The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-06-08

Nit MffIH NM IUb IhNiff ''"-
MISSION.
Upon the oconslgn NJ the discussion 10
the house NJ representative The Other 10y .
On the bin to establish commission Nv ~
vestigas the question Of the tnhil and To-
ternal revenue laws Of the Union, the HON T.
Room q. MUS, Of our state, proposed ~. |
struotions aud fought for the adoption oil
the same, which ought in our opinion 70
have been passed The tenor OF his inslruo'
tlons were briefly these THAT no more
money should be collected than Is neccs'
sary for the wants Of the government
economically administered that no duly
be imposed on any article above
tie lowest rate that will yield
revenue; that the maximum revenue
should be imposed exclusively on luXu-
res; that all specific duties 'Tud be aoo''
ished and ad valorem duues substituted,
and that the duty should be imposed 50 as
TO operate as equally as possible through
out the Union, discriminating neither for
or against any class or section. such, we
| believe, was the substance ofthe instructions
to the committee proposed by Mr.. MILLS
! The committee were to frame and report IL
BILL according to Mn. MILLS, in compliance
with the above. Notwithstanding the pa
tent wisdom and fairness Of the propositions,
they were rejected by the house by n
vote of 152 to u.s. those rot voting amount
ing to 81. The single Texas representative
casting his vote against the adoption OF the
| instructions was Mr.. COLUMBUS UPsoN, OF
the San,Antonio district. GEORGE WASH
INGToN JONES was among the Gl not vot-
ing, but the remaining four of the delega-
top very properly cast their votes in the
affirmative. The purport Of Mr. MILLS
motion, of course, was to prevent the COM
mittee from reporting bill authorizing
any continuation of the protective duties
now disgracing our Federal revenue sys-
TEN. They are identicallly the same as
those offered by the secretary OF the
treasury in 1916 by the Hon. ROBERT j.
| WALKER. Our SENATOR COKE took occasion
| to show, in his recent great tariff speech,
that during the period between '46 and u,
when a tariff for revenue only prevailed,
the prosperity of the country was as great
as at any other equal period in our history,
and during which manufactures tiourished
as much as before or since that time. 1t
would speedily have settled the tariff ques-
ton, it would have ended the vexatious
warfare between free trade and protection,
and stopped the burdensome taxation now
hanging oy.g snss, indeed, weighting down
the masses of our people, had Mr.. MILLS
instructions been adopted. But the advo-
Gates of protection, with their backDones
stiffened by the appliances OF the LOBBY
do not propose to allow settle-
ment of this matter for long time
vet, if it is possible to prevent it, and
voted solidly against Mr.. MILLS. Inc
praise due to the latter named gentleman,
for his timely effort, is not to be depre-
ciated, however, by the failure OF his mo-
ton. In the absence of instructions such
as these suggested prohibiting the report
ing of bill for protective tariff, the mat
ter will 90 into the hands of the commits
sion, the commission Will be the handiWork
of the president and the plaything OF
wealth and power, and the country will
continue to groan under the enormous bur
dens of tariff for both revenue and the
manufacturer. 1t is almost inconceiyable
to think of a government by the people
legislating for the few, but such
is the fact. To MEssRs. COKE, MILLS,
y .AGAN, MAxEY, WELLBoRN and CULDERsoN
a. honor is due for the uniform steadfast-
ness with which they have truly represented
and advocated the best interests of their
people in this and all kindred measures.
They have been wise enough to see and in
dependent enough to act, and in this par
ticular instance Mr.. MILLS has done
himself great credit, if he did not procure
what he honestly sought to do for the peo-
ple-a benefit, and the removal from the
national code of crying abuse--a standing
confession to the world, indeed, that our
boosted nation is either helpless infant"
or our legislation is in the interests merely
of class and section.