New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-18
TTE MILLS TARIFF BILL.
-roonryrIY R1DDLED BY JUDGE KELLEY.
vrasuRE PARTISAN AND OUT OF sfm'
Uhn .ATIsy WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE
PLEA FOR ABOLITION Oh
THE INTERNAL REV.

,pr rgLSoRArH TO IKE rRrBvSs ]

ENuE TAX.
sRr rgLxaRArH TO rkR rRIBvNE
w.s,rrycroN. April 1.-THE announcement
Tho tariff FIGHT is on" drew large number
!. LEGISLATORS to the galleries of the House today
~..h.b,v one-third Of whom were women. For
- time the Speakers pew held only single
~..vnant-a man Of middle age, with ourly, we'll
"a hoav and full. bushy beard He was most
tr,Ant listener, as he naturally would DO II the
..o,v Is true which nearly everybody peiieves'
go 80 him more than any one man, not excepting
.."' q p-smeru himself, is the country indebted
~ hat unique measure known as the Dark
ya,,orns bill 1t was regarded as strikingly ap-
--anr,ate that Speaker Carlisle should set aside
,,n,,- for the use Of Parsee' Moore.
rnn ,ontine business Of the House dragged.
nsonle who came expecting TO see the
60 ~ Corscana" fay Judge Kelley became I'm
..,ssrt and restless The face of the Sage was
snsbed. and he handled the papers before him WIN
..IIng fingers At last the reports Of COM
a,,,oes beqan to fall in more and more slowly,
"a snaIlv the last minute Of grace had sped and
A.. . PREMIER knew that the fateful plunge must
:. taken Il Is only fair to say that he ala not
,hih;t the frey enthusiasm with which he mas
sa,zed the House on many previous occasions.
This failure probably was due TO physlcai indspo-
.,son and not to an Overwhelming sense OF rcspon-
Gamer in the hour and fifty minutes during which
=. snoke his statements and assertions were as
.scbless and wild as any that he ever uttered In
.ho Uouse in tariff discussion. Chairman Mills
.,oo without notes. unless two three statistical
.,,os from which he read could be so called
D., a. was evident that he had written q speech
na committed IT, or parts of II, to memory, rather
imperfectly ,on,c
tn be plain, and at the Same time fair. the
premier" made mess Of 1t. from beginning 10
end. The first part Of his speech was devoted
n an attempt which unworthy of him, as 10
would be Of Congressman who Is a nero dena-
goOue. to array the poor" the great mass OF
our people," against the rich" OF course ne
asaIt literally with percentages. In fact
he ponred them forth at dizzy rate. One OF
,be Premier's" grievances is that the Repub-
lcan party took the internal revenue tax OIL
psying cards and put twenty per cent On the
RibeD Probably IL would be work Of super
,rocatjon to explain that there never has been
any internal tax levied upon the Bible, while
the duty on playing cards is 90 per cent ad va
loren. 1t was apparent that Colonel Mills had
read the Presidents message and absorbed us
doctrine. lie went on to explain that man
who receives one dollar per dav and buys
suit of clothes worth $40 is compelled to pay
twenty days work for the suit, because, he says,
there Is a tariff of 100 per cent on such goods
Having established that proposition, ne went
on to show that there were 60,oOO,0OO con-
SINNERS IN the country the annual tax, as he called
IT. must be 5000, 600. Probably 1t is not
worth while TO follow Mr.. Mills any further Ia
his mathematical flights
He stated three propositions. First. 1t is in
listed that If we lower duties we shall stop manu-,
features and lower wages. IDS Is noG True,
exclaimed MIR. Mills The second prop9sltlon is
that we eau produce 90 per cent Of all manu-
featured goods consumed In this country cheaper
than they can be produced abroad brought here
and sold The s.t third 4 al W Unr
bouses were torn down and everything admitted
free Of duty and the revenues for the support OF
more mo- than 10 Der cent Of manufactured goods
consumed In the United States would be Imported
The Premier" stated q number of other PROPOSE
lions equally reasonable and selt-evident ITO
has somehow obtained copy Of Edward Atldn-
sons Distribution Of Products from which ne
read some passages apparently WIN tnt cyerg
member Of the House as they were to himself
Mr. Mills devoted o good deal Of time TO an
effort, which was In the main successful TO snow
wages than an inefficient laborer. This part OF
his speech created considerable amusement among
certain Republicans. The last table Of statistics,
which the Premier" read with great emphasis,
proved altogether too much. IL contained list
Of many articles, and purported to Show the value
Of each; the amount Of labor-or wages-ln each,
and the tariG on each article 1t happened In a
good many cases that the labor plus the tarin
was so nearly equal to the value of the product
as TO allow absolutely no margin on the raw
materials.
When Colonel Mills concluded, he was rewarded
with loud applause the Democratic side, and
several Democrats were heard to observe: " Well
Mills got Of better than expected he would
During the late war, said Mr.. Mills, the expendi-
lures required by the enoromus military establish
ment demanded that the burdens of taxation
eho hn Iafd koa lv in all no
les on imports had been raised from an average of
1884 per cent In SCI to average of 40. 20 per
cent during the five years from S62 to 1866 In
elusive and the direct tax and the internal revenue
had been reSorted to. These war taxes still re-
manned, and they were heavier to-day than they
were on the average during the five years Of the
existence Of bostilities Congress had imposed
slight direct internal revenue tax upon domestic
manufactures, and that tax had brought into the
imposed tax on incomes TO help carry on the war,
but that tax had gone And tax OF per cent on
net incomes, aggregating 1907, 100000, was swept
away, but the war tax on clothing, upon FOOD,
upon employment OF labor, still remains There
had been taxes on railroads, on insurance and sx-
press companies, en- bank deposits and bank cap
ltal All these were gone.
The Democratic party had been trying to reduce
taxation upon the necessities OF life The greatest
evil inflicted upon the people by the excessive tax
alton on the consumers of the country was in the
destruction Of the values of exports the great body
Of which were agricultural products. In 1880,
after the long depression from 1873 to 1880,
prices suddenly rose IN Europe, ana Tue result was
that the tariff went down and mportations In
creased about 5000, 100000 in one year The ex-
ports also increased enormously. But it was in,
sisted that If duties were lower and
foreign goods were imported our people
would be turned out of employment
and the rates OF wages would be reduced. Nothing
things Which we could not produce. We could
now produce at least 90 per cent Of all manu-
features consumed In this country cheaper ut home
than they could be produced anywhere else In the
world and transported here. Why was 1t that
gentlemen Of the other side not only resisted every
effort 10 reduce taxation, but were now asking that
the tariff on woollen goods should be raised over
700 per cent when they could be produced cheaper
In this country than in Europef IL pig iron and
scroll iron and hoop iron and cotton goods were
cheaper here than In Europe why did gentlemen
resist every effort TO reduce taxation and the
surplus? II high tariff regulated wages, how
was IL that wages in different localities In the same
J,o of IN, H.