The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-02-07
CONGRESSIONAL.
McKenzie's Rattling Speech for
Free Quinine.
He 10 Not In League With Death
and Hell But Speaks for Suffer
ing Humanity.

MABHINGTON, t6DTudTy LII speech
Of Representative Mckenzie, of Ken
tucBy, on keeping quinine on the free
list, held the attention of the House yes
terday, and the Record containing it
has been much inquired for to-day. The
prOtectiOnists and free traders equally
enjoyed 1t. After showing from the
ruling rates that the price of quinine
was reduced by putting it on the free
list, and that the number of manufac-
tories has increased, he continued:
l ask the honorable Chairman OF the
Committee on Ways and Means If, in the
literature Of the petitions that has
crowded his Ommittee-rOOm-that au-
dience chamber Of prOtectiOn-a single,
solitary consumer of quinine, white or
black, male or female, including Indians
not taxed [laughter,l has ever asked
that august body to restore one cent of
the duty of that drug? guarantee that
there is not one, and defy the gentle
man from Pennsylvania to exhibit a
single instance where any cry has ever
come up, unless it came from the jObber,
manufacturer, OF dealer in some form,
who is interested in keeping this tax on
the people.
In ali this bad bill of one hundred and
forty pages, which is cumulative in its
devilment, the proposition to restore the
duty on QQinine Is climact1c, and the
ultima thule Of its meanness. Taught
er.1 No bill has ever emanated from
the Committee on Ways and Means,
committee whose name should be
changed by resolutions of this House to
that of the Friends of the Poor"
llaughterl-nO proposition has ever
emanated from that committee which
compares with this, either in its aggre-
gated OF segregated iniquity. Laughter
and applause.l The ague-stricken peO-
pie of this country will call this Con-
gress accursed If the tax on this drug is
restored. They pronounced your party
unworthy of confidence last November.
They demanded reform in our tariff sys-
tenn, and 1t comes with i'll grace from
you, after having been repudiatCd at
the epolls, to reinstate tax for which not
one single solitary voter in America has
petitiOned, except those who have di-
rect pecuniary interest in its impOsi-
tiOn, You had as we'll attempt to lay
tax on air and Gods sunlight, which L
s. honestly believe you would do If single
citizen or firm in Philadelphia were en-
gagged in the manufacture Of either.
ILaughter.l ...--
tee on Ways and Means if they are will
ing to 90 on record as champiOning a
bill which looks to the relief from taxa
tiOn of all proprietary medicines" pre-
DaratiOns that have caused more wry
faces and more panied viscera than all
the other preparations known to human
ingenuity, in the matter OF physical tor
ture; and as still insisting upon the re-
imposition Of tax upon quinine, which
"brings healing on its wings" to every
bed of sickness in the land.
By the way, got circular letter
this morning from ROsengarten 81 Sons,
telling me of the outrageous injustice
being done to the industry they are fol-
lowing. They threatened us in 1879,
when the bill was passed taking the tax
of this drug, with the stOppage of their
factory. But they are running still,
and two additional factories have start
ed since the removal of the duty. Now,
MIR. Chairman, the case before the House
stands thus: Powers & Weighman,
against the sick people of the United
States; ROsengarten 8 Sons against the
fever hospitals. The majority Of the
Ways and Means Committee appear for
the plaintiff, and 1 desire, Mr.. Chairman,
to have my name entered as attorney for
the defense. lApplause.l realize the
numbers and ability arrayed against
me. but, poor advocate as | am,
/ feel that my cause Is 80 just
can plead 1t successfully before that
great Jury to whom you last appealed,
and who brought in verdict Of guilty
without the recommendation of mercy.
>
you may fail to strike these two lines
out of this infamous bill; but we will
appeal 1t to the American people, and
have no sort of doubt as to the result. If
you re-enact this tax you lend your
selves to the spread of malarial fever;
and want every man, as he passes be-
tween the tellers here, who desires to
promote the establishment of pest-hous-
es and fever hospitals; who wants to
ah hpda liRKnnGds
who wants to appear as the confederate
of death, to record himself in favor of
the restoration of the duty on Quinine.
daughter and applause.)
want to call the attention of the
House to the fact that last year, as mem
bers will possibly recOllect, objected
to the delegation of the powers of the
Committee of Ways and Means to that
association Of middle-aged and highly
unprejudiced specialists known as the
Tariff Commission. 1 did not then be-
lieVe the Tariff Commission had any
more ability to revise our system of rev.
enue, than had the Committee on Ways
and Means. But after reading the bill re-
ported by that committee, and cOmpar-
Ing it with the report of the Tariff Com
mission and its recommendations, de-
sire to retract every utterance / made
on that occasion. Laughter0
Now, look at the free list of this bill
1t is full of goodness and wisdom and
benevOlence.
see here, and thank God for it, that
the Committee'On Ways and Means have
put blood" on the free list Sir, if you
were to levy tax of only one cent q
gallon on all the blood Jou have extrae-
ted through the means Of your infamous
tariff, from the American people, you
could pay the National debt in one year
and have large surplus in the Federal
Treasury. Considering the enormous
amount you have heretofore extracted
you need not levy any prOhibitOrY dutie:
on it, nor need you permit it to come In
free. 1t Is already drug on the mar
ket.
Then find the committee has pu
bone dust on the free list. My God, gen
tlemen, you are manufacturing bOn'
dust in pauper graveyards whenevel
you propose to tax quinine, and you ar,
making 1t very fast Uaughter) YOl
have put "musk" and "eivet" on the fret
list. Now, when 1 come to contemplate
this bill, looking at it in its altitude