The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-05-17
TARIFF TALK.
Speech of Mr.. Scott, of Pennsyl
wanna, in Favor of the
Mills Bill.
He Denounces Randall's Bill and
Explains the Free Wool
Problem.
FIFTIMrH CONGRESS.
HOUSE.

HOUSE.
WASHINGTON, d. c., May IL. Mr..
Mills, of Texas, from the committee
on rules, reported a resolution providing
that the hour for daily meeting OF the
house shall hereafter be IL o'clock, a. M,
and, after the general debate on the tariff
bill shall have closed, the house shall ad-
iourn each day at 5 p. m. Adopted.
The house then went into committee OF
the whole on the tariff bill, and was ad-
dressed by Mr.. Scott, of Pennsylvania.
Mr.. Scott began with the defense of the
science of political economy and the cor
rectness of its conclusion. He asked
whether this great country, 6O,OOO,OOO
strong, with an inventive genius keener
than any other people on the globe, should
fear to compete for supremacy in the
marts of mankind, and continue ever to
trade among ourselves under the delusion
that we were growing rich by the proc
ess. Ths bill was framed in the interest
of the people-of the whole people. II
was intended in the first instance to de-
crease the surplus in the treasury now
threatening overwhelming and possibly
immediate disaster, even now visibly in
pending, and in the second, to relieve as
far as prudence would permit at this time,
the over-burdened industries of the coun-
try from excessive taxation, the proceeds
of which do lot pass into the treasury, but
go directly to the support of grasping
monopolies, which, for the most part,
combined in utterly indefensible and
atrooiously oppressive trusts. If the bill
did not measurably accomplish these
purposes it was because the majority OF
the ways and means committee was IN
competent to frame such law, and of
that the country would be the judge. A
bill had been introduced by member of
this house (the Randall bilD and referred
to a committee, which provided
large reduction of internal tax, and
dealt very curiously indeed with the Gus
toms duties. At the same time of its in
PRODUCTION the republican press, though
opposed to tariff reform, was loud IN
praise of it as bill ON which all could
unite-not only gentlemen on the other
| side of the house, but gentlemen on this
side also, who were supposed to differ
with the majority. It is fair to presume
that those who had lnconsiderately ap-
proved this remarkable bill did not
understand its provisions. Covering 1T
pages, it was too voluminous to be ana
lyzed without great labor, but taking the
| iron and steel schedules as fair index of
the proposed bill, and one with which the
member introducing it was supposed to
be most familiar-one which he would
naturally desire to conform most nearly
to the demands of his immedi-
ate constituency or advisers, and
passing Judgment on the whole from
this, it was safe to say it was not in line
with revenue reform, nor in the interest
of the consumer nor middlemen, nor the
| manufacturers. In truth and in TACT 1T
increased the burdens on every aVocat1on,
every industry, the iron worker as well as
the farmer. Taking it item by item, 1t
gave the astonishing result that for every
dollar of reduction of duties in the iron
schedule S26 were added to the bur-
dens of the public, already too enor-
nous to be borne. Instead of
reducing taxation as advised by the adj
ministration; instead of checking the flow
of the peoples money into the treasury,
already dangerously full; instead of re-
lleving tax ridden people clamorous for
relief; instead of following in line
with the declarations of every pub
lie officer this government has
| ever nhQ, lnhb WuOn VIZ WIZ
collecting more money than was needed
taxes ought to be reduced, this bill
actually proposed to increase them. He
said that the measure, from whatever
point it was looked at,was misbegotten, IN
ill shape, portentous, an unJustihaole
monster with no excuse for existence and
no purpose in its life but to obstruct the
democratic party and delay that justice
which the country demanded. The ma
iority of the committee on ways and
means realized and appreciated the condi-
ton of affairs existing in the country to-
day, ard however anxious they might be
to extend the full measure of relief
to wage workers and the great
agricultural classes of the country,
to which they are so justly entitled
keeping these objects in view it had
sought first to relieve these manufacturing
industries by placing on the free list as
far as it possibly could such articles as
were essentially necessary to enable them
to compete not only in their home mar
kets, but in the markets of the world.
Secondly, in the revision and readjust-
ment of the various schedules under the