Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-05-22

attractive. Rep0Se ought to for
the essential quality of monument
sculpture, and God knows there is
repose about the calendar of tn
house which meets the most exac
ing requirements of art. Salemnit
!. OF feeling and overpOWering we al
excited by viewing this solemn &
pository of the dead. 1t is astonisl
i. ishing to me that the speaker {
this house and the members theret
display no tremor when surveyin
this moonlit graveyard.
In preferring the calendar as
place of interment for relief meas
ures, / do not wish to be understoo
as invidiously discriminatin
against the ways and means com
mittee, for / desire here and now t
say that as place of permanen
and reliable sepulture it is the equa
if not the superior of any grave
yard that has existed since the an
cient and unknown artificer con
ceived the idea of the catacombs' o
Egypt. But it is too pretentious il
the matter of architectural embel
lishment to suit the simple tastes o
tAlC- SlN C1dSC tf1I1D Il Iii
chief mauSoleumS besides the onea
Halicarnassus are the mausoleum o
| Augustus, that of Hadrian, now
called the Castle of St. Angelo a
Rome, that erected in France by
Catherine de Medicis to Henry IL
I that of st. Peter the martyr in the
church of Saint Eustatius, and thai
erected to the memory of Louis
XVI. But none of these compare
in architectural splendor, in unique
ness of design, in gorgeousness ot
execution, nor are any of them SC
suggestive of death without benefit
of clergy or hope of resurrection, as
| the ways and means committee OF
this house, Laughter.
When an ambitious member
drafts a measure looking to revenue
reform and presents it to the house
in the morning hour of Monday, it
is no stretch of the imagination to
say that he can detect the dolorous
notes of the "Dead March in Saul'
as the clerk sings out, "Ways and
means, and printed Laughter. ]
| can recOllect but one instance of
vivisection where the cadaver had
either lain or was about to be de-
posted in the tomb of the ways and
means, and that was the case of Mr..
ToWhShend, of Illinois, who was
discovered trying to galvanize the
corpse in the committee on revision
of laws, was tried on a charge of
burking or body-snatching, and the
somewhat mutilated remains were
restored by the solemn vote of this
house to its family vault. Laugh
ter. f.0ss1 81
We have legislated here to tax
the poor mans salt and the widows
pension, to tax the clothing that
covers the poor mans nakedness, to
tax everything that enters into the
domestic consumption of nine-tenths
of the people of this country. At
the same time, under the operation
of law, the entire bonded debt of
the country and all forms of per-
manently invested capital are ex-
empt from any of the burdens and
exactions of government. The
bonded interest, the banking inter-
est, the protected and subsidized
interests, all go scOt-free or compar-
atively so under our legislation,
while the farming interest, under
operation of our tariff and internal
revenue systems, pays taxes directly
and indirectly upon everything
that the laborer wears, upon the
house in which he lives, and upon
the agricultural implements with
which he eXtorts living, some
times from an unwilling and inhos-
pitable soil. say that it is time to
reform these abuses.
This tariff system, of which the
people everywhere complain, was
conceived in sin and brought forth
in iniquity. 1t is defined to be
table of duties, drawbacks, bounties,
etc., charged or allowed on exports
and imports. II derives its name
from the Spanish town Tarifa,
town some twenty miles from Glib
raltar, where during the Moorish
domination in Spain eXactions from
every passing vessel were made
+ TApplause.l And our American
system, disguised by a species of
delicate euphemiSm under then name
of tariff, is nevertheless as down
right and unquestionable robbery as
it was on the part of the BIo0rS to
eXtort tribute from the unlucky
merchant who chanced to fall with
in their reach. Applause, and cries
of $50 on!' "Go onp Do not
hurry me gentlemen; / am not in
the habit of doing this sort of thing.
[ Laughter. tell you that the
people of this country are tired of
this sort of legislative jugglery. !
They ask relief; and whether you
give it to them or not, the time is
not far distant when they will have
it. They are tired of being diScrim-
mated against. The great mass of
producers are inspired by no feel
ings of unkindness or hostility to-
ward the bondholding and more
favored classes. They have no dis
position to unsettle values or destroy
public confidence by endeavoring to
impair the value of United States
But they ask equal protection
with the bondholder, the banker,
and the manufacturer at the hands
of the peoples representatives in
the enactment oflegislation affecting
our internal revenue and tariff SyS-
tens.
Now, Mr.. Chairman, to lay aside
all efforts at pleasantly or criticism
of any of the committees of this
house, I desire briefly to discuss the
operations of our present tariff sys-
tenn, its unjust eXactions and dis
examinations.
The time was in the days Of
Henry Clay when the advocacy of
what was known as the American
system, or the system of protection,
may have been proper and de-
manded by the requirements of our
then comparatively young republic.
But the times have changed, and
men and measures and politics have
changed with them.
In endeaVOring to discuss meas
ure of such gravity and importance
as the revision of our tariff system
and a modification of our internal
revenue laws it is not my purpose
to elabOrately argue the details of
either system, but in a plain, un-
pretentious way to attempt to con-
Vince this house and the country
that reforms of the most radical
character are demanded to secure
equality in the distribution of the
public burdens and that general
prosperity which Is the safeguard
and substructure of free institutions.
IF ie NOT napdad that ayaGCaration