both of production
and consumption, and consequently of wealth; a restriction of
exportations and of foreign commerce; and a large increase in the
machinery and expense of the revenue collection.

"In respect to the injurious influence of this duplication of taxes upon
the industry of the country, the Commission cannot speak too strongly.
Its effect has already been most injurious. It threatens the very
existence (even with the protection of inflated prices and a high
tariff) of many branches of industry; and with a return of the trade and
currency of the country to anything approximating its normal condition,
it must, by checking development, prove highly disastrous.

"The influence of the duplication of taxes in sustaining prices is also,
in the opinion of the Commission, far greater than those not conversant
with the subject generally estimate; and were the price of gold and of
the national currency made at once to approximate, and the present
revenue system to continue unchanged, it would be impossible for the
prices of most products of manufacturing industry to return to anything
like their former level."

The Commission arrive at the conclusion, that all our manufactures are
by these taxes increased in cost from ten to twenty per cent. In the
language of Senator Sherman, when defending the Internal Tax Bill in the
Senate last year, the nation required funds to maintain its armies in
the field; it had put forth its arms and grasped the money of the
country, and would reduce and equalize the taxes when the war was ended.
The Revenue Commission find the taxes on our manufactures and their
materials an incubus upon the industry and a check to the progress of
the country, and recommend their remission. And this we may reasonably
expect from Congress at its present session. But, it may be urged, how
are we to meet the interest on our debt and current expenses of
$284,000,000 in the aggregate, if we repeal these taxes? The answer is a
simple one. The Commission estimate our imports at $400,000,000, and our
duties now average forty-seven per cent. Should this continue, we should
draw from this source alone $188,000,000. There is also the revenue from
public lands and miscellaneous sources, which the Secretary and the
Revenue Commission both rate at $21,000,000, making an aggregate of
$209,000,000; although the Commission, to guard against the effects of
any change in the tariff, modestly rate these items at only
$151,0