us if not an insurmountable obstacle to a thorough revision of
the tariff and to any considerable reduction in import duties.

The present tariff system is in many respects unjust. It makes unequal
distributions both of its burdens and its benefits. This fact was
practically recognized by a majority of each House of Congress in the
passage of the act creating the Tariff Commission. The report of that
commission will be placed before you at the beginning of this session,
and will, I trust, afford you such information as to the condition and
prospects of the various commercial, agricultural, manufacturing,
mining, and other interests of the country and contain such suggestions
for statutory revision as will practically aid your action upon this
important subject.

The revenue from customs for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1879,
amounted to $137,000,000.

It has in the three succeeding years reached, first, $186,000,000, then
$198,000,000, and finally, as has been already stated, $220,000,000.

The income from this source for the fiscal year which will end on June
30, 1883, will doubtless be considerably in excess of the sum last
mentioned.

If the tax on domestic spirits is to be retained, it is plain,
therefore, that large reductions from the customs revenue are entirely
feasible. While recommending this reduction, I am far from advising the
abandonment of the policy of so discriminating in the adjustment of
details as to afford aid and protection to domestic labor. But the
present system should be so revised as to equalize the public burden
among all classes and occupations and bring it into closer harmony with
the present needs of industry.

Without entering into minute detail, which under present circumstances
is quite unnecessary, I recommend an enlargement of the free list so as
to include within it the numerous articles which yield inconsiderable
revenue, a simplification of the complex and inconsistent schedule of
duties upon certain manufactures, particularly those of cotton, iron,
and steel, and a substantial reduction of the duties upon those articles
and upon sugar, molasses, silk, wool, and woolen goods.

If a general revision of the tariff shall be found to be impracticable
at this session, I express the hope that at least some of the more
conspicuous inequalities of the present law may be corrected before
your final adjournment. One of them is specially referred to by the
Secretary. In view of a re