The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-01-12
CONGRESS.
An Abstract of the More Important
Proceedings in Both Houses.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. A.

senator voorhees, presenter petlLIOu IL
favor of the present tariff on lumber.
Senator Cullom presented several petitions:
OF the Illinois State Grange indorsing the In
terstate Commerce Law; favoring Government
ownership of telegraph lines; favoring the re-
striction of immigration; opposing the abolition
of the whisky and tobacco taxes faYoring the
placing of salt, lumber and sugar on the free
list.
The resolution providing for the distribution
of the Presidents annual message came up, and
Senator Sherman made carefully ar
gument against the statements and conclusions
contained in that document
The floor of the Senate and the galleries
We're filed, in anticipation of this, aud the
| speeches of Senator Sherman and Senator Foor-
hees who supported the message, were listened
to with the greatest interest.
Senator Sherman began his address by saying
that the President of the United States had de-
parted from the practice of his illustrious pre-
decessors by dropping from his annual message
| all reference to anything but the tariff. The
Senator would consider whether the dangers
spoken of in the message were exaggerated, and
! make some examination of the remedies pro-
| posed. he held that the surplus was not
danger, but an indication of the continuous and
increasing prosperity OF the country.
When in 1906 President Jefferson found that
| we had a surplus, he stated his belief that the
patriotism of the people would prefer the con-
| tinuaBee of the system Of revenue then in
vogue, and the application of the money to the
great purposes of public education, roads,
rivers and canals" When Gen. Jackson found
there was surplus, he recommended its dlstrl-
! button among the States, and the bill for that
| purpose introduced by Mr.. Calhoun passed both
! Houses and was signed by the President
| Since then other SURPRISES have been wisely
! applied to the public debt. Why did not the
| President follow the example Of his predecessors
and use the powers conferred upon the Sec
rotary of the Treasury to apply the surplus to
the reduction of the public debt? Instead of
that, aud though outstanding bonds were re-
! deemable at pleasure, his administration has
changed the form of the debt statement SO as
TO conceal nearly $50 600 900 of money as avail
able assets, and has sighted the surplus for
nearly year, until friend and foe alike cry out
against IT,"
| The Senator proceeded to arragn Mr.. Cleye-
| land and the Democratic House of Representa-
| tiYes for their management of the National fl
nances during the past two years. He said that
| thesurplus revenue might have been applied for
great National objects but for the vetOes of the
| President; for the failure of the Secretary of
the Treasury to exercise the plain, discretion
airy power conferred upon him by law, and for
the failure of the Democratic House of Rep
| resentatives to make appropriations for some of
the highest National objects demanded by the
| people, The President had, for what Senator
| Sherman regarded as very frivolous reason,
| refused his signature to the River and Harbor
Bill which appropriated more than SlO,O0O,00O
for necessary public works, and by his veto OF
the Dependent Pension Bill had withheld from
Union soldiers appropriations made for their
relief. The House had refused to provide for
a system Of coast defenses; for the proper in
crease and building of tho Navy; for postal
communications with South America; for the
! encouragement aud support of schools; also
to appropriate 100000 for Deficiencies adj
Il L
for the refunding TO the several States OF $14,-
000,GO0 of direct taxes levied in 1862. The SEN
ator did not attribute either to the President
or the Secretary of the Treasury an intent to
produce the dangers aud difficulties by which
the country was threatened; nor did he call in
question their integrity or fidelity. But when
they tried to alarm the country SO rs to induce
Congress tobrcak down great Industrial interests
he pointed them 10 the neglect Of public duty
entrusted to their discretion, Us the foundation
of their woes. If evil came to the Republic by
this surplus it was their fault They had the
power now, and power neglected was often a:
great crime as power usurped. An artificial
scare could not be made to cover the faults and
defects Of the Administration.
The country had two distinct systems OF tax
alton One upon the American productions o
spirits, tobacco and beer, and the other upon i'm
ported goods-the products of foreign nations
The first of these the President had dismissed
. | with a single sentence, saying that none o
, those articlea~were necessaries that Their,
seemed TO be no just complaint Of such taxa
ton by consumers, and that there seemed Il
be nothing so well able to bear the burden with
out hardship to any portion Of the people
: 1t might be that there WAS no complaint of con
sumers, but could that be said of the producer
of these articles? They were all either th,
product of the farm or immediate fruits of thu
: product Of the farm. Their chief cost was in tn
leaf tobacco, thecorn, therye the wheat, and tn
!; barley. Did not the farmers complain Of the tax
4 II the President thought they did not, he wa
greatly mistaken. Tobacco manufacturers, dis
tillers and brewers might not complain (becaus
the necessary requirements CT collection law
, gave them close monopoly; but the farmers
: who had TO sell to licensed dealers alone, die
+ complain.
j., But the President proposed to continue thes
taxes without diminution, that he nigh
. strike q more effective blow at the taxes nos
E / resting upon foreign productions. 1t was Q
a these latter that he had used the epithets " vi
eious, inequitable and illogical" 1t was at til
tariff laws that the President and the Secretar
of the Treasury aimed their epitheis and argu
: ments-the surplus revenue being the mer
pretext or occasion. 1t was the protective in
, dustrial policy built up by the Republican party
> that they would break down. The President
u message, fairly construed, was a severe indict
u ment of all engaged in manufactures sWeeI
Q as supported by the great mass Of his country
men and recommended by his most illustrioU
predecessors 1t showed that he favored pul
!. lie policy which would leave American mani
\. facturers and workmen to the hard, sharp an
v grinding competition of the capital and labor
4 the world
d Senator Sherman then went into AN argumer
TO show the advantages of protection, quotI
le many figures to prove his position.
le He said that the President assumed that ii
n cost Of living, especially food and clothing WI
- higher in the United States than in Europ
That was not true Food of every kind, exec
sugar, was cheaper here than in any market
Europe. The clothing worn by workingme
L including blankets, was sold here at as 10
= prices as in London or Liverpool. The quar-
ls tity and quality of the food Of laboring me
le were eonfessedly better than in Europe, and IL
9 rate Of wages was from so to 100 per cent high
~ here.
* Senator Voorhees, replied to Senator Sherman
" The subject of taxation, he said was as old
the Government itself; and yet it was as frel
and full of interest to-day to the laboring mas
pt es of mankind as ever at any former period
Ia the worlds history. The contraction of Il
at volume of currency had always been polio
IA marked by disaster and suffering and accursC
fa by every friend of the general welfare of IL
lis country. But when that abOminable pole
as was still further aided and executed by snatch
ma ing, as it were, the money Of the people fro
in their very hands at the rate of 10000 900