The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1882-06-14
TARIFF COMMISSIONERS.

/ IAfc1rC COAhAAOoAOEN6no
From the inception of the Tariff Commits
sion movement the Sentinel did not hesitate
to charge that it was a scheme devised by
protectionists, first, to postpone tariff re-
vision, and secondly, to perpetuate the in
| EQUITIES of the present tariff. which all
honest m en- denounce as bundle of jobs"
"A huge aggregation of denominations, which
men of moderate abilities can see without
the aid of expert investigation. So far
the outcome is strictly in accord
with the Sentiners predictions. Congress
shamefully and shamelessly refused to take
the responsibility of revising the tariff-the
one great need of the times. 1t confessedits
inability to perform a duty strictly, con-
spicuously and imperatively devolving upon
it, and turned the whole business over to
President Arthur, a man known to be in full
sympathy with protectionists and monopo-
lists The President, after due deliberation,
has placed upon the Tariff Commission men
who will do the bidding of protectionists
and monopolists, and it is safe to assume
that the great mass of the people will not be
considered at all. We notice now that GER
tain gentlemen in Congress who voted for
the Tariff Commission are complaining be-
cause President Arthur has appointed pro-
tectionis.s and monopolists as Tariff Com
missioners. They should withhold their
com plants and nurse in silence their
chagrin. They were not unadvised. They
voted with the facts OF Republican chicanery
before them and in full view. They were
warned in time, and yet they deliberately
voted to ignore their solemn duty to their
constituents. Mr.. Carlisle, of Kentucky,
speaking on the subject of the Tariff Com
mission bill, said:
This is bill to facilitate the revision of the
tariff. 1t is bin to pay out of the public Treas
ury about $500 per day for period OF six or seven
months, to compensate and defray the travelling
| and other expenses of a Commission to perform
duties which we are sent here to perform, and
which the people paying us to perform. 1t is
a bill to create unnecessary offices and to incur
unnecessary expenses; and. worse than that, it is
a bill to postpone a revision, and to take the
question for time, at least, away from the forum
to which the Constitution has committed it, and
send it TO an irresponsible rowing Commission
whose report can not possibly be considered and
disposed of during the existence of this Congress
it requires no gift of prophecy to foresee that
there viii be no revision of the tariff or any re-
lief from its admitted hardships in particular in
stances for the next two or three years. All leg
islation must be suspended. and all consideration
of the subject must be postponed until these
Executive appointees have informed the Legisls
tive Department what its duties are, and then we
are to be graciously permitted TO resume our
Constitutional authority to determine how our
own constituents are to be taxed.
The unheard of measure was bad enough
as postponing scheme, but that was by no
means its most Objectionable feature. Its
grand purpose was to perpetuate the present
unjust tariff-to compel the great mass of
the people to pay tribute to monopolists, to
favor the rich at the expense of the poor,
and these facts were pointed out in Congress
while the Tariff Commission bill was pend
ing. During this discussion Mr.. Tucker, of
Virginia, introduced exhaustive figures con-
frming his arguments in regard to the in
justice of the present tariff. He said:
Take the man who has an income derived from |
his labor of $500 and the man who has an income |
of million. The poor laborer consumes the !
whole OF his income from necessity. Suppose the |
millionaire only consumes as much through pc |
nuriousness. Now. suppose you tax all the |
necessanes of life through your tariff, aud what
will result? If you impose a tax of so per cent.
upon the articles consumed by the laborer and
those consumed by the rich man, then to buy the |
necessaries of life, which without duty he could
buy for 500. he must expend all OF the $500
earned by him. In other words, he pays so per
cent. in their enhanced value upon their original
cost
That is to say he will pay 500 out of the in
come he earns a tax upon the necessaries of
life which he consumes. This is SS1@ per cent.
upon his entire income. Now take the million |
aire. or the man who spends the same amount Of
his income as the poor man. He pays 500 upon
the articles he consumes and no more, and that
500 is q tax of the onehundredth of 1 per cent |
upon his income of a million. The poor man
therefore pays three thousand times as much in
proportion to his income as the rich man does,
and therefore the burden of taxation under your
tariff system, by being laid upon the articles of
necessary consumption, are to the extent the in
come is used in purchasing these articles heavy
and onerous tax upon the income of the laboring
classes. You tax all the income buys (which is
equivalent TO taxing the income itself and ex-
empting the articles bought from all taxation.
And this is what you call protection to the
poorer and the rich richer through your system
of taxation. This makes tax upon consumption
strike down the poor while it benefits the rich.
1t is heavy tax upon the wages OF labor, and ex-
empts capital from its proportionate burdens.
But the protectionists and monopolists,
by virtue of the Tariff Commission have
gained signal triumph over the people.
The fagitious wrongs of the present tart are
to be continued indefinitely, and unless the
people elect Representatives who do their
duty as legislators, class legislation will con-
tinue, and millionaires will grow richer
while the burdens of men of moderate in
comes will continue to pay them tribute
Such is the outcome of the Tariff Commits
sion business.
A STATE Senator viii be chosen this year from
Vanderburgh County, notwithstanding the de-
ciSiOn of ATTORNEY General Baldwin that IL VIII