The Portland daily press., 1888-05-18
TARIFF ARGUMENTS IN VERSE.
Mother Goose Melodies Which VIII
Appear in the Record,
With other Selections by POLITICALLY
Inclined Tariff Orators.
A Day of Lively Discussion of the
Premier s Effort.

side, that protective tariff was robbery, the
Mills bill only sectionalized that robbery.
Robbery was a pillaging. taking away by
violence and by wrong. II protection was
robbery, it was pillaging the people and tax
ing property by violence and wrong.
Mr.. Anderson of Illinois opposed protec-
tion, and Mr.. Breckenridge of Arkansas
made brilliant speech in advocacy of the
Mills bill. He said the Presidents message
met with great popular favor. and Mr..
Blaine's withdrawal was practically an ac-
knowledgement of this. The people were
approving the Mills till all over the country.
Counties, districts and States were enthusi-
astically demanding reduction Of taxation.
There were three kinds of protection: ma
tional protection, such as our fathers prac-
tlced, with an average rate of seven or eight
per cent levied to build up the industries
necessary for a young nation; commercial
protection, intended to establish variety of
Industries whether the country really needed
them or not; and the foolish doctrine of mo-
nopoly protection, which gives subsidies on
the theory that it Is necessary to have priv
ileged class. The doctrine was not only bad,
but criminal. 1t is this kind OF protection
with which the Mills bill dealt. The Demo-
cratic party recognized that protection had
under it, and, in all this debate, no one had
announced himself as revolutionist
as distinguished from reformer. He
argued the falsity Of the charge that placing
wool on the free list was sectional measure
by the facts that from 1875 to 1887 the sheep
In the South had increased from five to nine
millions, while in the Eastern and Middle
States they had decreased from nine to eight
millions. The future of the sheep industry
was In the South. and the South should COM
plain of free wool, if anybody.
Mr.. Stewart Of Vermont expressed his I'M
Willingness to commit the revision of the
tariff to gentlemen avowedly hostile to that
system He feared the Greeks. even when
bearing gifts, and could not believe in the
professions of friendship for the protective
system INDUCED in by. gentlemen on the
other side. The Mills bill was the shibbo-
ed on the doors of the White House that no
industrial Democrat need apply. Laughter
This was modern Democracy. The fear OF
executive disaDprOval confronted every rep
resentative who felt constrained to follow
the dictates of his conscience and the con-
against the free wool clause, which was not
asked for nor wanted by the wool :grower,
wool manufacturer or workingman. The
only persons who wanted it were the repre-
sentatives of the traditions of another age
and the British manufacturers.
Mr.. Cox of New York, spoke at length.
He said the surplus was the principal ques-
tion and taxation was incidental. He would
get rid of the surplus by all means. Ii was
as well to try to run powder mill in hell
as an honest government with plethorlc
treasury. He would not favor spendthrift
doctrines. BY investigation in the New
York and Boston custom houses, he had
found to get fifty millions into the treasury,
the country paid seven hundred and fifty
millions which never saw the treasury. He
would not call this protection system rob-
berry or burglary, because he wanted lumber
and salt protected, nor with the gentleman
from Vermont, (Mr. Stewart who appealed
for wool, would he like them to commit re-
ciprocal brigandage. If Pennsylvania robbed
too much from Massachusetts, let MaSSa-
chusetts rob something from Pennsylvania.
Let Connecticticut, the land OF nutmegs
and corsets, make raid upon Tennessee,
North Carolina and Virginia after peanuts.
Laughter
That was the way to carry on the tariff re-
ciprocal rascality. The devil when he came
on earth was greatly delighted in going
around finding that the most select of all his
instruments was cunning old lawyer who
cheated by statute, But then, the devil
never read the tariff law with its ad valorem
and specific duties. If he had he never
would have bought the beautiful dress he
wore or would he have got it through the
Custom House without paying taxes.
And how was the Devil dressed?
On, he waSuressed in his Sunday best,
With breeches OF scarlet and coat of blue,
And there was a hole where the tail came through.
The gentlemen on the other side said the
Mills bill was radical. He did not see how
a reduction of per cent. was much free
trade reduction. He wondered the gentle
men On the other side did not follow the eX-
ample of the tallow chandler of France, who
petitioned for the suppression of all gas pro-
ducing machines, and the sun, so tall0w
might have all the advantages.
What cheap pauper labor the sun was!
Laughter. Joshua must have been pro-
tectionist for he made the sun stand still.
amounted to over ten million horse power.
There was some struggling as TO which In
FAINT should have the first pull at the pap. 1t
was said of Hercules that he pulled so hard
he spilled the milk and made the milky way.
aercules that was Peansyyvania ING pro
had protection and high wages, therefore
protection brought high wages. Apply the
same augmentation to England. Eng
land had House Of Lords and low wages,
therefore the House of Lords made low
wages. The United States had tramps and
high wages, therefore tramps made high
wages. Ireland had no snakes and no wages,
therefore snakes made high wages. Mr..
Cox co ntinued in the same vein, quoting
poetry at times, and answering various
speakers on the opposite side, keeping the
House in .roars of laughter. He combatted
the charge that the ideas of revenue reform
ers were of foreign growth. The gentleman
from Nevada (Mr. WOODBURY. had rushed to
London, and found in the membership OF the
Golden Club a number of dukes and lords
who were going to do America, by paying
three guineas apiece, to overturn the Repub-
lican party and things generally. Goodness
gracious, what great programme for the
Golden Club lLaughter.
whole ocean into tempest tost
To float feather or to drown fiy.
Turning his attention to the speech of Mr..
Butterworth, Mr.. Cox said, if the protec-
ZIONIST shepherd of the House (Mr. Kelley
had kept his eye on the sheep ne 6 would no hot
ing off in the wilds of Canada praying for
reciprocity. The gentleman believed not
only in reciprocity between the States OF the
Union but between the United States and
Canada, and when the gentleman went to
Canada he took toboggan slide for free
trade. He (Mr Cox stood by, and hurrahed
for him.
After his tilt with Mr.. Butterworth, Mr.
Cox said he would give the gentleman q
little gem by sweet singer OF Michigan
upon the alligator, as being applicable to the
reciprocity and the fisheries
question:
How cheerfully it seems to grin,
How nearly spreads its paws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling laws.
Mr.. Cox next turned his attention to Mr..
Burrows's speech. That gentleman's pero-
rations were like Silas Wegg, he dropped
into poetry" That gentleman, after, in ele-
quent language, picturing the advancement
and progress of the New South, had quoted,
Hail its coming, tongue and pen" quoting
Charles Mackey's rhyme for the incoming Of
absolute free trade. Mr.. Cox had quoted the
verse at the Democratic caucus at the time of
the deadlock. He did not know how the
gentleman got hold of it, unless it was that
Mr.. Perkins, who inadvertently wandered
into the caucus, had heard him quoting it
and given it to the gentleman. He would
like to have tuning fork here, so all might
sing:
Hail its coming tongue and pen;
Aid IT, hopes OF honest men;
Aid it, paper; aid 1t, type;
Aid it for the hour is ripe.
And our earnest should not slacken into play,
Men of thought and men of action lead the way.
But he could not get tuning fork because
the tariff was too high. In conclusion Mr..
Cox said the country had grown from sea to
sea, from gulf to lake, expanding in its pro-
gress. Why should we not expand our lib
erty also. Let us, he said, be true to the
of our constitution and true to our
freedom.
Mr.. Mason, of Illinois, read the speeches
of Mills and other Democrats, showing their
desire to purchase where they could purchase
cheapest, and proceeded; Il therefore
charge the Democratic party with being in
favor of free trade. The Northern Demo-
Gratis, however, say, We are not in favor of
, 4. 4. all sl. l..