St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-19
BRECKENRIDGE TALKS.
His Version of the Tariff Bill Now
Before the House.

BREChENRIDGE TALKS.
His Version of the Tariff Bill Now
Before the House.
WASHINGTON, May 1S.-In the house
to-day Mr.. Breckenridge got the floor
and delivered speech on the tariff bill.
He began with review of the situation
so far as the surplus in treasury is con-
cerned, and with a statement of the
dangers attendant on the further ac-
emulation of surplus in the treasury.
He then said:
when the committee on ways and
means was announced on Jan. 5. it nee
eSSarily had to confront this condition
of affairs and attempt to frame a bill
which would SO reduce the revenues of
the government as to bring its legiti-
mate expenses and its revenues close
together; and this too in such way as
to reduce the burden of taxation upon
the people. 1t recognized that the rev.
enues could be reduced by raising the
duties to prohibitory standard, but
this only increased the burdens of taxa
ton. The repeal of the entire internal
revenue law would also reduce the
revenue to point where there might be
an annual deficit of S20,0O0,0O0; but this
deficit could not work harm for the pres
cllb, dc lllt OIL June
80, 1888, would be sufficient to comply
with the requirements of the sinking
fund until 1891, when the 415S fall due
But no large section of the American
people really favored plan which re-
moved taxation from spirits. beer and
tobacco and left the neceSSarieS of life
burdened; nor was the committee will
ing, in the asserting of taxes and in at
tempt to
GIVE SUBSTANTIAL RELIEF
from the present unnecessary taxation
to adopt plan which did not light a
single furnace, cause a single wheel to
revolve, give to labor single days
wages, remove from commercial activ-
lty any burden, nor from the manufac-
turer any annoyance. No one can ap-
preciate more than we that the bill re-
ported by us does not answer all the
conditions of to-day; the many duties
are left at rate entirely too high: that
the relief which ought to be given has
not been granted to the extent which
the condition of the country and of
labor required: but venture to affirm
that under all the circumstances which
surrounded us-trying to perform an
onerouS public duty with an eye single
to the public goOd-we have reported a
bill which every fair-minded man in
America may accept as wise, moderate
and proper legislation. And upon this
statement, for one, l am willing to go to
the country and to submit to its iudg-
ment." Referring to the criticisms of
Mr.. Burrows, of Michigan, upon the
committee on ways and means and its
manner of framing the bill under dis
cuSSlOn, when he stated that in his criti-
ciSmS he was violating no secret of the
committee room, Mr.. Breckenridge
said: with wit which was equaled by
the courtesy and much greater than the
desire for accuracy exhibited, the gen.
tleman from Michigan inSinuated what
he would not be reckless enough to di-
rectly assert, that not only was the. bill
reported not prepared by the committee
on ways and means which reported it.
but that there was no member of the
majority so lost to all sense
PERSONAL PRIDE
as to admit the parentage | trust it is
within the most rigorous bounds of par
llamentary language to say that this is
absolutely without foundation: in its
length, breadth. heightn, depth and
thickness it is creation of the gentle
mans fancy, except that he violated no
secrets of the committee room in max
ing the statement. The changes pro-
posed by this bill are designed to give
the farmer, by whom all provisions are
raised, a market for his breadstuffs and
for raw materials which is only profit
able when he has prosperous manu-
facturer fol purchaser; to the laborer,
the hope of a constant market, and to
the manufacturer freedom from I'M
necessary burdens. We have, there
fore, put upon the free list as far as we
felt it just the materials necessary for
the manufacturer. We have reduced
the rates wherever we have touched
n 40 nityn 10 f1xAa
sumner hope of fair competition when
ever demand may be made by an in
ternal trust to advance prices beyond a
fair consideration for the article to be
sold. and yet we have left the rates SO
that the protection afforded is greater
than any necessity, and makes all COM
potion OF foreign manufacturers upon
terms of great advantage to the Amer
lean manufacturer. We do not believe
there is a single instance in the bill
Where the duty left upon an article is
not more than the difference between
the cost of production in America and
THE COST OF PRODUCTION
abroad, plus the freight. Passing to
consideration of the wool schedule. he
referred to the meeting of the Wool
Growers association and the Wool
manufacturers association, and the
resolutions adopted by them. Their
idea of the ways and means committee
was one, he said, composed of gentle
men who represented such associations
which belief seems to be shared by rep
reSentativeS on this floor, whose indig
nation at the spectacle of a committee
framed to represent the taxpayers anC
the consumers struggles with the pro
prietles of life to find utterance. Yet
the same fierce charge was made in the
Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth congress
This Kentucky speaker seems to be
possessed with the absurd idea that the
people who pay taxes and purchase
goods, who raise wheat and cotton, who
live on farms and till the soil, really
ought to have some voice in Legislation
concerning the weight of the burden Of
taxation which they are to bear, and some
representatives on the committee whose
duty it is, to report bills for raising rev
enue. The idea may be absurd but
gentlemen, it is growing in popularity
and we are going to join issue with yor
III your clamOrOuS plea that the tariff
must not be revised except by the in
dustrieS protected by it, and | asser
thatit must be revised by the represent
atiyeS of all the people who
ARE TAXED BY 1T.
In conclusion he said: "IfOne stand
ing here in this hall to- day and looking
into the future, could be able to SCI
what the years would bring us under
system where the untrammeled actiyi
ties of a free Christian people find fru
ition under climate SO SaluDriOuS an,
with soil so fertile, all burdens t
progress thrown aside, all the pas