Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1842-09-09
,wENTY-sEyENrH coNGREss--ed Session
III SENATE.
Saturday, Aug. 81, 1S42-[Continaed.l

Saturday, Aug. q, 1912 II Continned.l
4 THE TARIFF BILL.
i MIR. WRIGHT said he rose, not TO make speech
but to declare that he about TO record ms voe
favor OF this bl-a declaration which, it PANIED hm u
know would carry disappointment and sorfo" 10 tne
minds of many of his most respected and esteemet
friends, both in and out Of this hall. II has been M
habit ii had been his pleasure and pride IN act VIII
his political friends and he could not describe The re
uctance under which he now found hlmsel fcpmpeief
to separate from them Yet allcr the most mature anc
anxious reflection, he had come 10 the conclusion ina
Il was his duty 10 vote for this be cause ne as
sumed that this bill must pass in the form It now bears
that revenue law pass at the present session
he was correct in this assumption then he conh no
avoid tie conclusion he had announced and be DID mol
suppose there single member OF either lssuse o
Congress who supposed for moment that II mis- oil
be rejected upon this vote any further aempt1s To ot
made at this session. to pass revenue bill The alter
native presented, then, is this bill or none; and the
deep and deliberate conviction OF his mind was, tina
this bill should pass bad and loaded with defects as he
believed it to be, rather than that none should pass
A collateral consideration had greatly troubled him
in asserting to this conclusion. His first service IN
Congress was as a member Of the Committee Ma
nufactures of the House of Representatives, during The
Sc sson of 1927 and 1923 when he assisted 10 FORM ant
voted for, the Tariff bill Of 1923, which has been so ex
tensiyely denominated "the bill Of nominations -
He was then wholly without experience in legislation
Of this class and character but his experience from
,a, action had taught him the truth of the adnge, thai
"men s evil deeds follow them" He became very soon
convinced That he had committed a great error upon
That occasion, and possible he was about 10 COM
unit another as great now II grieved him TO know
and feel That many friends were within the reach OF
his voice, whose judgment he most highly respected
and whose good opinions were most valuable to him
would so look upon his present vote. lie could not
The occasions appeared TO him TO be wholly dssimar
The Tariff Of 1928 avowedy passed for protection;
and if considerations Of revenue had any connection
fat tho nj
protection. There no complaint of want at the
Treasury; no alleged necessity Tor increased revenues
and no blemsh upon the public credit, far as his re
collection served him. Not now but precisely the
in all these respects The Treasury empty;
and almost daily The public creditors are turned away
from it without payment This very Congress has in
creased and daily increasing the public expenditures
and thus creating the necessity for increased revenues
And the public credit is not sinking, but sunken; so
that loans, at high interest and at long tme cannot De
golaed at home abroad upon the declared reason
that we have not revenues 10 meet the payment Of the
public liabilities.
| These changes Of circumstances constituted in his
mind, the highest necessity for revenue law, aud
forced upon him. under the most solemn OF public
duty, the course Of action which he proposed to pur
sue. All he could ask Of the friends who should diff.
fer from him. and believe him TO be sill IN error, was
that they would believe him TO be governed by pure mo.
tives and if in error be honestly He owed il tn
those friends well 10 HIMSELF to make another re-
mark which was, that the consequences OF his acton
ifev should be visited upon HIMSELF and upon himself
aone as no friend here else where had int ered 10
bring him 10 The conclusion he had pronounced. Many
very dear friends whose Judgments upon almost all
occasions he valued more highly than his own, had
kindly attempted to convince him he was in error-not
one to urge him to give the vote
After what had been said, and so well said, by the
honorable Senator from Pennsy vann, (hlr. Buchanan
upon the subject Of distribution, and the condition Of
the Treasury and Of The public credit, as connected
with the passage of this BILL he should be required but
briefly 10 aIlude TO those topics, although upon them
rested his action 1t known TO the Senate that he
he'd entertained deep feeling against the policy of dis
trbution any form, for any purpose and It Ger.
tainy was poweriu and lending nj with hin,
to vote for this BILL that lie fleet 10 be to arrest,
and he hoped TO eradicate forever that policy. lie
heuued to be believed Ike assertion that, in speaking
of distribution with The ankness and planness which
this occasion required, he did not design TO utter one
word which should wound The feelings of single ndl-
vidual on any side Of the House he knew there
were many as honestly and strongly friendly TO the
policy as he honestly and strongly opposed to it,
II was his Intention upon all occasions, to award 10
others that credit for sincerity and purity Of purpose,
which he now asked from them and he certainly now
felt the heavy responsibility resting upon him too SEN
sbly TO entertain unkind feelings, or 10 give uerance
TO unkind words, towards any one.
The honorable Senator from Massachusetts, (Mr.
Cboate in the course Of his eloquent appeal in favor
of this BILL had beaulfed and embellished the policy
of distributions rs well of protection, in manner
TO which he could not, if he would suitably reply
nor il his object TO reply to that iervd and INA
gnativc speech.
He must, however, entreut his friends who did not
reside in actions Of the country where the policy OF
protection is advocated, and who are to vote against
this bill because it embodps that principle, to consider,
for one moment, of the declarations OF that Sena-
tor in regard distribution, distinct as was sign
fcan 1t was, that the friends of protection were, by
| Al
friends of distribution. Could any sentiment be more
plain and natural more clearly eVnclve OF The expe.
dency of roofing out, upon the first possible occasion,
the very germ OF this distribution policy? The passage
oC this bill will do that while yet the policy itself is not
settled and established. Reject this BILL and disrbu-
ton continues as the whole land revenue, notwith-
standing the Treasury will remain empty, our aPpro.
pralons for the public service will be unanswered, The
public creditors will be unpaid, and the public credit
will receive further and more fatal wound. And still
The Senator tells US the friends of protection the
natural and necessary friends of distributions that is to
saw they wish make and perpetuale necessity for
hiph taxes and high tariff and what policy can pre-.
sent that necessity certainly and make so surely
as that Of distributions Establish that policy,
and our short experience has already proved to us That
il will NOT confne itself TO the land revenue Already
10 proposed to carry eyond all the revenues to the
credit of the country; and, by the interest ana pnc-
nal Of debt 10 present an occasion for high taxes,
which will he endless Once settle that fearful system
/
of The affairs of this Government and the calls for tax.
alton. in the shape Of duties upon imports, will only
be limited by the wants of this Government for public
expenditure, added TO The combined wants Of the GO
of all the States which now do, as hereafter
NAV comoose this extended confederacy. Would not
his friends admit that the arrest Of such policy offer.
cd some pducement to vote for bill even as bad as
tina, now before the Senate!
This was a consideration addressing itself to the
whole nution-as those of an adequate supply Of
means to the public Treasury the prompt discharge o.
the public liabilities, the efficient prosecution OF tne
pnbIc service all its branches, and the SPEEDY ano
fecual restoration Of the public credit-hu all hese
important considerations had been so plainly anu iuiy
stated and forcbly pressed by the honorable Senator
from Pennsyvaniu, (Mr. B"chanan,) that lie "0u'o
not further remark upon them
So far as might be proper, in reference 10 thus ol'
TO turn his attic n,ion from the whole country 70 ne
STATE which lie had The honor in part TO represent hele
while he had found the bill greatly unequal IN ITS appi''
ion 10 different nerests, and very delectve IN az