Wichita eagle., 1888-05-15
HOUSE..

CuSSlOn or DIVISION, d RESOLUTION pIONluinB
that general debate on the tariff bill shall
close on Saturday next
The house went into committee OF the
whole on the tariff bill and was addressed
by Mr.. Hatch, of Missouri, He said he
would be derelict in his duty to the people,
faithless to his constituents and dlsloyal 10
the agricultural interests OF the country II
he neglected to speak earnestly and plainly
in what he considered legislative crisis
in the history Of the country. lie extolled
the industry OF agriculture as the most
honorable OF al! and he contended that the
industry had borne more than It's just
share of the burden of government. NO
system of taxation could be devised 20
benefit oneeclass Of people that would not
bear with harShneSs on some other class.
The protective tariff had Injured to the
benefit of the manufacturers alone and the
farmers and consuming masses had 10
shares in those benefits A tax enriched
the manufacturer Impoverished the farm
ers and the claim made by the protection
list that the tariff duty did not increase the
cost of an article he regarded as too rldlcul-
GUS to discuss. He was opposed TO the
present system of protection and he re-
gretted that the pending bill preserved
every single feature Of that system
The measure was simply d proposition
of modification and reduction. 1t
did not touch the principle involved in the
Morrill, tariff act. He wished that there
was a bill before the house BASED upon
principle Of equity and fairness broader
and deeper than was involved in the pend
inc prOnosition. But the principles of
protection were fastened on the country
and all that could be hoped for today,
and all that the bill sought to accomplish
was the reduction of the amount of taxa
ticu collected by the government and put
4 10 f.au tar
giving the receipts and expenditures of
the various nations of Europe and asserted
that not one of them was strong enough to
dare to do what the United States was do
Ing today-eellecfing Sl0O,0O0,O0O from
taxation in the name OF the government
for a favored class. The protective system
had been conceiyodpin greed and had been
kept up by corruption and fraud. If
the gentlemen. on the other
side would 4 learn a lesson from
the past Legislative history of the country
they will not only accept the bill now pre-
scented to them, but they would be glad to
get it before the measure was rejected
twelve months. The protectioniStS would
give millions of dollars TO get as moderate
a reduction of taxes. If the Mills bill was
not passed by this congress the voice of the
people sweeping throughout the length
and breadth of the land would place a
membership III the fty-first congress that
would take the protective system and in
stead OF reducing II as was now proposed
would bring it down TO . point where it
would do equal and exact justice to all the
interests of the country.
Reviewing the speeches Of the gentleman
from New England in reference to the
great prosperity of shat great section under
protective tariff, he admitted the pros
perity of these states, but denied that the
farmers residing therein had had any
ii fba tu
men from the west were asked why that
section did not diversity its interests and
become rich like New England. The west
did not wish to get rich in the same man
ner. It's moral plan was so high that II
rejected with scorn and contempt the
proposition that it should rob nine men in
order to make one man rich. Gentlemen
representing agricultural districts of the
west who opposed this bill would find a
storm of indignation among their constitu-
ents when they got home. He spoke for
the farmers of the Mississippi valley
when he declared that they were
almost unanimously in favor OF
free wool and a reduction
on manufactured wooden goods. lie be
leVed that there was fair chance Of the
house passing the moderate and conserva-
tive measure now pending. He believed that
when the final vote was reached every
Democrat would be found in favor Of the
bill. For 800 years the Christian religion
had received its strongest hope from the
grand declaration of Paul when he said,
Every knee shall bend and every tongue
shall confess the divinity of the Saviour"
a fundamental truth of Christian religion.
As Democrat, believing in the power of
democratic principles to relieve the people
from oppression, he rejOiced today with
exceeding great Joy that the time was COM
ing and coming quickly, coming with the
i, .-rl,F i.ax-s Of -haFx tlnr
cratic knee should and would bend to the
overriding majority of the Democratic
party and every Democratic tongue would
confess to revenue reform as a fundamen-
tai principle of the Democratic party.
Mr.. Symes, of Colorado. said the presi-
dent had shown an entire want of compre-
henson of the whole tariff system when
he told the farmer in a paragraph that
protective tariff YGs wrong and in the next
attempt TO show-5De manufacturer that he
would be benefited by the placing of the
raw material on the free list. The presi-
dent had forgotten that the placing of raw
material on the free list would ruin the
agricultural, mining and other industries
OF the country. He argued that it was the
capitalist, the monopelist and the import
ing merchant and those who derive their
income from bonds and some other invest
ments, who were clamCring for free trade,
and that it was the employer, the working
man, and those who built up the industries
of the country, who demanded protective
tariff He would make the protection of
American labor from foreign competition
the keystone in the arch of American law
making. He would protect the laboring
men of America from the Importation and
immigration of convict and pauper labor
ers as well 81 from the importation OF
the products of their work.
MIR. Funston OF Kansas, declared him
FyN,. h
balance Of the world. He was protection
ist. He would protect the United States
against foreign invasion, whether by an
armed force 10 lay waste the land or by the
products of pauper labor 10 destroy our
industries and take away from the Amer
can laOorlng his employment. He main
tanned the proposition that the farmer
wanted neither an English market nor
English goods, and would hail with joy
the day when ne would have neither.
Mr.. ON call. of Indiana. argued in favor of
putting lumber. coal and iron on the free
list because he believed that in these pro
ducts the United STATES could compete
with the world without there being any
tariff upon them.
Mr. Thompson. OF Ohio, said that the
difference between the Republican party
and the Democratic party upon the tariff
question was radical. IL was not differ
ence as TO the adjustment OF the system of
tarlh taxation; II was difference as to
the system itself; il was the advanced
policy of the Democratic party TO reduce
tArIn duties 70 = revenue basis, and not
only this, but 70 eliminate entirely the
idea CT projection 10 American industry
ana American labor. The Democratic
party WIS absolutely hostile 10 protection.
\ tariff Tor reyenUe ONLY yvc:sld result in a
lowering Of the wages II labor to the level
OF those paid in the Old world and would
mean danger 10 the peace OF the republic.