Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-05-23

The House Listens to Arguments on the
Mills MISUNDERSTANDING Views.

ana, the chaplain being absent and the
reading Of journal dispensed with, the
House went into committee of the
whole, Mr.. Springer Gil. in the chair,
on the tariff bill.
Mr.. Anderson (Ia.) spoke briefly in
opposition to the principle of protection
and at the close of his remarks Mr..
Randall took the floor. He opened his
speech by referring to the Presidents
recent message in which the Exec
atlve advised Congress that the sur
plus IN the treasury by the 30th of
June, at the end of the current
fiscal year, would be expected to
reach the sum of $4,000, 900, including
PRIOR accumulation, or more closely
stated, the sum of $113,000,000 apart
from prior accumulations over and
above all authorized expenditures, in
GLIDING the sinking fund, for the cur
rent year: He then quoted from the
residents message defining his posi-
ton on the tariff and internal
revenue questions, and said that
from the utterance of the President he
understood the Executive to be adverse
to any reduction of the internal taxes,
as that mode of taxation afforded in
the opinion of the President ''no Just
complaint, and that nothing is so we'll
able to bear the burden without hard
ship to any portion of the people,"
The President further said that the
tariff law was vicious and IL
logical source Of negotiable tax and
ought to be revised and modified; and
the President had urged upon Congress
the Immediate expression of this mat
ter to the exclusion of all others. The
President had asserted in substance
hot ba oI,1o IL
made by additions to the free list and
by the lowering of the rates Of duty.
In the presence of such language, en-
enating from the Executive, authorized
by the direction of the constitution to
communicate, and from time to time,
give to Congress information on the state
OF the Union and recommend such
measures as he should Judge necessary, it
was imperatively required of the repre-
sentatives of the people to give fair, in
telligent and prompt attention to the
suggestions made. He (RandalD had
done SO. He had introduced and had
referred to the committee on ways and
means bill to reduce and equalize
duties on imports and to reduce the in
ternal revenue taxes and some provis-
ions OF that bill showed that some Of
the remedies he would apply were at
the President.
The President sought to prevent the
continuation of the surplus revenue bv
resorting to changes in the customs
duties. The remedy he (Mr. RandalD
proposed was through the repeal of
internal revenue taxes as well as
by full revision of the tar
if as promised to the people
by the Democratic convention of 1884.
The reduction provided for, in his bill,
aggregated ST. 100000 on internal taxes.
Those taxes had always been the last to
be levied and the first to be repealed
when no longer necessary.
Jefferson had given the death blow to
excise taxes, that most vicious of all
taxes and among the things he received
the thanks of the Legislature of his ma
tive state tor doing, was for having the
internal taxes abolished. The first
tax also to be repealed after the
war of 1912, has been the excise tax,
which was recommended by Madison,
and was the first law enacted under the
administration OF Monroe. The Demo-
cratic convention of 1884 declared that
internal revenue was war tax and this
declaration taken in connection with
the other declarations of the platform,
clearly established the fact that the
opinion of the convention was that
some Of the internal revenue taxes
should first 90 and that they should all
go whenever a sufficient sum was real
lzed from custom house taxes to meet
the expenses of the government eco
nomically administered. The country
was practically in such condition now;
the response to those declarations war
ranted the repeal of the internal
revenue taxes TO the extent proposed
by his bill. He favored now as he had
always done, total repeal Of the inter-
nal revenue taxes. [Applause.l In
the bill which he introduced, he pro-
posed to sweep all these taxes from the
statute books except tax of 80
cents on whisky, and he would
transfer the collection of that TAX
to the custom officials if that was found
to be practicable. With Albert Gallatin
he had regarded excise taxes as offensive
to the genius OF the people, tolerated
soon as the occasion fo., them had
passed away they should cease to exist.
Mr.. Randall then analysed the metal
schedule Of the Mills bill and declared
it would bring about incalculable injury
to the industries of America. He could
find nothing in the bill which gave re-
turn for free wool. He found many in
equalities in it and discovered few feat
ures intended to relieve the poor or
labOring man.
as Mr.. Randall dwelt on these feat
ures of the bill, his voice grew louder,
he became almost eloquent. and he was
applauded. He referred to the declara-
tons OF his colleague (Scott) who sat
near, as supercilious, and said he
would consign them to the OBJ
security they should be cast into. He
pleaded with his Democratic friends to
not undo the good which has been done
to the manufacturing industries by the
protective tariff, and read from Jeffer-
son. Monroe and other Democratic fore
fathers to prove that protection is a
fundamental Democratic principle. He
closed with tribute to the results and
principles of protection and asked that
they be maintained and maintained
through the efforts of the party that in
stituted them. He could not conceive
that the ideas and principles that went
down in 1861 would ever again predom-
mate in this country.
The House was thrown into an up
roar at the conclusion of Mr. RandalrS