The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-05-07
TELEGRAP1EH1:11C.
DEFEATED.
The Enaeting Clause Of the Morrison
Tariff Bill Stricken Out.
The Vote Shows 159 Against and loo
For the Bill.

WASHINGTON CITY, May 7.-The reading
of the journal was quickly concluded
and the house went into commit
tee of the whole for the last days general de-
bate and the tariff bill. A large number of
members have returned, and the seats were
more generally filled than at any time since
the early days of the session. The galleries
were crowded.
Brown, of Pennsylvania, was first recog-
nized, and made a speech favoring the pro
tective system. He was followed by Town
send, Of Illinois, in radical speech on the
other side Gibson, of West Virginia, said
he would sustain the bill, hoping that 1t
would be amended by the house.
Randall rose and the members fairly
rushed and surrounded his desk Taylor of
Ohio rose to point of order, and said that if
all kept their seats all could hear, but if per
mitted to crowd around the orator but few
would be able to hear. The chair required
all to be seated, and Randall proceeded
amid unusually good order. He opened
with a quotation from Lord Chatham, that
capital was timid, and that any legislation
| calculated to destroy confidence was not only
| a blunder, but a crime. Great Britain, he
said, had during the late war sought every
means TO cripple this country, and having
| failed, now sought to coax us into free trade.
| In her avarice she held in her
| iron grip Gibraltar, commanded the Suez
canal, while she compelled millions of
l;hinese to swallow her opium. He de-
nounced constant tinkering with the tariff,
leaving the apprehension that no tariff could
last longer than one congress to another.
| Such course he declared murderous and
| suicidal He next proceeded to review the
more recent action of congress on the tariff,
| and said that after the last
change time enough had not
| elapsed to ascertain the results, or
| for the various industries to accommodate
| themselves to it before new measure was
| proposed, which it was also impossible to pass
| with Republican senate and Republican
| executive. The present session had caused
much injury by agitation. He criticised the
horizontal feature of the bill and declared
that its introduction was to produce agitation
for the sake Of agitation, which was unwise.
1t was not SO much the 20 per cent reduc'
tion as its promises 1t had been declared a
step towards free trade. He quoted DORIS
hemer, who said that if this didn't reduce
the revenue he would cut it to the quick and
I
answer he would reduce it so per cent. Ran
dali then went into discussion Of the two
systems of revenue by direct taxation and
customs duties.
MIR Randall continuing said that to judge
from the incorporate language and exagger
ated rhetoric which had so frequently
marked the debate, it would seem as if thoss
engaged in Industrial pursuits were robbers
and outlaws As matter of fac
they were nothing of the sort. They
were a part land no mean part o
the business of the country, and had been
united under the law to engage in those EN-
ployments, and therefore, if for no othel
reason, they were entitled to the protection
of the law. They were part of our resources
as a nation, and to develop those resource.
was the test of true statesmanship.
In conclusion he said that he was EN-
phatically opposed to any Such suicida
policy; it would be madness for any party t.
pursue it, Every member should aid in ap
plying n heroic remedy to the bill, bearing
in its wake as it did business confusion ant
general bankruptcy. 1t was guessed that tn
bill might reduce the surplus revenue, bu
there was no attempt for an I'D
justment of the tariff It was lk
the bed of the old robber; if man was to-
. long for it he was cut down to fit. A bori
zontal reduction offered no remedy, but wa;
a palpabIe confession of inability to handl
intricate problems at issue. 1t looked lik
agitation merely for the sake of agitation