Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-03-30


proper.
MIR. Stephens asked that the cor
-respondence and resolutions be re-
ferred to the Judiciary committee.
. It was SO ordered.
Many of the members were on
their feet as the reading ceased and
Mr.. Kasson exclaimed that he rea
served the point of order whether
the matter constituted question OF
privilege.
Speaker Keifer asked the unani-
nous consent of the House that
Mr.. Stephens have an opportunity
to addrt the House upon his reso
luton, saying that he would then ex
plain to the House his reasons for
removing Hayes.
~Mr. Robson promptly objected
to any debate ON the question, but
Mr.. Stephens said he merely wished
the reference.
Hayes has for several years been
one Of two official stenographers to
the committees of the House, and
was for many years House reporter
for the Associated Press. He con-
Quoted the report of the Guiteau
trial for the Associated Press.
Mr.. Dawson, who was appointed
to succeed Mr.. Hayes as committee
reporter. was formerly. stenographer
in the War Department, whence he
went with General Grant on his trip
to Mexico.
The Speaker then called for the
committee reports:
Bills for the erection of public
buildings in the following places
were reported from the committee
on public buildings and grounds and
referred to committee of the whole
Norfolk, Va; Greeneville, S. C;
Greensboro, N. c.; Asheville, N. c.,
and Newbern, N. c.
The House then wentinto committee
of the whole and took up the tariff
commission bill.
MIR. Carlisle, of Kentucky, who
had possession of the floor yester-
day, concluded his speech.
Mr.. Speer, of Georgia, said that
the question of tariff and internal
revunue were one and inseparable,
and should be considered together,
and the bill which came from the
Senate acknowledged the truth of
that proposition The time had
come for the people of this country
to rid themselves of this excise sys
tenn as rapidly as possible. Inter
nal revenue laws were unpopu-
Lar, and unpopular laws were gen
orally bad. 81
He thought that free trade, like
charity, should begin at home, and
he was unwilling that this House
should be occupied entirely with
the consideration of the benefits
which might be received by taking
the tariff off of foreign products,
while the farmer was not permitted
to sell the products of his own farm
without paying heavy tax or pen
atty. He knew that the government
must be supplied with a revenue
and the public debt must be
pa d, but this could be dol Q
without imposing on the people one
dollar of internal taxes. He declared
that the stories of the violation of
internal revenue laws were grossly
exaggerated, and gave instances
where their enforcement was accom-
panied with great injustice and vio-
lence on the part of the government
officials. The belaud of the country
for the repeal of these laws was not
a new feature in our history, they
having always been regarded as war
taxes. The tidal wave of public
opinion was sweeping against this
tax. Great monopolies might resist
it but it would bear them down the
people of this country will never
submit to have the excise system
fastened permanently upon them.
The most dangerous excuse for
spirit tax was that it poured an im-
mense revenue into the treasury. To
friend of temperance, this was the
most forbidding view of the ques
ton. 1t gave the government an
interest in the liquor traffic. The
sale of spirits poured stream of
wealth into the treasury, but it also
poured it's costly poison down the
throats of the people. He arraigned
the system of internal taxation be-
cause it was spy tax and because it
encouraged and maintained horde
OF revenue informers, whose claim to
promotion was skill in arts of treach
cry and stimulation. These laws
laid waste farms and destroyed the
peace of communities. They
were fruitful sources of anarchy,
bloodshed and disquiet to every
peaceful interest of society. This
country must and would strike them.
from the statute books. Then let
the revenues of the country be
raised by customs. If the United
States could not have free trade
with the world, it could at least
have it at home. If relief could not
be brought to the manufacturers of
foreign merchandise, it could at any
rate be brought to that mass of
American people whose most price,
less heritage was the spirit of hber
ty and of independence CAppleuse ]
When the committee. rose, Mr..
Butterworth, of Ohio, from the
committee on appropriations, re-
ported back the Army appropriation
bill, and it was referred to the COM
mlttee of the whole.
Adjourned