The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-08-02
TIE MILLS BILL PASSED.

TIE MILLS BILL PASSED.
The An. I,or Of the 1siiI Makes Long and
ERNEST Speech Before the BALLOT u
Taken.
WASHINGTON, July 23-Thc Mills Tariff
bill passed the House Saturday by IL
majority. Mrs. Cleveland, who sat with
Mrs. Folsom In the Executive gallery,
joined in the Democratic applause and
smiled her approval Of the result The
vote was closely divided on party lines
OF the 1t2 members for the bill, 1J6 were
Democrats, 3 Republicans and lndcpend
cnts; IA Rcpubi cans, / independent
and four Democrats voted against
the measure. One Democrat IRAN.
dalD was paired against the bill
and one Foran) did not vote on the
question. The three Republicans who
voted for the bill were Messrs. Fitch.
Brewer and Nelson, and the three indie
pcndents voting the same way We're Smith,
Of Wisconsin,: Anderson. Of Iowa, and
Hopkins. OF Virginia. Nichols of North
Carolina. was the Independent who voted
against the bill. Bliss, Mcrriman and
Grccnman. Of New York and Sowdcn, Of
Pennss iyania. were the Democrats who dc.
clincd TO vote for the bill. The vote OF
Bliss was surprise, as he had been
counted for the measure.
The biggest shout on the Democratic
side was when the passage Of tile measure
was announced by Speaker Carlisle. The
bandannas were out III an instant and half
the Democratic members were on their
feet yelling themselves hoarsc, while Mrs
Cleveland sat in the Executive gallery
clapiing her hands and smiling Joyously.
The Republicans received the announce
lncnt silently. The crowd at once passed
oat OF the galleries to get a glimps Of Mrs
Cleveland, who had on some sort of q be-
wiidcring gown which, it was whispered,
hrs. Folsom mad brought from Paris.
MI. MILLS CLOSING SPEECH.
Chairman Mills arose in his place to
close tho long debate on the Tariff bill.
Promptly at l:30 the bill was called up.
Mr.. Mills, after Offering two amendments
intended to correct typographical errors
in the bill. moved the previous question on
them, and they Were adopted.
lie then proceeded to address the House,
beginning by stating the condition Of the
finances Of the Government, placing the
surplus at sl2a. &c., O,. This, he said. should
arrest the attention of the country. Ii rep
II
the people and piled up in the Treasury
1t was taxation levied upon the product
Of labor. 1t was an iniquity. This
enormous amount OF money was constantly
lowering prices and piling an enormous
load on labor and increasing the benefits
| Of privileged classes. How long would il
| be before stagnation would occur and
| bankruptcy and ruin flock over the land.
| The majority nd attempted to bring be-
| fore the House bill to reduce this taxa.
| ticn and lessen the inflow Of money into
| the Treasury. by the amendments which
| had been made in committee of the whole
the total reduction Of duties had fallen
from &,3, 600 900 to $4,000, 900, the free list
from 81, O00, 00o to so 900. The relative
| rate of duty had fallen from s41 10 not to
$40, but to 81, ~, and yet this measure SO
moderate, was characterized as a frcc-trade
| measure.
Was So 40 on every 800 free trade. 1t
| was an enormous amount of taxation. il
was tax which the wealth of this country
| would not permit to stand for a moment.
State taxation was levied on lands, houses.
| stocks bonds, horses and cattle. and the
1 property owners would not permit any
party Of Administration to remain in power
| an hour which would levy a tax of s. on
| the hundred. Yet this bill, carrying
/ taxation of :42 ~, was characterized as a
frcc-tradc measure. The term free trade
seemed to have double meaning. Some
| gentlemen seemed to understand that free
| trade meant the absolute interfering Of
| our foreign commerce from all taxa
ton. The Democratic party had used
! the term free trade as term ex-
| pressing the freedom Of our commerce
| from all obstruction save that of just
M. IN
| nomical administration of the Government.
| IApplause. The tariff of lSij had been
| called free trade tariff. and he had him
| self spoken of the decade from 1850 to 1860
as the free trade period, because i'm that
time commerce was not restricted by OBJ
strsctions thrown III Its way by capitalists
and monopollsts.
He then proceeded to take up and discuss
I'm detail the various schedules of the bill.
beginning with those dealing with chcmic-
ais. The present duty on chemicals. he said.
was :a 81 per cent. The proposed bill placed
il at S11-a reduction of little over "a i'm
a hundred Gentlemen called that free
trade. The next was the carthcnwarc and
glass schedule. The duty under existing
! law was $500 in every 500. The bill fixed
| it at :5a.l7. That was free trade. too, he
| supposed. II So taxation on every 500 was
i
| tell him what was meant by the term pro-
lection. IApplause
Sugar was found at duty Of SIS. Is, and
| the committee reduced it to s6a3l. There
was nobody making much fuss about the
| cGor;nity OF that reduction. The bill cut
| down the revenue from sugar ST.. .a9, go
This was next to the largest reduction
| made in any schedule in the bill. 1t had
been constantly charged that the bill was
| sectional. that it barely touched sugar.
and that the committee threw it's arms
/ around the sugar industry to shield il. yet
| the reduction in sugar was only second to
| that in the wooden schedule. There ought
to be high duty on sugar because Eemo-
Gratis believed that taxation was a tribute
| requested from citizens for the support of
the Government, and because they believed
that in laying taxation it ought to be so
laid as to be as little burdensomc AS
possible. By the tariff on sugar
the Government got S5s,OO0,00o, with
i,OO0. O00 prot cction. In order to get SIS :
O)O,OoJ into the public Golfers it cost Nj, co.
Oo5 protection to the sugar planters. But
in order to get s5s, COS, 600 into the Treasury
from iron and steel and wooden goods it
| cost the people over 800, OOJ.001 Why,
chen should the duty on sugar be repealed
/ in order that a more burdensome tax at a
/ higher rate on wooden and cotton goods and
! iron and steel might be retained. The duty
on provisions under cX sting law was
| sSi.33. The committee left it at $3.50. Yet
| it was charged that this was a free trade
measure. The existing duty on cotton was
$3.50. The bill fixed ii at S39.O7. Where
did the Fl c trade come in on that: The
/ $l2.090 0D0 revenue from cotton had been
reduced only $a17,0OO. The duty on hemp,
| jute, and flax was ut present s3s.l 1t
was lett at s2l.M This reduction of
I only 81 was brought about to
| great extent by she putting Of a
large amount of jute and hemp and
manila on the free list. The pres
| ent duty on wool and woolens is
| S5S.Sl. The committee bill left it
| nj $3.50, u reduction Of over 80 on every
| 500 of taxation. This reduction seemed
large, but it was caused by the placing of
| raw wool on the free list. The reduction
| on dutiable wooden goods amounted to
l.,,x Nl.x ,f.x,N