Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-27

bad, and the bad men would be CON-
PEELED to pay the expenses. Having
founded a government on the great basis
of human vice, the Republican party could
economic to its hearts content, for no
schools or churches would be needed, as
morality would be the panacea for all the
country's woes. Laughter He had
said that taxation had nothing to do with
the moral question. 1t was just as
Legitimate to produce whisky as it was to
produce pig iron. In the eye of the
law they were equally reputable and
valuable. AS pig iron maker he was
at q loss to know whether the production
of iron or of alcohol was more useful to
the human race, and yet if any man to-
day were to propose to impose a tax on
pig lion he would be hoOted out of the
House, as he ought to be. The production
of alcohol was either a lawful business
or it was not. If not, it ought to be
stopped. But if it ought to be stopped on
moral grounds it did not belong to the
General Government to stop it. 1t tbecame
matter Of police regulation which the
States should settle. The tax on alcohol
should be abolished altogether. The first
step was the passage of this bill, and he
would vote for it, because he thought that
it would bring about an abolition of the
tax altogether
DON'T WANT THE TAX PAID.
He did not expect that these taxes, if
the time was extended, woc ! ever be
paid. He did not want them to be paid.
He stood on the broad position that
this would be the first honest step to-
wards the doctrine of free raw material,
which in his Judgment was the vital ques-
tion Of the age and generation. The gen.
| tlemen might be confused a little as to the
nature of the alcoholic traffic. 1t had
been dealt with purely on the ground of
being beverage. No person had brought
I to the attention of the House the vast
uses of the commodity in the arts. He
was astOnished himself to find. on in
vestigation, that one-haf of the en-
/ tire alcohol product of this country
was used in the arts. He would vote for
| every bill which approached to free alco-
! hol. and he would not cease to work until
! the total abolition of the tax was secured.
| Some reference had been made to the
resolution adopted last night to abolish
4 the tax on tobacco. He was sorry that
! that action had been taken. He regarded
! 1t as step in the wrong direction. To-
/ baccO was not one of the raw materials.
1t was luxury, pure and simple, and
! when 1t was proposed to embaRrass the
| progress of true revenue reform, which
| was the freeing of raw material from duty
/ by the introduction of a provision which
would make it impossible to remove it
/ from alcohol, he would regret it, though
| he might be compelled to vote for it in or
/ der to secure some reform. He held it to
! be the duty of this Congress to bring
/ down the revenue in every practicable
way. He wanted the Instructions re-
/ moved from the growth of the industries
of the country. What Congress should
do was to keepthe tax on tobacco in force
| and repeal the tax on alcohol until the
! revision of the tariff was compelled on
the fundamental basis of free raw mate
rial.
AN ADDITIONAL REASON.
The reason why he wanted to see the
whisky tax abolished, in addition to the
| general principle he had laid down, was
that it would so reduce the revenue as to
compel a revision of the tariff on the
fundamental basis of free raw material.
He might be asked whether it was possi-
bic so to frame the tariff with the whisky
tax abolished as to give the country an
! adequate revenue to pay the expenses of
the government. He answered: Yes; it
was easier to increase the revenue than
to reduce it. What he feared in regard to
the Morrison bill was that it might turn
out to be a measure for the increase of the
revenue instead of for its diminution.
As to wool he had no doubt
that the removal of the duty
on all kinds and grades of wool
| would be the easiest measure which could
be adopted, but there were gentlemen on
his own side and on the other who did not
agree with him, and all measures brought
into the House must be so brought in as
to get majority of votes. Laughter on
the Republican side.l He was in the
habit of talking frankly. He would abol.
ish the duty on wool, and he hoped that
there We're votes enough to do it. but if
not he would give it up in order to secure
some revision. What was more, he would
put the duty back, if necessary, to the
point from which it had been reduced by
the last Congress, in order to force
the Republicans to vote for a
bill which put other things on the free
list that ought to be there. In other
words, all legislation was the result of a
concurrence of opinion. He could
not expect to have the gentlemen
follow him, but he might get enough to go
with him to produce practical results.
THE DEMOCRATIC DIVISION.
1t was for this revision the Democrats
were divided. The Republicans voted
every time with their party; the Demo-
Gratis did not. Laughter on the Repub-
lican side.l He said to his fellow-Demo-
Gratis here and now that in order to secure
a measure of revenue reform that began
right that took the smallest step toward
reform, he would take any quantity OF
disagreeable medicine; and unless the
Democratic party was prepared to vote
together as party it had better disband.
This is not a caucus" suggested Mr..
Reed, of Maine.
Mr.. Hewitt, not noticing the Interrupt
ton, continued that it was the duty of
the Democratic party to get together on a
common ground, and that common ground
he hoped would be the common ground of
free raw material. On that it could
stand. On that it could get the indus
tries of the country in its power. On
that it would have with it the farmer and
the laborer. The gentlemen would be
disposed, doubtless, to criticize him on
what he,had said to-day, as a departure
of principle for the sake of politics. Let
them not deceive themselves. He knew
of only one possible policy for this coun-
try in order to get it out of its present
condition, and that was to stimulate
manufactures, and he said now that he
did not believe that the horizontal cut
was the best method of arriving at that
end. He would be false to his convictions
and to his long training if he took any
such view. But he would rather do that
and vote for this bill than not give proof
to the people of the country that the
Democratic party was in dead earnest
when it said that it would reduce taxes.
Applause on the Democratic side.
Several other members spoke briefly,
after which the committee rose and the
House adjourned.
ARTHUR AND THE NAVY.
A Message Sent to Congress Urging a