The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-08-05


| year had been 1900 900
And so with all the rest Ii was a miserable and
disgracetul state of public affairs and II called loudly
upon the incoming Administration 10 apply their whole
energy TO correct the evil But how By issuing
new Treasury notes Such a plan no longer adj
yocaed il might possibly have some Two or three
gentlemen yet in It's favor, but the objections il
too obvious and too great 10 allow il 10 be counte-
nanced II was a plan which had not kept its pro-
mise. When Congress were asked for the first ennis
sion OF i've millions, they told that this emission
would be the last that the incoming revenue would
meet the notes, and no more need ever DO issued
lhat was the promise how it had been fulfilled
every body knew. More and more and vet more
notes had been Issued until there were now nine nil
hons OF dollars OF them 10 be provided for The Gov
eminent - authorized 10 borrow twelve millions and
have nine millions Of Treasury notes To pay VIVA,
was the first duty of Congress al such crisis Its
duty was TO I'LL the Treasury-to provide the whole
amount necessary to meet the public expenditures
and then to form plans for the future which il should
be able TO act up TO- Might Mr. S venture to say
that, for nine years past, there had been careful
methodical management of the public finances ever
| thought of We had had indeed plenty OF Congress
sional discussions on all sorts of questions but the
great difficulty had been the want u plain, orderly
Ineligible arrangement of the finances The called
session OF Congress in 1887 had done nothing in The
world but authorize the Government 10 run in debt
and The Government had done little else from that time
TO TINS but to execute this authority, Now and here
was witnessed The hrst attempt 10 bring the public
tcaly bringing up the means of the Government to
the rate OF It's expenditures. We had been living
yearafter year from hand mouth lea wing to m ROW
to take care OF the things of Itself until To- morrow at
last as might have been foIeseen had nothing to take
care OF, and then went To borrowing This was
the consequence, the inevitable conseq uence of VIM
no system, no large, straight forward and permanent
| arrangement to provide tor the wants of the Trea-
| suIy.
Nh 5. had said that the beginning and end Of the
present discussion seemed TO be the C mpromise act
That act passed on the ID March, 1888 and seemed
IN the views OF some gentlemen, TO have been final
settlement OF all revenue questions, and forever.
/ ne argument here had not in terms, been quite as
limited as that the report of former Secretary of
the Treasury who had declared that in FORM the
compromise act Of legislation but that It's con
sequences Were such that certain principles to be
inferred from il as having been settled which princ
pies the Secretary went to detail until he arrived
at result utterly shocking the chief purpose as
now alleged, Of the Compromise itself In q crcui-
tous way he comes to the conclusion that in laying
duties within the limitations Of that act Cong ress may
discriminate so as TO give protection to American ma
nuiacures This, 10 be sure, a very small reserved
right but utterly repugnan To the argument employed
~ tins House. What the direct effects achieved
by the Compromise act For if il really had the eff
fects ascribed to it, nothing less than second
Constitution of the United States prescribing TO the
legislation the People by their eprese natives lm
tatisns OF their power wholly unknow the first
Constitution declaring what should and what should
=,
and then prescribing what should be done after the
year 1912, and taking away he right ever to do any
thing else MI , was not speaking of the actual,
real effect OF that laws It went far enough in its terms
much too far to be consistent with the Constitutions but
the construction gwen to very far ond the
act ITSELF under the notion OF the spirit of the
Whenever the House undertook TO pass revenue bin
the cry was, Take care you must not give up any
item which has heretofore been a source Of revenue
# you do, you will violate the Compromise act-tbal
Is, you will violate the spirit and principle of the act
by creating necessity for resortng something else
not within the Compromise act. You must not dis
tribute the public lands among their rghtul owners
And what next? you mus, collect no more revenue
than is indispensably necessary an economical ad-
/ ihinisraon OF the Government" Well; but what
| is an economical administration Of the Government
| Mr. 5. said the gentleman would recollect that
there had been time when all dfulties on the sub
ject OF tariff had been gotten over by the use
OF certain phrase-that excellent phrase ''ju-
dicious tarif." When a gentleman asked,
you for the tariff against the tariff his reply would
he, am Tor a Judlcious tariff. And most udlcous
saying 1t was. Every one interpreted to just
what he himself meant So now, under this compro-
mise act, no more revenue was to be raised than
necessary 10 an " economical administration of the
/ Government" This was word Of large import and
4 ndetermlnate meaning. Was il economical TO build
Qualifications To have home squadron To APP
propriate money for the of the Navy To appro-
pirate four millions as we have done at the present
session. If it be-and we have no doubt it is--he
safety and interests of the country require it-then
we must bnng the revenue up 10 the point of paving
our debts and providing fo- these expenditures But
anothe. gentleman might say want increase Of
the Navy tn Il is not economical; and eight gentle
men out of this whole body had said they wanted no
home squadron-that was not economical OF course,
then, an appropriation for these objects according
TO their notion, violation of the compromise act.
Whoever Put that phrase into the law very well knew
that 1t would be interpreted by each individual accord
| ing TO his own views of economy 1t rule of
action, because gentlemen must first settle for them
selves IN each particular case what true economy
Mr.. S. thought that il true economy to have a
home squadron-to put the Navy respectable
footing-to get through, if men and money could do
| it, with the Florida war and gradually TO complete
our entire system of Notifications. He considered all
this to be sound economy, because it a provision
against national waste and public devastation and sut
ering Without adequate deiences the nation would
be subject to be continually insulted and deprecated
upon the want of them weakened her in her actual
and still more in her moral force, tempted it nyi.
| ted aggression; 1t caused a nation TO be regarded,
ike the Chinese, not capable of warike defence,
and to he treated accordingly.
Before he said word more on the compromise act
Of 1888 he would ask the committee to 90 back a lit
tie. When was it that the subject of the national re-
venue either for peace war, had been deliberately
discussed in both Houses of Congress- and settled
on permanent footing Not for the last nine years.
! The subject had been looked at by the
| Government during all that period with the view to
| general arrangement of the finances. II was not
done, nor intended to be done, by the called com
promise act. The last occasion the act of July,
1882, and TO that act in connexion with the compro
mise act he would now invite attention, and we
should then whether the latter worthy Of all
that had been said of ii. In 1881 the then Chief
Magistrate of the United States announced to Con
gress in his message at the opening of the session
December, that the public debt nearly paid and
that when the redemption completed the amount
OF revenue would he more than necessary for the
expenses OF government more money would come
into the Treasury than the Government needed. He
therefore recommended an adustment of the revenue
to adapt 1t to these new circumstances What followed
Ihn Of