St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-03
In a Quiet Way He Gives That
Gentleman a Severe
Drubbing.
The Mask Of Republican Pro-
lection Torn From the
Face of Hypocrisy.
Sherman Said There Was a
Time When He Would Have
Voted for Any Law.

plus revenue ana tarln matters. ana Oh
Mr.. Sherman'S speech in reply thereto.
He said that Senator Sherman was con-
spicuOus in the councils of his party,
and had much TO do with the shaping OF
its policy; so that his assault on the
presidents position in favor of revenue
reform and reduction of taxation was TO
be remarked as significant. Time and
thought had been devoted to the prep
aration of that speech, and the assault
had been deliberate. 1t might therefore
be fairly assumed that the senator's
reply" was exhaustive of his own and
of his party'S resources on that impor-
tant subject. In the light of that fact,
the speech might justly be regarded as
a challenge. 1t presented the square
issue as to whether the senator's party
should stand in that assault or fall i'll
the defense. The speech, taken i'll con-
nection with the senator's former utter
ances on the same and similar subjects.
presented a contrast as astounding as 1t
was unexpected conflict as irrecon-
cileable as it was positive and absolute
an enigma which he would proceed
briefly to analyZe. After quoting some
and also extracts from the works of
jefferson clearing on the question of
public improvements, from messages
of Presidents jackson and Arthur, from
the reports of Secretary FOlger, Secre-
tary McCulloch and Secretary Manning,
he summed up by saying that four sue
cessive secretaries of the treasury two
Republicans and two Democrats and
two successive presidents zone Repub-
lican and the other a Democrat had
united in their condemnation of a sur
plus revenue and in their demand for
reduction in the public burdens. And
so it had been, he said, throughout the
history of the government. There
never had been time when the unnec-
cessary withdrawal from circulation of
the currency of the country and its
boarding in the treasury was justified
or calmly contemplated. The senator
from Ohio was the only person who
seemed to regard such a condition as
'good fortune" such condition had
always created apprehension, and had
sometimes contributed to
PANIC AND FINANCIAL DISASTER.
And yet, when the president, inspired
by the teaching of his country's history,
dared to raise his voice to arrest i'm
pending calamity, the senator from
Ohio would laugh to Scorn the faithful
admonition and would hold up its author
to the ridicule of the public. The sena-
tor had forgo item his own anXieties
when, surrounded in 9th houses of
congress by a majority of his own party
friends, in 1882 he exclaimed in the SEN
ate that there was no sentiment in the
country stronger than that congress had
neglected its duty in not repeating
taxes that were unnecessary, and that
he was determined that that sin should
not lie at his door. The senator from
Ohio had assaulted the president because
of the statement in the message that
there appeared to be no just complaint
of the taxes on spirits, tobacco and
beer; and had argued that ''the tradi-
lions and policy of our people are
again internal taxes" When, he asked,
had the honorable senator undergone
change OF heart on that important sub
ject, for he had declared in 1867 that
spirits, wine and tobacco were "un-
doubtedly the first objects that should be
taXed.' He should not follow the sena-
tor in all that he had said as to the sur
plus in the treasury, but two instances
would suffice. The senator had de-
nounced congress for its failure to pro-
vide subsidies for postal communica-
ton with the South American states,
and had denounced the president for
his failure to approve the river and
harbor bill. But the question of subsi-
dies was familiar to the whole people.
The antagoni SIN of the president and of
his party to the subsidiZmg of special
interests or classes needed no defense
at his hands. That invention of the Re-
publican party had never found favor
with the Democracy. 1t was against the
fairness and spirit and genius of Ameri-
can institutions. This country had no
ships. The
PRETENDED POLICY OF PROTECTION
had driven them from the high seas.
They could not be built to compete with
the Clyde ships, and the Republican OBJ
structive policy would not allow them to
be sailed under the American flag.
AS to the river and harbOr bill, the
president had already approved one ap-
propriating more than ten millions the
preceding year; and the president had
been called Oh an hour before congress
adjourned to sign that of last session
(appropriating S14,000,000), without an
opportunity to read it or to know a line
Of its provisions. He had been engaged
in the very act of reading in the capitol
when the hammers fell and congress
adjourned. Faithfulness to public trust
and judicial regard for the public in
tereSt had stood alike as barriers to an
act, whose omission the senator from
Ohio condemned.
AS to the failure of the house of rep
resentativeS to pass the Blair bill last
session, he said that while he (Kenna)
has been friend to that bill, still, when
it was invoked in opposition to the re-
lief of the present burdens OF the peo-
pie, the Blair bill and he had to part
company. If the purpose of the senator
from Ohio had been to defeat the Blair
bill in this congress, he had adopted an
entirely practicable and feasible way to
do it. Turning to the subject of the
tariff, Mr.. Kenna said that the
tariff laws in force now, with
some notifications. adopted by
peculiar and questionable methods in
1882, are substantially those known as
the morrill, tariff of 1861" The sena-
ator from Ohio aided largely in passing
the tariff. He denied that the large in
crease of that period was intended for
the protection of labor. He denied that
reducing the duties increased the reve-
nue., for he supported large additions to
the duties for that very purpose. And
so the senator has recognized the fact,
which we are all bound to admit, that
whether the lowering or increasing of
The duty will add to the revenue is a
question depending upon other consd-
erations than the arbitrary amount of
the schedule. A duty may be so high
as to prevent impOrtatiOns and yield no
revenue. The other eXtrema is free