Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-30
AT THE NATIONS CAPITAL
MIR. HURD MAKES A SPEECH
FOR THE TARIFF BILL.

Protection a Death Blow to Our Mer-
chant Marine and Our Farmers-Mr.
HiscOck Takes an Opposite View-The
PleurO Pneumonia Bill Passes the
Senate.
WASHINGTON, April 29.-In the Senate
to-day bills and resolutions were favor
ably reported from committees as fol-
lows:
BY Mr.. Garland, from the Committee on
Judiciary, the original bill constituting an
amendment to the Thurman act, relating to
the Pacific Railroads. 1t was placed on the
calendar
BY Mr.. Cockrell, from the Committee on
Military Affairs, the House joint resolution to
authorize the Secretary of War to loan 200
flags, or as many as can be conveniently
spared, to the city of Charlotte, n. c.. for the
celebration of Meckenburg's Declaration of
independence. The bill was read three times
and passed.
Also from the same committee, similar
resolution to loan flags and bunting for use at
a fair to be held in Richmond in May next
under the auspices of the First Regiment Of
Virginia Volunteers, to aid in the erection of
a home for manned and disabled Confederate
soldiers. This bill was also read three times
and passed. Mr.. COckrelI. while reporting
these measures faVOrabIy, remarked that the
committee had concluded that legislation of
TINS character was not judicious, and would
not in the future be recommended.
The Senate took up the pleurO- pneumonia
bill. In the course of the debate Mr.. Plumb
remarked that somebody must execute the
law: He had confidence in the judgment of
the Secretary of the Treasury and had no idea
that that officer would abuse any power given
him by the bill.
Mr.. Morgan said that the dulcet
tones of assurance given by the Senator
from Kansas (Mr. Plumb in the officers of the
government were not warranted by recent
history. He tMf. MOrgan) had himself with
aaNnsa ont
man who had been indicted in the United
states Courts and prosecuted by the Attorney
General of the United States for the crime of
perjury, had actually been appointed a -nited
states Marshal of the Middle and Southern
district of Alabama. The departments
OF this government, as the Senators
could not but know, were so conducted as to
subserve personal politics, even party politics
being given but secondary consideration. The
reward that the Marshal referred to as bring.
ing to the administration was that he Travelled
from county to county in his district for the
purpose of influencing cOlOred Republicans to
vote for Arthur for President. Several
speeches were made for and against the bill,
and efforts to amend and adopt substitutes
failed. The bill was then read third time
and passed.
The Chair laid before the Senate the next
special order, it being the shipping bill, re-
ported by Mr.. Frye, from the Committee on
Commerce, and the Senate adjourned
IN THE HOUSE.
In the House to-day, on motion of Mr. We'll
born, of Texas, saturday, May 81, was set
apart for consideration of business reported
from the Committee on Indian Affairs
Mr.. Lamb, of Indiana. called up the Joint
resolution directing the President to bring to
the attention OF the Government of Venezuela
the claim of J. E. WheelOck, a citizen of the
United states, for indemnity for gross
Outrages and tOrtures inflicted upon him bv
officers of that government, and to demand
and enforce in such a manner as he may deem
best the immediate settlement of the claim.
Mr.. Lamb gave a brief description of the
Outrages committed on Wheeock by an officer
IN order TO eXt0rt from him confession of
crime of which he was not guilty, and the
joint resolution was then passed.
Mr.. w Washburne, of Minnesota, asked leave
to report from the Committee on ApprOpra-
tOns JOINT resolution, apprOpriating $4,000
to defray the expenses attending the visit of
the special Embassy from Siam to the United
states, but Mr.. Weller objected. The morning
hour having been dispensed with. the HOuse
at IL 80 O'Clock, went into Committee of the
Whole, with Mr.. Cox, of New York, in the
Chair, on the tariff bill.
Mr.. Hiscock, of New York instituted a
comparison between the condition of the
business of the country prior to the tariff of
1861 and its condition at the present time. and
from the comparison dednced the conclusion
that the protective system was a better one
for the people. He asserted that it organized
manufactures and labor, melted the inventive
genius of the people, and gave capital an OPP
pOrtunity for safe investment, and he denied
that it had had the effect of building up mo-
nOpolieS.
Mr.. Morse, OF Massachusetts wished that he
could support bill which would reduce the
revenue Sl00,000,G00, and he would vote for the
Morrison bill because its author had informed
him that 1t would result in a reduction Of $780,
100000.
Mr.. Hurd, of Ohio, took the floor in advo-
cacy of the bill. While the tariff, he said,
was first paid by the importer, it was ulti-
mately paid by the consumer. When it was
levied Tor the purposes of the government it
was called revenue tariff. When it was
levied Tor the purpose OF aiding individuals IN
business enterprises it was called protective
tariff To the first, when laid fairly and
without discrimination, he had no objection;
but to the latter he was unalterably opposed.
On what ground should the government
interpose to help the business of one
citizen at the expense of another?
If a mans business were a profitable one il
did not need the protection of the govern
ment If il were Improbable that was good
reason why he should not put his money into
il, but no reason why he should compel his
fellow citizens to pay two prices for an article
he made in order TO make good his losses. If
he (Mr. Hurd) were compelled by legislation
to pay $3.50 for what would otherwise cost 500
then the seller had been armed with the tax
ing power of the government to take from
him $50. He denied the right of the govern
ment to surrender the taxing power
and allow an individual to ex-
ercise it. When he earned wages
they were his own, and he had right to ex-
pend them where he pleased. If he could
make better contract with a FreUchman.
Mexican, Canadian or Englshman than with
an American, he had a right to do it, and the
in so far as the needs of Its revenue were con
cerned. He rested his whole case on this
proposition, that, subject to the needs of the
government, every man had a right TO sell
where he could get the best price for what he
had produced and buy where he could buy
the most cheaply. This was an approved
doctrine of political economy and the plainest
teachings of justice. 1t individualized
men. It begat in them n spirit
of independence II turned their ewes from
the government to themselves. 1t fixed the
boundary line between governmental power
and personal rights. 1t limited the authority
of public administration. 1t taught men that
there was no aim so strong for their support
as their own, and no business so successful as
that which their ability and skill had buiIt
up. 1t limited the government within its
proper sphere and left individuals free to
choose the own careers, develop their own
resources and build up their own fortunes.
The present American tariff was a
high. protective one, 1t increased the price
of articles imported INTO this country more
than 43 per cent. 1t was perfectly manifest
that its influence on our foreign commerce
could only be deleteriOus. Trade was merely
a mutually of exchange, and foreign trade
was an exchange of products between the
citizens of different countries. Every him
drance to the importation of foreign goods
was an embarrassment to commerce, for to
the same extent it prevented the expectation
of American goods. The country could not
have large expectation without having
large importation. Every tariff duty was
a burden on foreign commerce, and it
nations excuse for keeping out
agrarian goods. More injurious still was
this system to the carrying trade, and it was
a question OF only little time when, under
this policy, the American flag would entirely
disappear from the high seas. The tariff pro
hibited the importation of foreign vessels, and
American capital, when it desired to engage
IN the CARRYING trade, must do so under a
foreign flag. On the ship building interest
protection had been most disastrous. Moth
ing was clearer to his mind than that the
destruction of our foreign CARRYING trade was
the result of the prohibition of an American
registry to foreign built vessels and the high
price of raw material to ship builders.
The oceans were free to all Any person
might sail whithersOever he pleased, but in
this free for all where was America? The
skill of the sailor of every nation was there
asserting itself except ours. Fortunes were
being built up for the people of all nations eX-
cept ours, and yet this was an ocean bound
republic. Every ripple of the waters on the
seashore was an invitation to enjoy the wealth
of foreign nations, and every stormy wave
that beat upon the crags spoke in laundering
denupcIation of the policy that would lock
America out of the markets of the
world. loud applausel. God speed
the day when the divine thought
of mans brotherhood to man would succeed
the degrading and humiliating one of national
isolation and foreign exclusion. What was
the effect of the ruinous system on the farmers
1t increased the price of all articles which
entered into his daily consumption, and this
increase amounted to an annual sum of $780,
0O0. 600. For this there was absolutely no COM
pensation in tie protective system. The sys
tenn operated to increase the price of the
transportation of grain from the West to the
seabOard and from the seab0ard to Europe.
When the grain of the American farmer
reached Liverpool, il came in competition
with the grain of every other farmer of the
world. The protective tariff of America was
unable to help HIM there, and every dollar of
the increase of price which the transpOrta-
tion Occasioned to him diminished the profits
Il. IL