The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-04-18
NILLS TARTFF RTLL.
Debate commencedinth in the House
Of Representatives.
MILLS AND KELLEY SPEAK
And Prospects for u Long and Better
Discussion are Good-old Issues
in tho scnatc-Thc River
and Harbor Sensation.


in tho scnatc-Thc River
and Harbor Sensation.
WASHINGTON, d. c., April Inn.
Mills, OF Texas, moved to-day that the
House go into Committee of.the Whole,
for the consideration OF the tariff bill.
! No opposition was made to the motion
and it was carried without u division,
Mr.. Springer, OF Illinois, assuming the
chair. Mr.. Mills opened the ball.
MIR. MILLS SPEECH.
Mr.. Mills began his speech by saying
that the great increase of duties during
the war had been, ut the time they were
made, stated to be only temporary. Yet
quarter OF Ia century later, these duties
were higher than they were during the
war, and they now averaged 41.lO per
cent on imports. The income tax had
been imposed to meet war expenses. II
was gone. It was tax on wealth, and
the S72,O0OO00 annually realized from
that source was swept away.
But the war tax on clothing, on food,
on implements OF labor, remained and
war was still be prosecuted against the
peopIe-a fiscal year, exhausting in its
demands, and every effort to remove or
lower that taxation had been resisted
and defeated.
THE WOOL QUESTION.
The Democrats had been tapnted with
the charge that they had failed to re-
duce taxation. This charge had been
made by the minority, which had been
guilty OF preventing action on the many
bills brought into the House by the
Committee on Ways and Means. Mr..
Mills turned his attention 10 the WOODEN
manufactures and urged that the public
at large was ignored by the present eX-
ccssiye tax, and nobody benefited.
High duties prohibited and limited i'm
portatiops aud expectations. We were
feeding the neople'of Europe, and when
we put high duties on the goods they
sent us in exchange for food it amounted
to taxing our own agricultural exports.
A reduction would not, rs asserted,
check manufacturers and cramp labor.
We always imported more goods when |
prices were high, Under lower duties
we could export more goods, our manu-.
factories would run steadily and labor
would be constantly employed, Not
more than ten per cent OF the goods con-
sumcd in the United States would be
imported ii all the custom houses were
torn down and the Government sup
ported by direct tax.
cHEsTIuTs
Protecttonfsts argued that manufac-
tured articles were cheaper here than
in any other country, as a result OF pro-
lection. 1t was not so, but supposing
that it was. Why, then, should they
resist so strenuously any effort to lower
duties, il they were able TO undcrsell
European manufactures? Did themanu-
facturcrs pay higher wages because pro-
lection enabled them to do it? No,
Jay Gould was able to pay his boot
black $500 but he did not do it. He
paid the market price-he paid his
nicklc like . little mAR,
Higher wages were made by coal,
steam and machinery, and higher wages
meant less cost OF production. He had
requested the present Chietot tho Labor
Bureau to ascertain il there was any eN;
ceptiOn to the rule that wages depended
on the etiicieppy Of labor and the result
OF highly paid; efficient labor YRs low
cost OF product.
In answer, he read tabulated state
ment prepared by Mr.. Wright, giving
the result OF his inquiry in n number OF
casea which appeared TO fully bear out
the rule. Mr.. Mills eloged his speech |
amid loud applause, at s;5O o'clock, ana
Mr.. Kelly, OF Pennsylvania, took the
floor to reply.
JUDGE KELLEY's SPEECH.
He said that the enactment OF the bill
world instantly parllyze the enterprise
and energy OF Tie pGaPle, Under the
buleful influence Of such Il law ther
mort Of the census OF 1890 would announce
Inc overthrow OF our manufacturing su-
premacy and the reduction OF our com.
mapding commercial position to that OF
colonial dependency, IT was stGdious-
suits, and nicely adapted for the pur-
nose, It was confessedly. q Bartl-
san measure and was framed IN
the interest OF party whose leaders ap-
pear to be oblivious to the ovcrwhetm-
INC social and economic changes wrought
by the abolition OF slavery. The gentle.
men who framed this bill and could
brook neither modification nor discuss
ion OF lis. provisions by their associates
in the committee, we're, with But two
executions, representatives Of what was
slave territory. The bill was an anch-
ronism; it had no relation to this era; it
belonged to the
sApDEsF EPaCR N OUR NATIONAL HISTORY
the period between 1884 and 1861, Dur
ING that period, slavery dominated our
National councils and guided the admin
istration of our National affairs in hos
tility,to National interests, and in the in
terest OF free trade twice threatened war,
! II was in the interest OF free trade that
was threatened in support Of the doc
trine OF nulliiication, and it WIS IN tho
interest OF free trade that the country
was involved for more than four years
in fratricidal war. AS measure pro-
posed for future guidance the bill was
nm anChronism and was illustra'
tive OF systems OF ethics and eco
nomic philosophy against which history
had written in blood DEGREES thNt We're
final and immutable. None Of its provi.
sions were in harmony with the spirit Of
the age. It's first effect would be to ar.
rest the magnificent development Of min.
eral wealth, of manufacturing power and
OF the diveTsiAcations Of agriculture,
now taking place throughout the South,
and to paralyze the organized injustice
Of the North. By putting wool on the
free list it would abolish the sheep in.
| dHstry and destroy the immense capital
embarked therein and
IMpovERIsH MORE THAN A MILLION
men who own flocks or are employed
in their care, and by working this ruin