REVENUE 
 
 AND EXPENDITURES. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN SHERMAN, OF OHIO. 
 
 -o- 
 
 Delivered in the U. S. House of Representatives, May 7, 1800. 
 
 The House resolved itself into the Committee 
 of the Whole on the state of the Union, and re¬ 
 sumed the consideration of the tariff bill. 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman: The revenue 
 act of March, 3, 1857, which it is now proposed to 
 repeal, has proved to be a crude, ill-advised, and 
 ill-digested measure. It was never acted upon in 
 detail in either branch of Congress, but was the 
 result of a committee of conference in the last days 
 of the session, and was finally passed by a com¬ 
 bination of hostile interests and sentiments. It 
 was adopted at a time of inflated prices, when the 
 Treasury was overflowing with revenue. When 
 that condition of affairs ceased, it failed to fur¬ 
 nish ordinary revenue, and by its incidental ef¬ 
 fects operated injuriously to nearly every branch 
 of industry. 
 
 It went into operation on the 1st of July, 1857. 
 At that time there was in the Treasury of the 
 United States a balance of $17,710,114. The 
 amount of the public debt then remaining un¬ 
 paid—none of which was then due—was a little 
 over $29,000,000. So that there was in the 
 Treasury of the United, States, when the tariff act 
 of 1857 went into operation, nearly enough to 
 have paid two-thirds of the public debt. Within 
 one year from that time, the public debt was in¬ 
 creased to $44,910,777. On the 1st of July, 1859, 
 the public debt had increased to $58,754,699. 
 On the 1st of May, 1860, as nearly as I can ascer¬ 
 tain, the public debt has risen to $65,681,099. 
 The balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July 
 next, a3 estimated by me, will be $1,919,349. 
 
 Thus it is shown, that, under the operation of 
 the tariff of 1857, the deficit in the revenue in 
 three years is over $52,000,000. It may be 
 stated thus : 
 
 Balance in the Treasury July 1, 1857.. .$17,710,114 
 
 Balance in the Treasury July 1,1860, estimated.. 1,919,349 
 
 15,790,665 
 
 Amount of public debt May 1,1860,.. $65,681,199 
 Amount of public debt July 1,1857... 29,060,386 
 
 -36,620,813 
 
 52,411,578 
 
 It is impossible to ascertain from the report of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury the condition of 
 
 our finances for the fiscal year ending June 30, 
 1860. I have prepared a statement of receipts 
 and expenditures, based upon the actual sums 
 received and paid for three-quarters of the year, 
 and the Secretary's estimate for the last quarter. 
 It is as follows : 
 
9 
 
 The total expenditures will be $67,702.818, and 
 the receipts from all sources will be $58,950,445, 
 thus showing a deficit l’or this fiscal year of 
 $8,852,373. It thus appears, that during the 
 present fiscal year, a year of great commercial 
 prosperity, the ordinary receipts have been in¬ 
 sufficient to pay the expenses of the Govern¬ 
 ment, by over $8,000,000, and that too at a time 
 when the expenses of the Government have been 
 largely reduced below what they were but one 
 year ago. It is very easy to see, if this system 
 of finance is persisted in, that the debt of this 
 Government in a few years will approach the 
 debt of one of the European Governments. It 
 is impossible that any Government can be prop¬ 
 erly carried on under this system of finance. 
 Therefore the argument is perfectly clear that, 
 unless a different state of facts exists in the fu¬ 
 ture, the present tariff bill will be wholly insuffi¬ 
 cient to pay the ordinary expenses of the Gov¬ 
 ernment. 
 
 This deficit is not merely temporary, but it is 
 permanent. During the present fiscal year, the 
 importations into this country will amount to 
 over $412,000,000, or $50,000,000 more than in 
 1857—higher than ever before. Although the 
 importations have gone up thus, yet they have 
 not, under the present tariff, produced sufficient 
 revenue to pay the ordinary expenses of the 
 Government. We must, therefore, consider one 
 of three propositions. We must either diminish 
 the expenditures of the Government, increase the 
 public debt, or increase the revenue. I take it 
 that no one in our day desires to increase the 
 national debt. The idea that a national debt is 
 a national blessing is an absurd one, which 
 should never have been tolerated; and I believe 
 that no respectable political party proposes that 
 the Government should go on as it has for three 
 years past, on the public credit. I do not sup¬ 
 pose that any other Administration than the 
 present one would tolerate the practice for three 
 years. 
 
 Now, can we diminish the expenditures ? That 
 is the first question to which I desire to direct 
 the attention of the Committee. I have be¬ 
 fore me a table, which has been carefully pre¬ 
 pared, showing that the estimates of the Secretary 
 of the Treasury for the next fiscal year, for ordi¬ 
 nary purposes, reached $46,278,893. Including 
 the interest on the public debt, and the expenses 
 of collecting the revenue, and other permanent 
 appropriations, amounting to $8,173,582, the to¬ 
 tal amount estimated for i3 $54,492,475. But, 
 sir, to this is to be added a vast number of ap¬ 
 propriations asked for by the several Depart¬ 
 ments, but which the Secretary of the Treasury 
 totally ignores. He declares that he asks but 
 for $54,452,475; yet other Departments of the 
 Government estimate for other appropriations to 
 the amount of $9,606,250. I wish to warn my 
 political friends, if they vote these appropria¬ 
 tions, they will be placed precisely in the same 
 position that they were in the Thirty-fourth 
 Congress. They will be told that these appro¬ 
 priations were the extravagance of a Republican 
 House, and were made in the face of the report 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury, although the 
 
 8,173,582.-13 
 
 appropriations were asked for by the appropriate 
 Departments of the Government. For the pur¬ 
 pose of showing the character of these estimates, 
 I have prepared a statement of most of them, as 
 follows: ’ 
 
 Estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury for the service 
 
 of the year 1861.S46.27S,803.56 
 
 Interest on the public dobt.$3,3S6,621.34 
 
 For expenses collecting revenue 
 
 from imports. 2,000,000.00 
 
 Other permanent appropriations, 2,786,961.14 
 
 The following estimates not embraced in 
 those of the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 amounts embraced in bills now before both 
 Houses of Congress : 
 
 Estimates lor public works in the course of con¬ 
 struction .$2,282,400.00 
 
 Completion Washington aqueduct 500,000.00 
 
 Public buildings and grounds_ 44,418.4* 
 
 Estimate Third Auditor of the 
 Treasury, payment of Oregon 
 and Washington war debt.... 2,714,808.55 
 Enlargement of public grounds.. 168,250.00 
 
 Texas regiment, Senate amend¬ 
 ment to Military Academy bill.. 779,392.03 
 
 Light-house bill, reported by 
 
 Committee on Commerce. 653,000.00 
 
 Restoring mail service, in Post 
 
 Office bill, 1860. 500,000.00 
 
 Restoring mail service, in Post 
 
 Office bill, 1861. 1,539,221.00 
 
 Mail routes established in 1858 
 and Kansas. 425,160.00 
 
 „ . „ , 9,606.250.05 
 
 Estimate of the amount required to satisfy bills 
 bofore Congress : 
 
 Interest on Pacific railroad... j. .$3,000,000.00 
 
 Private bills, &c., &c. 1,<C0.0!0.0U 
 
 - 4,000,000.00 
 
 French spoliations. 5,000,010.00 
 
 Amistad claim. 50,000.00 
 
 -- 5,050,000.00 
 
 73,108,726.99 
 
 Among them are estimates for continuing pub¬ 
 lic buildings in the course of construction. This 
 is mostly for the Charleston and New Orleans 
 custom-houses, and for the Treasury extension. 
 These appropriations are asked for; and gentle¬ 
 men hf re, who will vote against this or any other 
 tariff bill, yet urge the pressing necessity of these 
 appropriations. But the Secretary of the Treas¬ 
 ury, who should take a view of the whole field 
 of expenditures, totally ignores them in hi 3 esti¬ 
 mates. The Washington aqueduct, the Oregon 
 and Washington war debt, the enlargement of 
 the public grounds, and the Texas mounted regi¬ 
 ment, have been, or will all be, pressed upon us. 
 and yet neither is included in the estimates' 
 They will be voted for by the friends of the Ad¬ 
 ministration, and yet all know there are no means 
 provided for their payment. They will create 
 the necessity for new revenue, and then gener¬ 
 ally vote against increasing the revenue, and go 
 before the people clamoring about new taxes 
 and tariffs. Charged with the administration of 
 the Government, yet they expect the Opposition 
 to vote them supplies for all sorts of demands, 
 to furnish them revenue against their votes, or 
 they will pay the salaries of their officials by in¬ 
 creasing the public debt. 
 
 As an example, take the proposed regiment of 
 volunteers for Texas, which measure is now 
 pressed by the representatives of Texas. The 
 
I ^position wag voted for by every member of 
 thd other side, aDd perhaps by some members on 
 this side of the House. If this be granted, then 
 here is an addition to the expenditures of the 
 Government of nearly $1,000,000 j and we on 
 this side of the House, who are desirous of 
 raising the revenue sufficient to meet the ex¬ 
 penses of the Government, will be charged with 
 having appropriated this large sum, not esti¬ 
 mated for, although nearly all of us will vote 
 against it; and those who vote for it will, in the 
 main, oppose all measures to raise revenue to 
 meet it. In my judgment, the best mode to 
 meet this new system of financial tactics is to re¬ 
 fuse all appropriations for all new objects of ex¬ 
 penditure until some proper revenue is provided. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, there is also a light-house bill, 
 which has been, or will be, reported, and which 
 asks for an appropriation of $653,000. There is 
 a proposition for the restoration of the mail ser¬ 
 vice, which everybody seems to be in favor of, 
 and which will require over $2,000,000. Let me 
 call your attention to the cost of that measure. 
 Although our constituents in all parts of the 
 country have called upon us to increase or re¬ 
 store the mail service, yet I believe that the Post¬ 
 master General did right in reducing it. It is the 
 only reform instituted by this Administration. 
 Gentlemen upon this as well as upon the other 
 side should remember that their mandatory re¬ 
 striction will increase the expenses of the Post 
 Office Department over $2,000,000. 
 
 In addition to these items, there is a bill pend¬ 
 ing in this House which I hope will pass, and 
 that is the bill for the construction of a Pacific 
 railroad, which will require $3,000,000 a year to 
 pay the interest upon the $60,000,000 appropri¬ 
 ated. In my judgment, it will cost much more. 
 I am willing to appropriate any amount neces¬ 
 sary to aid in building a Pacific railroad; but, 
 in our present financial condition, it is proper 
 and necessary that we should look to the cost. 
 The Democratic party, in both its branches, at 
 Charleston, recently declared that that party was 
 in favor of the construction of a Pacific railroad. 
 As we on this side always favored it, we cer¬ 
 tainly should, in framing a revenue law, look to 
 this new charge upon the public Treasury. Then 
 there are private bills pressed upon us constantly. 
 Upon this hasty review of the demands upon the 
 Treasury, we cannot safely estimate that the ex¬ 
 penditures for the next fiscal year will be less 
 than $65,000,000, exclusive of the principal of 
 the public debt. Can this estimate be reduced 
 without injury to the public service? 
 
 I desire now to say that the Committee of 
 Ways and Means, who have had charge of ap¬ 
 propriation bills, have endeavored, faithfully and 
 honestly, without regard to party divisions—and 
 all parties in this House are represented in that 
 committee—to cut down the appropriations to 
 the lowest practicable point, and thus to reduce 
 the expenses of the Government. I have before 
 me a table, showing that, upon the estimates 
 submitted to us by the Secretary of the Treas¬ 
 ury, for the ordinary expenses of the Govern¬ 
 ment, we have been able to reduce the amount 
 about $1,230,000. It is as follows: 
 
 Amount in bills as reported by committee_ 45,048,875.73 
 
 Add permanent appropriations, excluding in¬ 
 terest on the public debt, amounting to.... 4,786,961.00 
 
 49,835,836.73 
 
 Add-interest pa public-debt^—____ 3,386,621.00 
 
 53,222,457.73 
 
 If the House will take the bills as reported by 
 the Committee of Ways and Means, instead of 
 the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 they will save the Government about $1,500,000. 
 But I cannot say that I expect they will do so, 
 because I have no doubt that the very items 
 which, upon the fairest examination, we have 
 found to be too large or unnecessary for the 
 public service, and have therefore reduced, will 
 be put upon the bills, either by this House or in 
 the Senate; and, no doubt, the bills will be over¬ 
 loaded with Senate amendments of four or five 
 million more, as has been the case during every 
 Congress since I have been a member of this 
 House. If, however, the estimates of the Com¬ 
 mittee of Ways and Means and their reductions 
 are sanctioned, the ordinary appropriations for 
 the Government will be reduced to $45,048,S^, 
 aside from the public debt and the permanent 
 appropriations. And, in my judgment, if we 
 would devote our time to a fair investigation 
 of the ordinary operations of the Government, 
 we might reduce our aggregate expenses to 
 $50,000,000 annually; but so long as sectional 
 controversy is the chief employment of our tim?| 
 
4 
 
 80 long aa no debate ia allowed here except that 
 which involves the safety of slavery, we never 
 can accomplish a radical reduction of the ex¬ 
 penses of the Government. 
 
 No permanent or substantial reductions can 
 be made without an earnest co-operation between 
 the executive and legislative branches of the 
 Government. We can limit appropriations, but 
 we cannot, except by the process of impeach¬ 
 ment, prevent the misapplication of the public 
 money. We may appropriate for officers and 
 clerks, but if the President or a head of Depart¬ 
 ment will detail them to edit a party newspaper, 
 or pension them for party services by appointing 
 them to offices whose duties they never perform, 
 we cannot prevent it. If the head of each De¬ 
 partment shall, without fear or favor, administer 
 his Department, applying to services rendered 
 there precisely the same rule, as to fitness, in¬ 
 dustry, and compensation, as would be applied 
 by any prudent private citizen in his own affairs, 
 all the abuses we now hear so much of would 
 soon cease. 
 
 There are several branches of expenditure 
 which, in my judgment, Congress could by wise 
 legislation reduce without injury to the public 
 service; and as I do not desire to debate the 
 several appropriation bills, I propose to state 
 here three or four branches of expenditure where 
 material reductions might be made. The first is 
 the expenditures in the naval service. I was 
 unfortunately in the minority of the committee 
 upon the appropriations in the navy bill. I have 
 no doubt that the amount recommended to be 
 appropriated for the construction and repair of 
 vessels could be decreased fully $1,000,000 with 
 a benefit to the public service. In the bill we 
 have reported $3,500,000 for the construction, 
 repair, and equipment of vessels, in accordance 
 with the estimates sent in by the Secretary of 
 the Navy. I am opposed to that appropriation; 
 and when the time comes for the consideration 
 of that bill, I shall move an amendment to it in 
 that respect. Last session, Congress adopted 
 some substantial reforms, but those reforms have 
 not been regarded in the present navy bill. 
 
 There are other reforms which ought to be 
 made, and which can only be effected by careful 
 legislation. One of those is in the Post Office 
 service. The deficiency in tha^t Department is 
 now $6,000,000 annually; and if you restore 
 the postal service as it has heretofore been, and 
 i3 now asked for, you will have a deficiency of 
 $8,500,000, and that sum has to be paid out of 
 the public Treasury. I have no doubt that the 
 expenses of the postal Department could be paid 
 out of its ordinary receipts. In the State of 
 Ohio K according to the tabular statement sent 
 to us by the Department, the postal service costs 
 more than the receipts; and yet there are con¬ 
 tractors in that State—men of the highest re¬ 
 spectability and responsibility—who are ready 
 to engage to perform all the postal service in 
 Ohio for one-half of the receipts. Why, sir, 
 $3,243,9*74 is paid to railroad companies for 
 transporting the mails, and yet these very mails 
 are usually carried in the same cars in which 
 express companies carry private property for 
 
 one-third the expense. If thi3 mail matter was 
 now carried by express companies, route agents 
 could be abolished. If the whole postal service 
 was let out, as it should be, to private enter¬ 
 prise—to express companies—I have no doubt 
 that the Post Office business would be better 
 managed, it3 duties better performed, and a large 
 amount of money saved to the Government. 
 
 As a general rule, I take it, we have in the 
 post offices an inferior class of men—generally 
 partisan editors, who have to be rewarded for 
 their services, or men who distinguished them¬ 
 selves by devotion to their party in their several 
 localities. They are not such men as any pri¬ 
 vate company of individuals would employ to 
 perform the same duties. 
 
 You also upon many routes require coaches to 
 be run for the benefit of passengers, while there 
 is no connection between that business and the 
 carrying of mail matter for distribution among 
 the people of the United States; $3,134,094 is 
 paid for coach service alone. I have no doubt, 
 if the United States was divided into postal dis- 
 trict% bounded, as far as practicable, by State 
 lines, and the business of carrying all matter 
 over all the postal routes established by law, 
 and its delivery at the different post offices, were 
 let out under a judicious management of the 
 Department, the expenditures would be decreased 
 at least to the amount of the deficit. 
 
 There is another matter in which there should 
 be a reform. We are appropriating a million 
 dollars every year to pay the ordinary judicial 
 expenses of the Government other than the sala¬ 
 ries of judicial officers ; all sorts of abuses have 
 grown up in the disbursement of that fund. I 
 need not speak specially of the matters con¬ 
 nected with the offices of your district attorneys 
 and your marshals; for all gentlemen must be 
 conversant with the abuses connected with those 
 places. Men are selected, summoned, and kept 
 as jurors and witnesses, because of their polit¬ 
 ical opinions, and as a reward for political ser¬ 
 vice, and all sorts of constructive fees and 
 charges are made and allowed. 
 
 But I am taking up more time with these de¬ 
 tails than I intended. If we could only manage 
 these matters as intelligent business men manage 
 their own, there would be an end to all these 
 abuses. This we cannot do, because parties look 
 to the public money as the reward of party suc¬ 
 cess. If the Republican party be charged with 
 the administration of the Government next year, 
 as I trust it will be, it may oppose all reform; it 
 may follow the example of the Democratic party, 
 in parcelling out money and patronage among its 
 partisans, without regard to the public service; 
 but if so, it will surely lose the confidence of its 
 supporters. The Republican party could not 
 stand for a moment, if it was convicted, as this 
 Administration has been, with the corrupt prac¬ 
 tices and abuses disclosed by committees of this 
 House. The difference between the Democratic 
 and Republican parties is, that the disclosure of 
 corrupt abuses by Democratic officials does not 
 seem to excite censure or induce removals, while 
 the Republican party has shown a readiness to 
 punish such of its agents as have violated their 
 
5 
 
 trust. Many of these abuses have grown out of 
 the necessity imposed upon the sectional interest 
 controlling the Democratic party, to preserve 
 more strength in the Northern States; and, 
 therefore, offices are given, spoils divided out, 
 newspapers pensioned and edited in Northern 
 States. These corruptions and abuses have gone 
 so far as to bring discredit and reproach upon 
 popular institutions. (See Note A, page 8.) 
 
 I have shown, Mr. Chairman, that we will 
 have to raise sixty-five to seventy millions for 
 the next fiscal year. Where is it to come from ? 
 What sources of revenue have we ? First, we 
 have the public lands. I have here a table which 
 presents some singular facts in regard to these 
 lands. In the year 1859, the Government dis¬ 
 posed of 13,540,262 acres of public lands, from 
 which it received $1,628,187, or about a shilling 
 an acre. What became of these lands? Why, 
 5,106,015 acres went to railroad companies, to 
 form their capital stock ; and that, not by the ac¬ 
 tion of one party, but by all parties. 1 am gald 
 that I never voted for such grants. By the natural 
 operation of business, all these lands go into the 
 hands of non-residents ; of foreigners, who fur¬ 
 nish railroad iron on the security of these lands. 
 We granted, as swamp lands, 1,530,966 acres, 
 and in bounty land warrants, 2,941,700 acres. 
 The receipts paid into the Land Office were but 
 $1,628,187, while the expenses of the land offices, 
 of clerks, registers, and ^receivers, land surveys, 
 &c., amounted to $1,310,758; so that the net 
 proceeds of the revenue from public lands was 
 but $300,000. 
 
 I trust, therefore, that the idea of looking to 
 the public lands as a source of revenue will be 
 at once abandoned. Let us, by a wise system 
 of pre-emption laws, or by a homestead bill, in¬ 
 vite every man who desires to locate on Western 
 lands to go there and make for himself a home. 
 That is the only honest, the only noble, the only 
 manly system of disposing of the public lands. 
 There is no reason in the world why Western 
 settlers should pay the Government for the lands 
 they occupy. Their labor gave to these lands 
 their value. They were of no value to the Gov¬ 
 ernment or anybody else while they lay there 
 uncultivated. It i9 the labor of the hardy men 
 of the Western States that gives to these lands 
 all their value ; and yet they have paid millions 
 on millions for the public lands. The history 
 of each new State, for the first ten years of 
 its existence, has been a struggle with poverty 
 and debt. All the new States are laden down 
 with debts contracted in paying for the public 
 lands, either to the Government or speculators. 
 It is idle to look to the public lands as a source 
 of revenue. 
 
 To show you how so distinguished a gentleman 
 a3 the Secretary of the Treasury may make mis¬ 
 takes in these matters, I have here a table which 
 presents this curious state of facts. Mr. Secre¬ 
 tary Cobb estimated the receipts from public 
 lands in 1858 at $6,000,000. It turned out to be 
 $3,513,715 ; and the great bulk of that was paid 
 for expenses. In 1859 he estimated the receipts 
 from public lands at $5,000,000. It turned out 
 to be $1,756,687. In 1860 he estimated them 
 
 first at $5,000,000, and afterwards at $2,500,000. 
 They have and will realize less than two million. 
 He estimates the receipts from the sales of pub¬ 
 lic lands in 1861 ai $4,000,000. In my judgment, 
 they will not reach $500,000, because I hope thi3 
 Congress will pass a pre-emption and homestead 
 law, and that will settle the question of the pub¬ 
 lic lands. 
 
 The miscellaneous items found in the estimates 
 are merely receipts from consuls, fines, forfeit¬ 
 ures, and matters of that kind, which amount to 
 about $1,000,000. The only practical source of 
 revenue for the National Government is duties on 
 imports, and this is ample and exclusive. No 
 country in the world has a finer source of rev¬ 
 enue than this. We import $400,000,000 worth 
 of foreign products annually. A duty of ten 
 per cent, on that would amount to $40,000,000. 
 It was the boast of an English Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, that an income tax of a shilling 
 in the pound would produce £10,000,000. A 
 duty of ten per cent, on our imports would, at the 
 present rate of importation, produce $40,000,000; 
 and the importation is constantly increasing. 
 All our internal Governments—State, munici¬ 
 pal, town, and village—are supported by direct 
 taxation; but the National Government, which 
 protects us all alike, looks naturally to the 
 duties on imports for revenue. If required, 
 we might raise a revenue from this source of 
 $100,000,000. If a tax of twenty-five per cent 
 were imposed on importations, it would produce 
 that sum. I trust such a tax will not be im¬ 
 posed, because it is unnecessary. But I speak 
 of it as an ample source of income. If the Gov¬ 
 ernment was reduced to narrow straits, if w r 8 
 were engaged in war, or if anything occurred 
 requiring a great drain on our resources, we 
 could raise that amount of money from that 
 source of revenue alone, without resorting to 
 direct taxation. 
 
 There never has been, since the foundation of 
 this Government, a time when any other source 
 of revenue was looked to. Gentlemen talk about 
 free trade. Sir, no project for tree trade has 
 ever been submitted to us with a hope of pas¬ 
 sage. I believe that if a project for free trade 
 were to be carried through Congress, it would 
 lose every member who voted for it his seat in 
 this House. Why, sir, the people of this country 
 would not allow the raising of $10,000,000 by 
 direct taxation. If you were to put upon the 
 State of Ohio a direct tax of $1,000,000, the 
 people of that State might become almost as bad 
 as the people of some of the Southern States now 
 are—they would almost be in favor of secession. 
 The only questions for us to consider in this con¬ 
 nection are, how much revenue is to be raised, 
 and how shall we levy it? I say that it is ne¬ 
 cessary for us to raise $65,000,000. Will the 
 present tariff furnish that amount of revenue ? 
 Every man answers “no.” The Secretary of the 
 Treasury estimates that the tariff of 1857 will 
 yield $60,000,000 for the next fiscal year. Why, 
 sir, to produce a revenue of $60,000,000 a year, 
 under the tariff of 1857, it will require an im¬ 
 portation of $448,641,000. If the prophecy of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury should turn out to be 
 
6 
 
 true, it would bring about a commercial revul¬ 
 sion. To establish or continue a tariff which 
 Would induce an importation of $500,000,000, 
 would be to destroy the manufactures of the 
 country. It would limit our industrial and pro¬ 
 ducing power to agriculture alone, when every 
 one knows that diversity of pursuits is essential 
 to the prosperity of a people. 
 
 To import the amount of $448,000,000 annual¬ 
 ly, with a population of thirty million inhabit¬ 
 ants, would give an importation of about $15 
 per head, or $75 per family, throughout the Uni¬ 
 ted States. Now, the highest rates of import we 
 have ever had prior to the tariff of 1857 were in 
 1836, when it reached the amount of $10.93 per 
 head, and in 1857, when the importations reach¬ 
 ed $11.82 per head ; and it is a remarkable fact 
 that the importations of these two years prece¬ 
 ded the greatest commercial revulsions of our 
 time. It took ten years of economy and indus¬ 
 try to recover from the troubles of 1836. And 
 now, Mr. Chairman, if, by the financial policy of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, an importation of 
 $15 per head is produced, what will be the effect 
 of it? All experience teaches that no people can 
 afford to pay, for foreign productions, $15 per 
 head, or $75 per family ! 
 
 Four hundred and fifty millions ! When gen¬ 
 tlemen add to this amount freight, insurance, the 
 loss by false invoices, by forgery and perjury— 
 and I tell them that under our present ad valo¬ 
 rem system there is a great deal of both—when, 
 in addition, you take into computation the debt 
 due in this country to Europe, by States, cities, 
 counties, and railroad companies, amounting to 
 some $500,000,000, upon which they are paying 
 an interest of about seven per cent., you will have 
 an amount of specie, or its equivalent, going out 
 of the country, of something like $550,000,000— 
 enough to bring the country to the verge of bank¬ 
 ruptcy. Therefore it is that I say that, if the 
 prophecy of the Secretary of the Treasury should 
 turn out to be true, it would prove a national mis¬ 
 fortune, second only to his practice of living upon 
 the public credit. 
 
 Mr. MILLSON. With the consent of the gen¬ 
 tleman from Ohio, I desire to ask him to what 
 he attributes the commercial disaster and revul¬ 
 sion in England and Europe in 1857 ? 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. My impression is that, to a very 
 considerable extent, they were caused by the wars 
 then being carried on. There were, however, 
 many causes which I do not propose now to go 
 into a discussion of. Our own commercial re¬ 
 vulsion occurred first, when our people were in 
 the midst of profound peace. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, if I have succeeded in what I 
 have desired, I have shown that the tariff of 1857 
 will not produce a sufficient revenue to meet the 
 wants of the Government. Will the tariff meas¬ 
 ure now presented to us—that reported from the 
 Committee of Ways and Means—prove sufficient 
 for that purpose? In my judgment, it will. I 
 do not approve all the details of that bill; but, in 
 my opinion, if it shall become a law, it will prove 
 the best-considered tariff that has ever been 
 presented to the Congress of the United States. 
 It is the result of two or three years’ delibera¬ 
 
 tion by two committees; and, as finally agreed 
 on, is based upon the experience of the country 
 for the last fifty or sixty years. It changes sub¬ 
 stantially the tariff of 1857, by the substitution, 
 as far as practicable, of specific for ad valorem 
 duties; and that change is in accordance with 
 the views and wishes of the President, though 
 not in accordance with those of the Secretary of 
 the Treasury. By this change, frauds upon the 
 revenue of the Government will, in a great 
 measure, be guarded against. Why, sir, whef.- 
 in Europe last summer, I heard alleged frauds 
 upon our revenue frequently spoken of, and gen 
 erally admitted. In some cases the grosser 
 frauds are practiced by importations by foreign 
 firms to the same firms under other names in 
 this country. The French returns of exporta¬ 
 tions to this country show a large excess over 
 our own returns. Nearly every French and Eng¬ 
 lish house has agents here, to whom they send 
 consignments of goods, purporting to have been 
 sold at specified rates, upon which ad valorem 
 duties are paid ; but as soon as they go into the 
 ordinary commerce of the country, the prices 
 are very much enhanced. With specific duties 
 equal to the average ad valorem rates, the reve¬ 
 nues of the Government would be increased ten 
 per cent, beyond those now received, simply by 
 the suppression of fraud. 
 
 Mr. HOUSTON. If the gentleman will allow 
 me, I desire to ask him what amount of revenue 
 he expects will be derived from the bill now under 
 consideration, if it should become a law? 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. As nearly as I can ascertain, 
 I think it will be likely to produce about 
 $65,000,000. I cannot, of course, tell precisely; 
 and, since the Secretary of the Treasury did not 
 come within $15,000,000 or $20,000,000, the 
 gentleman will excuse me if I am not able to 
 guess exactly. 
 
 Mr. HOUSTON. The gentleman from Ohio will 
 find that the Secretary of the Treasury has come 
 within less than $100,000 for the first three 
 quarters of the present year. 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. In 1858, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury estimated the receipts from customs 
 would be $60,000,000, when we realized but 
 $38,671,242. 
 
 Mr. HOUSTON. The gentleman did not under¬ 
 stand me. The estimate of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury for the last three ouarters was within 
 $100,000 of the receipts. 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. I will do the Secretary of the 
 Treasury justice. In 1859, he estimated the re¬ 
 ceipts would be $69,500,000, when they were in 
 reality but $48,869,879, showing a discrepancy 
 of only $20,000^000. 
 
 Mr. HOUSTON. That was before the revulsion 
 of 1857. 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. No, sir ; it was for 1859. For 
 1800, I confess that the Secretary of the Treasury 
 has approached near the mark. For the current 
 fiscal year he estimated the revenue would be 
 $56,000,000. We cannot tell what it will be, but 
 I judge that it will reach $54,000,000. I cannot 
 say exactly, because the last quarter’s return can¬ 
 not yet be known. 
 
 I From the nature of things, neither Mr. Secre- 
 
7 
 
 tary Cobb, nor any other Secretary, can, under a | 
 system of ad valorem duties, come within mil¬ 
 lions of the actual receipts. An English Chan¬ 
 cellor of the Exchequer would consider himself 
 disgraced if he did not estimate within £500,000 
 of the revenue, because there the duties are spe¬ 
 cific, except, I believe, about £188,000, which is 
 the extent of the ad valorem duties. It is the 
 very nature of the ad valorem duties, that they 
 are uncertain, and they can never be estimated 
 by any Secretary of the Treasury, however intel¬ 
 ligent. Therefore it is, I say, that the present 
 bill is of great importance. It prevents fraudu¬ 
 lent valuation. It gives our own importers a 
 fair chance to import goods and to compete with 
 the foreigner. Nearly all the goods imported 
 into our country are by foreigners. The working 
 details of this bill are an improvement on the 
 tariff of 1857. It is more certain. It is more 
 definite. It gives specific duties. The tariff of 
 1857 is made up of complex and inconvenient 
 tables. The number of tables is too great; and 
 in some case3 the same article is in two tables. 
 Thus flaxseed comes with a duty of ten per cent.; 
 and jet linseed, the same thing, yielding the 
 same product, the same oil, is admitted duty 
 free. 
 
 This bill, on the other hand, fixes three ad va¬ 
 lorem tables ; one at ten per cent., one at twenty, 
 and the other at thirty. There is a number of 
 specific duties, and then there is the free list. It 
 conforms to our decimal currency, and the du¬ 
 ties under it are easily calculated. There can be 
 but little dispute about home and foreign valua¬ 
 tion under it. It will yield a revenue sufficient 
 to pay the expenses of the Government. For 
 these reasons, it is obvious it ought to receive 
 the sanction of law. 
 
 I might rest with the reasons already assigned, 
 but there is another reason why I desire to have 
 this bill passed, and that is, because it is framed 
 upon the idea that it is the duty of the Govern¬ 
 ment, in imposing taxes, to do as little injury to 
 the industry of the country as possible ; that 
 they are to be levied so as to extend a reasona¬ 
 ble protection to all branches of American in¬ 
 dustry. Every President of the United States, 
 from Washington to this time, has recognised that 
 principle, including Mr. Buchanan. I admit 
 that as a general rule, duties operate, to a 
 greater or less degree, as a tax upon the people ; 
 and when the duty i3 levied upon articles we 
 cannot produce, the people have, directly or in¬ 
 directly, to pay that tax. But, sir, in levying 
 that tax, you may so proceed as to make it op¬ 
 pressive. You may make a tariff to raise the 
 sum of $40,000,000, and break up every indus¬ 
 trial interest of the country. The Committee of 
 Ways and Means report a tariff which will pro¬ 
 duce $65,000,000, and will do no injury to any 
 industrial interest. I believe that it will give a 
 reasonable fair protection to the great interests 
 of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, which 
 lie at the basis of the prosperity of this country. 
 
 Mr. MILLS ON. The gentleman has stated that 
 the Secretary of the Treasury has made only one 
 good guess out of three. The Secretary’s esti¬ 
 mate was $50,000,000, and the actual receipts 
 were $49,500,000. 
 
 Mr. SHERMAN. Tne gentleman himself falls 
 into error. The estimate of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury was $69,500,000. After the fiscal year 
 had accrued from July to December, and one 
 quarter’s receipts were known, he corrected thG 
 estimate, and made it $50,000,000. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, there is no reason why this bill 
 should ( be considered a party measure. It is not, 
 and it should not be so considered. The present 
 tariff, from the circumstances attending its pas¬ 
 sage, cannot fairly be charged to any party ex¬ 
 clusively. It is based upon a state of facts that 
 in six months passed away. At that time, March 
 3, 1857, most vacant lots in Iowa were worth 
 about $1,000 each. If a man inquired about the 
 lot, the owner would raise the price to $1,500, 
 and if two men inquired about it, he would raise 
 it to $5,000. At that time, everything was in¬ 
 flated, North, South, En3t, and West. 
 
 In six months the bubble burst. In 1857, 
 when the tariff law was passed, it was believed 
 it would produce a revenue sufficient for the 
 Government. The average duty which has been 
 realized upon all articles, including the free list, 
 is fourteen and four-tenths per cent., while the 
 gentlemen who passed the act believed that the 
 average duty would be about twenty per cent.; 
 so that it turned out that the average duty paid 
 did not amount to three-fourths of what was ex¬ 
 pected. The tariff has involved us in a large 
 debt. And yet the Secretary of the Treasury, 
 and gentlemen on the other side of the House, 
 do not seem to be willing that a sufficient amount 
 of money shall be raised for Government pur¬ 
 poses by wise and well-considered legislation. 
 It is strange that an Administration that ha3 
 run the Government into debt at the rate of 
 $17,000,000 a year, should resist an increase of 
 revenue, at least to the extent of meeting the ex¬ 
 penses of the Government. It will go out on 
 the 4th of March next, having loaded down 
 its successor with a debt of $50,000,000, or 
 $60,000,000, without passing a single law in the 
 interest of the people ; without providing reve¬ 
 nue to meet the expenses of the Government, 
 with a general load of discredit, almost, if not 
 entirely, without precedent in our history. 
 
 Public Lands —1859. 
 
 Act ex. Receipts. 
 
 Cash sales at minimum price... 511,477.66 $722,477.48 
 
 Cash sales at graduated prices.. 3,450,103.54 905,739.65 
 
 3,961,581.20 1,628,187.13 
 
 Located by bounty land warrants 2,941,700.00 
 
 Swamp lands to States. 1,530,966.76 
 
 Grant of land to States for rail¬ 
 road purposes.5,108,015.00 
 
 13,540,262.96 
 
 Secretary to sign land patents. 
 
 General Land Office, salaries and contingent 
 
 expenses. 
 
 Offices Surveyors General, salaries and contin¬ 
 gent expenses. 
 
 District land offices, &c., salaries and other ex¬ 
 penses. 
 
 Surveys of the public lands, and preparing un¬ 
 finished records of public and private sur¬ 
 veys, to be transferred to the State authori¬ 
 ties. 
 
 Expenditures. 
 
 $1,500 
 
 300,930.62 
 
 137,105.61 
 
 328,447 00 
 
 542,769.23 
 
 1,310,758.47 
 
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 Note A. 
 
 Extract from speech of Earl Grey , m /7ig British 
 House of Lords, April 19, 1860. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of America, there 
 is another point which I really must mention. 
 I stated to your lordships that the President, 
 with the most praiseworthy spirit, had written 
 a letter to caution the country against the ex¬ 
 treme extravagance which in modern times has 
 prevailed; but I am sorry to say the President is 
 altogether unable to resist, the current , because there 
 has been an inquiry into the state of the navy of 
 the United States, and the result of that inquiry 
 has been the publication of a mass of documents, 
 
 which I am sure no man can read without the 
 greatest astonishment. Contracts are proven to 
 have been habitually and avowedly made to promote . 
 not the interest of the public , but of the individual 
 A physician is shown to have been appointed to 
 be agent for the purchase of coal, who knew 
 nothing about coal, who never did anything in 
 the purchase of coal but signing the certificates 
 brought to him, and who received the appoint¬ 
 ment in order to share with others the profits of 
 the contract. More than this. We have letters 
 addressed to the highest officers of the Govern¬ 
 ment, calling on them to grant contracts to par¬ 
 ticular individuals for electioneering purposes. 
 One letter is addressed to Mr. Buchanan himself, 
 urging him in the strongest manner to have the 
 contract for the machinery of a steam sloop as¬ 
 signed to a particular house in Philadelphia, 
 with a view to the election. There is no dis¬ 
 guise. It is put openly that it is of importance, 
 in the then state of the election, that the con¬ 
 tract should be given to this particular house. 
 
 I appeal to your lordships whether, if a letter 
 were addressed to the First Lord of the Admi¬ 
 ralty, making a demand of that kind, and it were 
 proved that he had listened to it for a moment, 
 he would not by the universal indignation of all 
 parties, in Parliament and out of it, be driven 
 from the councils of the State. [Cheers.] But the 
 letter to which I have referred bore this endorse¬ 
 ment : “ The enclosed letter from Col. Patterson, 
 of Philadelphia, is submitted to the attention of 
 the Secretary of the Navy.—J. B.” [Laughter.] 
 Such corruption produces its natural effects'*" 
 upon every interest of the country, and, above 
 all, upon the administration of justice: Your 
 lordships are all aware, that not many years ago 
 the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States were regarded with the greatest respect, 
 not only there, but in this country. The judges 
 were enlightened, honest, honorable men, and 
 their diet a were often quoted in our own courts. 
 How has this state of things altered 1 Under 
 the system which has arisen in America, by 
 which appointments to the Supreme Court have 
 been used for party purposes, that court has lost 
 its high character. It no longer commands the 
 respect which it did formerly, and some of the 
 decisions which have been pronounced have ex¬ 
 cited the disgust of all high-minded men in 
 America. [Hear, hear.] 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1 860. 
 
 REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 Hon. rreston King, N. Y., (Chairman,) J. W. Grimes, Iowa,L. F. S. Foster, Conn., on the part of the Senate ; Hon. E. 
 B. Washburne, Illinois, John Covode, Penn., (Treasurer,) E. G. Spaulding, N. Y., J. B. Alley, Mass., David Kilgore, Ind., 
 J. L N. Stratton, N. J., on the part of tho House of Representatives. 
 
 During the Presidential Campaign, Speeches and Documents will be supplied at the following reduced prices: Eight 
 pages, per ICO, 50 cents ; sixteen pages, per 100, $1.00: twenty-four pages, per 100, $1.50. Address either of the above 
 Committee GEORGE HARRINGTON, Secretary.