposed, 27; encouragement to manufactures in their present feeble state would be a tax on the public for the benefit of a few, 27; what article shall be subject to specific, and what to ad valorem, duties, and on what principle shall the discrimination be made? 28; if the main object is revenue, consider when a duty is laid how far it is likely to be collected, 28; fifteen cents per gallon on rum may tempt smuggling, 28; it is one third the cost, 28; the highest sum can be collected, 28; revenue is the present object, and rum is the most productive article, 28; what shall be the duty on one article must be determined by the circumstances of the article, 29; yet fifteen cents on rum may lead to evasion of the law, 29; fifteen cents adopted, 29; drawback on rum exported, of six cents, 49; lead to frauds on the revenue, 43; no drawback will be a great injury to the manufacture, 43; drawbacks will not operate to the disadvantage of the revenue, 43; if not allowed it will be a restraint on commerce, 43; particularly unjust if not allowed on rum, 43; this was an encouragement to commerce, and should not be combined in a bill encouraging manufactures, 43; drawbacks generally, 45; duty on rum, 65; motion to reduce lost, 65.

Bill repealing duties heretofore laid on distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, considered, 262; an excise law to be reprobated, 263; unequal in its operation, 262, 263; history of excises in England, 263; compliment to importers on promptness in paying duties, 263; bill hostile to the liberties of the people, 263; present revenue and demands compared, 263; tendency to promote smuggling, 263; mode of raising additional revenue disliked, 263; motion to strike out duties specified in order to insert duties on molasses, 264; of all excises that on ardent spirits least exceptionable, 264; direct taxation preferable, 264; no other mode can be adopted, 264; other sources of revenue might be explored, 264; smuggling be promoted, 264; deficiency exists--money must be raised--direct taxation impracticable, 264; operation of an excise in North Carolina, 265; an equal and just mode of taxation, 265; good sense of the people support it, 265; no more proper subject for revenue, 265; direct taxes opposed, 266; difference from the English bill, 266; excises constitutional, 266; people of Southern States cheerfully acquiesce in the wisdom of Legislature, 266; probable revenue of the year, 267; an amendment moved to prevent inspectors, &c., from interfering in elections, &c., 270; the amendment should be extended to every person, 270; proposition important, 271; bad policy to render the law odious by fixing a stigma on the officers to execute it, 271; propriety of the motion, 271; motion does not go far enough, 271; reasons for the amendment, 271; objections to the amendment, 271; amendment lost, 272; bill passed, 272.

Molasses.--Shall we tax spirits or the article from which it comes, 29; better collect on the importation of molasses, 29; eight cents is in proportion to the tax on rum, 29; this is a raw material important to manufactures in Eastern States, a necessary of life--the tax, a local burden--two cents high enough, 29; a principle of action should be adopted, 29; if molasses is taxed high because the duty on spirits is high, a necessary of life is burdened, 29; this rate of duty is unequal, 30; it will bring sudden ruin on the manufacturers of domestic spirits, 30; if a particular duty bears hard on one member of the Union, it is part only of a system bearing equally upon all, 30; is this duty ruinous to Massachusetts? 30; let a drawback of this duty be paid on all rum exported, 30; eight cents is more than a third of the cost of molasses, and higher than the duty on rum, 31; six cents is more equitable; this principle now fixed would carry them through the whole, 31; fixed at six cents, 31; if a reduction is made on other articles, there should be one on molasses, 69; the duty is not rated in proportion to other articles; the reduction must depend on the article itself, 69; should so rate as to make the States bear their due proportion of the aggregate, 69; every article should stand on its own bottom, 70; this duty is out of proportion, and too high to be collected, 70; it is a tax on a raw material and on an article of consumption, 70; the necessity of a drawback on country rum is incurred, 70; without the molasses trade the fishery cannot be carried on, 70; experience is against high duties on molasses, 70; fish are given in exchange for French molasses in the colonies; if the exportation of molasses is impeded so is that of fish, 71; the arguments of the advocates of a reduced duty, 71; six cents changed to five, 73.

Madeira Wine.--Thirty cents proposed, as it corresponds with the rate per cent. on the value--a principle now admitted, 31; fifty cents proposed, as the article is not a necessary of life, and it is desirable to raise all the revenue from imports, 31; fifty cents prohibitory, 31; the duty should be according to the relative value of the article at the time and place of importation, 32; cost of wine estimated, 32; thirty-three cents substituted, 32; discrimination on all other wine, 32; discrimination not proper at this time, 33.

Sugar, put on same footing as molasses, 33.

Beer, ale, and porter.--This manufacture should be encouraged, 33; nine cents moved, 33; the duty should be so high as to give preference to American beer, 33; a low tax will raise money enough, 33; nine cents prohibitory, 33; prohibition will increase the manufacture and reduce the price--encourage raw material, 34; eight cents fixed, 34.

Candles.--Moved to strike out, 34; it is necessary to continue encouragements begun by the State Governments, 34; a small encouragement would place the article beyond competition, 35; if there was much importation of the article, it should be taxed for the sake of revenue, 35.

Steel, unwrought.--Any duty on, unwise and impolitic, 35; more deserving of a bounty, 35; a little encouragement would furnish abundance, 35; encouragement of the object of selecting the article, 85; the smallest tax on steel would be a burden upon agriculture, an interest most deserving of protection, 35; condition of South Carolina, 35; local considerations must be got rid of, 35; what operates to the benefit of one part in establishing useful institutions will operate finally to the advantage of all, 36; sixty-six cents a heavy duty on agriculture and mechanic arts, 36; fixed at fifty-six, 36.

Hemp and Cordage.--Policy of taxing cordage doubtful, 36; ship-building of national interest, 36; duty on hemp moved also, 36; if one is necessary, so is the other, 36; soil of the country ill adapted to hemp, 36; a duty on it would discourage navigation, trade and fisheries, 36; policy of taxing either doubtful, 36; Southern States calculated to raise hemp--protection to husbandry important as to manufactures, 36; distinction between taxing manufactures and raw material, 36; no amount of duty could give encouragement, if present price failed to do it, 36; frontier lands excellent for its growth, 36; the committee should do as much for the farmer as the artisan, 36; American lands will produce it equal to any in the world, 37; a small duty would turn public attention to it, 37; agriculture should be encouraged, but not at the expense of ship-building, 37; forty cents moved, 37; encouraging the settlement of western lands will encourage ship-building more than a bounty on hemp, 37; a low duty will encourage its growth in South Carolina and Georgia, 37; if hemp left out, cordage should be also, 38; a low duty at first, 38; fifty cents fixed, 38; immediate encouragement contended for, 54.

Nails, spikes, &c.--This is a tax on the improvement of estates, 38; like a tax on hemp, would increase the price of ship-building, 38; an unequal tax, 38; in a little time the home supply would equal the demand, 38; needs no legislative assistance, 38; refusing the duty will do no material injury, 38; one cent per pound fixed, 38.

Salt, a necessary of life, 38; present price high, 38; much to be depended on as a source of revenue, 39; this tax heavier on the poor than on the rich, 39; no encouragement would be sufficient to establish its manufacture, 39; this tax unpopular and unjust, 39; it will cause much dissatisfaction with the new Government, 39; dissatisfaction will be only partial, 40; the tax not unequal, 40; taxes, to be just, should affect all, as this will, 40; the good sense and justice of the people to be trusted, 40; to be considered on the principle of justice and policy, 40; it falls on all alike, is part of a system, 40; any distinction is in favor of the Southern division, 40; if oppressive to the West, the equilibrium is restored by other articles in the system of revenue, 40; no law unjust and oppressive should be made, 41; such the duty on salt will be considered, 41; fixed at six cents, with a drawback on salted provisions, 41.

Teas, a discriminating duty in favor of American bottoms proposed, 41; a large trade now sprung up with the East, 42; policy of the measure doubtful, 42; its object is not to add to the revenue, 42; long voyages unfriendly to commerce, 42; the only advantage is to raise the India commerce, 42; large amounts of American produce were exported in this trade, 42; it would afford protection against the large companies in Europe, 42; duty fixed as proposed, 42.

Coal.--Coal came from Europe as ballast so cheap as to prevent the working of the mines in Virginia, 42; three cents fixed, 42.

Scale of duties, motion to reduce as too high, 44; the scale will be found not too high, 44; certainly too high to be well collected, especially in Georgia, 44; greater revenue can be obtained from a lower scale, 44; high duties produce smuggling, 44; high duties now will lead to smuggling, and oppress certain citizens and States for the benefit of others, 57; high duties raise a scruple respecting the allowance of a drawback, 58; high duties improper, because they are impolitic, 59; Southern States willing to consent to moderate duties, and give every encouragement possible, but not consent to great oppression, 59; are the duties too high or not? 59; what are the objects of Government--revenue one of the first? 60; if the revenue system falls with oppressive weight, it will shake the foundations of the Government, 60; what we may reasonably expect to collect is the point to be considered, 60; the chain of ideas upon which the whole subject is suspended, 60; all the money should be drawn from impost which can be, 60; rate of the duties, 60; if the scale is reduced, the amount of revenue will be insufficient, 61; direct taxation and excises are the only other means of resource, 61; experience of the old Congress and the increase of our importations show the scale to be too high, 61; the objects for which the money is needed are most important, 62; direct taxes are the alternative of lowering the scale, 62; every article stands as well as possible under the information possessed, 62; the arguments of the advocates of low duties considered, 62; this system compared in amount with that of Great Britain, 63; arguments of the advocates of high duties considered, 63; a host of revenue officers required to collect high duties would leave little for the treasury, 64; America has vessels well adapted for smuggling, 64; effects of high duties on the mercantile interest, 64; the impost will be well collected, 64; whatever is just and right the people will judge of and comply with, 65; if revenue is our primary object and other considerations secondary, we should do nothing to operate against the principle, 65; object of the committee is to raise revenue, 65.

African Slaves.--Duty on their importation moved, 73; not to be hastily considered, 73; impost bill on goods not proper to embrace this subject, 73; the motion should comprehend the white slave as well as black imported from the jails of Europe, 74; no right to consider whether the importation is proper or not, as the constitution gives the power, 74; the principle of the bill is to raise revenue, the principle of the motion is to correct a moral evil, 74; the whole burden falls on two or three States, which bear their full proportion of other taxes, 74; imposing a duty on the importation may have the appearance of countenancing it, 74; if negroes are goods, they come within the provisions of the bill--if not, the bill would be inconsistent, 74; the motion should be brought forward as a distinct proposition, 74; now is a proper time and place to consider the motion, 75; the object of enumerating persons on paper with goods is to prevent the practice of treating them as such by having them form part of cargoes of goods, 75; the tax not partial--in many instances such taxes are laid, 75; arguments of the opponents considered, 75; no difference whether left among enumerated or non-enumerated articles, 76; would a five per cent, ad valorem on goods apply to slaves unless so stated, 76; the States were now prevented from continuing their duty on the importation, 76; motion withdrawn, 76.

Limitation clause as to the time of continuing the impost bill moved, 77; propriety doubted, 77; difficulty of fixing a suitable time, 77; this is an experiment, and should be limited to three or five years, 77; if the law is temporary, the people will not object to high duties, 77; the object of the bill is the re-establishment of public credit, a motion limiting it strikes at that credit, 77; to pass a bill to draw revenue from the people without limitation of time appeared dangerous, 77; it was not only to restore credit, but encourage certain people to engage in enterprises for which the public faith seemed to be pledged, 77; if made perpetual, the House could not alter it unless the President or a majority of the Senate approved, 78; the House is constitutionally the originator of money bills, 78; impossible to provide for the objects of the bill if it is limited to a few years, 78; a future Congress may repeal it, 78; great care was necessary to preserve the principle of raising money inviolate, 78; there are great demands on the treasury, and no documents to show what they are or what the revenue bill will produce, 79; danger of making the bill perpetual is the loss of power to originate money bills, and the extending the revenue above the demands of Government, 79; a temporary limitation would inspire confidence, 79; a perpetual one for interest alone would destroy all hope of payment of the principal, and shock credit, 79; nothing but a fixed, permanent, system can give security, 79; public credit will not admit a temporary act, 80; a measure of this kind necessary to reconcile members to different parts of the bill, 80; if the law is made perpetual, it will collect money in the public coffers after the debt is paid, 80; the Senate more likely than the House to misunderstand the public voice--the latter should preserve power of redress, 81; examination of reasons for making the law perpetual, 81; no law should be passed without a limitation, 83; no opportunity to amend errors if the law is made perpetual, 83; the system should be permanent if the law is not perpetual, 83; no revenue law with a limitation can probably be found on the English statute books, 83; motion withdrawn, and another substituted fixing a day for the termination of the act, unless otherwise provided, &c., 84; latter part struck out, 84; motion passed, 84; first day of June, 1796, fixed, 84.

Duties as agreed in conference with the Senate, 113; bill for laying additional duties considered, 506; three cents additional on salt opposed as oppressive, 506; it is better than a land tax, 506; no tax could be so universally unpopular as this, 506; rejected, 506; other duties considered, 506; one and a half cents additional laid on coal, 506.

Manufactured Tobacco and Refined Sugar, duty on, considered, 507; these articles incapable of bearing a burden, 507; of the nature of an excise, and the money can be raised either way, 507; if the bill is thrown out, then farewell to firm and determined measures, 507; objections to an excise, 507; the principle of excise is settled, 507; reasons in favor of the duty, 507; delay urged, 509; money needed, 509; a considerable deficiency, 509; imports reduced by capture of American shipping, 509; a general increased import would not effect the object, 509; if peace continues, the revenue may be adequate--if war comes, it will be deficient, 510; better to postpone the subject, 510; motion to reject the bill lost, 511; amended so as to confine the duty to manufactured snuff, 511; moved to strike out duty on refined sugars, 511; now in its infancy, 512; state of the trade--objections to the duty considered, 512; motion to strike out lost, 512.

Duties on Tonnage.--Debate in Committee of the Whole, 48; objects of tonnage duties, 48; motion to reduce from thirty to twenty cents, 48; the objects accomplished, 48; Southern products cannot bear high duties, 48; reasons for the reduction insufficient, 49; if we have various, we have not opposite interests, 49; no feeling of jealousy or rivalry exists, 49; encouragement of navigation indispensably necessary, 49; the price of freight will equalize itself, 49; regulation in favor of American shipping absolutely necessary to restore equality with foreigners, 50; Southern States indignant at the power which foreigners have over their commerce, 50; they look forward to the day when their navigation will be secured to the Eastern States, 50; under present circumstances a heavy tonnage duty will be attended with dangerous consequences at the South, 50; the principle of preference being fixed, it only remains to ascertain the proper degree, 50; a moderate duty should be allowed now, 50; but little difference in the capacity of the several States for ship-building, 50; this encouragement will diffuse and equalize its operation in every port, 50; proposition to lay a duty of fifty cents per ton on all vessels wholly or in parts, owned by subjects of foreign powers, 53; motion to reduce to forty until 1791; then increase it to seventy-five cents, 53; State duties are higher, and, if now reduced, will cause distress, 54; if sufficient encouragement is given now, our navigation will probably immediately flourish, 54; doubtful policy now to reduce and then increase duty at the end of two years, 54; ship-building now needs the greatest encouragement, owing to its present low state, 54; different course pursued by the members from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, 54; people of the Southern States in debt, and have no shipping, and are unable to sustain any new burdens, 55; the difference in views does not arise from the geographical situation of the country, 55; the States expect Congress to protect their citizens in the property acquired under State legislation, 55; forty cents not too low, 54; many years must elapse before we have sufficient tonnage to export our commodities, 55; the business is now in the hands of foreigners, and a duty will cause a rise of freight by them, 55; is fifty cents too high? 55; a permanent regulation best, 55; British shipping now crowds the ports of Virginia, although the tonnage duty is twice as high, 56; the question of discrimination has been decided, 56; two years will not produce sufficient shipping--it will be improper to raise the duty then, 56; a certain tonnage duty best, 56; motion to reduce, and then raise in two years, lost, 57; regulations as adopted, 57; see Address of House to President, and page 257.

Duties, protective, on unwrought steel advocated, 35.

DUVALL, GEORGE, Representative from Maryland, 604.