Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-02-18
ouse for their consideration aud &C

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house for their consideration aud ac-
ton. -. .l,..T s.
The senator must have forgotten
what he had said about ill:informed
and reckless revolutionists when he
penued the following sentence in his
| speech, whic5 1 cordially indorse:
"Not TO have confidence i'll congress
| would be to impeach our own insti-
tutions as well as to adopt the sneers
aud doubts of hereditary enemies who
have been wont to include Ameri-
cans among those whom'No king could
govern, aud no God could please
do not propose to impeach con-
gress as he does by voting want OF
confidence either in their integrity Or
ability to adjust taxation in the inter-
est OF tho whole people, and therefore
l oppose his commission. The Lead
ing organs of the monopolists are Al
ready boasting that it would be an
easy matter for the manufacturers to
prevent any legislation, that :hey
have secured the committee of ways
and means, and that the average menu
Der of congress is easily alarmed by
threats of defeat by the protective
organizations. They have already
held what they call tariff conventions,
composed of their advocates, and
have complacently aud unanimously
declared
"That the American people intend
hereafter to keep this market for
themselves, that the tariff must be
protective" .1@.-
They are willing to allow q CON-
mission to make report in q year or
two, but it must be composed OF
their friends. No free-trader must
be allowed to take off any of the
~ hitewash from it. The American
| Protectionist max es this clear III its
issue Of December 81. 1881. 1t says :
IA free-trader would be as much
4 out Of place upon the tarif commits
sion as all opponent of capital pun
lshinent upon q jury in state where
death is the penalty for murder.
| Ia there anv reason why David A.
Welles, or PhilIpot, or j. s. Moore
should not be as ineligible to . seat
OH the tariff commission "a q persoD
refusing to swesr fealty to the con-
stitution Of tho United States 10 q
seat in congress Pr s es
hardly think democratic senators
intend 10 ludorss these views. yet
they must know that the Morrill,
commission will be organized TO carry
them out. There is nothing either
novel. revolutionary. or lnysterious
in our effort to reform the tariff. It
has been debated in and out Of con.
gress for years. 1t is not q question
Of framing a system of taxation or
of establishing new policy. No.
body asks or expects this congress 10
establish free trade or tear down
custom houses. We are not FREQ to
select what as an original proposition
might be considered the best mode oil
raising revenue; we have to deal with
existing conditions, and see to it that
no great industrial interest of the
country is destroyed or parslyzsd by
our action. The great party TO which
l have the honor to belong has spok.
ell upon this subject with most pro.
nounced emphasis. The most prom.
inent aud important plank in the
platform at st. Louis in 1876, upon
which we carried the country for Mr..
Tilden, supported by the states of New
York, Indiana, New Jersey aud Con.
necticut, reads thus:
| I'VE denounce the present tariff
levied upon nearly tour Thousand
articles as masterpiece of injustice,
inequality. aud false pretenses. Ii
yields adwindiing, not q yearly rising
revenue. 1t has Impoverished many
industries to subsidize a few. II
prohibits imports that might purchase
the products of American labor, 1t
has degraded American commerce
from the first to All inferior rank on
the high seas. 1t has cut down the
sales OF American manufactures at
home and abroad and depleted the
returns of American agriculture, an
Industry followed by half our people.
1t costs the people five times more
than 1t produces to the treasury, OBJ
strucis the processes of production,
and wastes the fruits of labor. 1t
promotes fraud, fosters smuggling,
enriches dishonest officials, and bank.
rupts henest merchants. We demand
that all custona.house ta1at,on shall be
only for TeUenUe."
In 1880, at Cincinnati, we re.affirm.
ed ali the specifications of 1876 aud
epitomized the resolution have read
by a demand that all custom house
taxation should be for revenue onlv.
A great deal Of silly criticism has
been INDUCED in as to what we meant
by using the expressions ''only 70,
revenue" aud s.for reuenue onlv.n
Some have even argued that tie last
form of expression means s6mathinP
different from the first. Both, OF
course, mean the same thing, aud that
is that tariff taxation shall be adjust.
cd solely to obtain revenue to sup.
port the government and pay of its
obligstions, that as legislators we
will enact laws with al eye single to
that end, and will not seek to tax the
whole people for the purpose or with
the Intent of enriching any favored
set Of mon at the expense Of all.
The secretary of the treasury ad.
vises congress that over $34O, 600. .OO(
of revenue is needed for the public
service next year. We propose to
raise all that Is necessary. II there i,
no abatement OF internal revenue,
still over $500, ,000,0O must be OBJ.
tanned by tariff taxation. With free
trade, OF course, no revenue could be
obtained from customs dues any more
than there could be from protection
which amounted to prohibition
1t ls absurd, therefore, to call party
free-traders who propose, as zoe do
10 raise much the largest portion o
our necessary revenue froM a tariff
on imports. We do propose, however
to 80 ADJUST the taxes on these good.
as to obtain the most revenue aud i'm.
pose the least burden on the consum.
srs of them.
know of hardly any products OF
human industry now on our tex lis,
that are not produced in greater OF
less quantities in this country. In ad.
Jus'ing taxation gu imports with q
view only to obtain revenue, or $50,
recenue only," we never thought ot
discriminating against American in.
dustries, or of depriving them of the
incidental benefits or protection 8
proper revenue tariff would afford.
would adjust the revenue tax as far
as possible to aid all of them in the
proportion III which they could leas,
bear foreign competition, especially
as past legislation has been OF char.
acter to induce our citizens TO enl
bark in enterprises under the belief
that they would bs fostered by con.
gress. No reform, no relief, how.
ever, can be had'or given under the
present miserable, dbominable-I ad.
here to that word-protec,ive system
of the senator from Vermont.
Every charge and specification i'll
the resolution of 1876 again: tie