Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-04-20
THE BATTLE BEGUN.
CHAIRMAN MILLS OPENS THE GREAT
TARIFF DEBATE.
An Attempt to Show IA superiority for
Free Trade over Protectiou-Sparring
Between senators Edmunds and
Nest--Dther Matters.

of committees Mr. Mills moved the House /
20 into commitje Of the whole for the .
of the tariff bill and it was .
carried without division. Mr.. Mills took .
the floor and opened the debate; following
is an abstract Of mis- sp ech,
Three kinds of taxes We're levied during
the war to meet the enormous expenses
entailed, a customs tax, an Internal rev
euue tax aud direct taxes. From lS6? to
1886 the duties on imports were raised
from 1S4S per cent to 40 20 per
cent the gentleman who introduc-
ed the measure said it was to
be Il temporary war measure. Bat
tins tax still remained heavier than
ever and the 4veraIe rate last year was
Il 10 per cent. 1t was thought just by
In, s. la charge Of the government TO take
oil h- taxes from tne rich and place
them on the poor. Ine war tax on cloth
ing, food and the empioyment OF labor
stli remains, anu every effort to bring his
wartaE down TO a peace footing has Deeu
defeated. The cutlre burden Was thrown
upon hose who had to support notl them
selves and the government, 500 ujl,UlJ
pad Uy the We4i,n oi tue country ndd
been swept away. rms was a spieh"ld
column tie minority had erected TO
commemorate It's legislative wisdom, and
! they capped u IN lcN} by Hbou-hluG the
ItIN on playing c}l0s aud pu'tu1 TAX oi
( - per cent on bibles. The democrats had
/ been trying to rcdUce the taxes on the
Iuvcessdries OF life and the republic tu- III
/ every case had prevented 1t.
| Mr.. Milis Chen showed by illustration
/ how the tariff taxes increased the price OF
| tie goods taxed and reduced the purchas-
! ing power Cf the lab1rers eAtlulngs, there
! by Transferring portion OF bis earnings
| to the pockets Of the manufacturers Also
! how the tariff destroyed the value OF eX-
! ports, causing the surplus of the produc-
! ton to be thrown on the home markets,
| producing an over production and tall III
prices. Continuing he sad: The charge
that tariff reduction would cause retuc-
| ton III wages was false. We would import
the thugs which we could not pro .uce
and that could he produced cheaper IN
other countries. Manufactures would 20
on with increased rapldity and people
would receive higher wages. we could
now produce 90 per cent OF all the manu-
features consumed in the country cheaper
at home than they could he pro
duced elsewhere aud transported here.
IT was said if the value of the domestic
products was increased the manufacturer
was able TO pay higher wages. Uhdues-
tiuuably, but dlu he do it No. He elu-
ployed ms labor at the market value. The
high tariff did moi regulate wages. Wages
We're regulated by the demand, supply
and capacity OF the laborer. The high
rate of wages in this country was made Dy
coal, steam and machinery. An H.
creased productive power, hlGh rate
OF wages aud The low cost of produc-
tion followed each other rs night followed
day.
Mr. Mills cited from a table compiled
by an Englishmau sent to invest gate the
cotton industry of the United states tc
81 ow that in every case the labor cost
| h-T
England and though the labor of cost WAS
lower the rate of wages was higher here
than in England. Yet EnGlaud beat Us
because she produced goods at total COST
lover than ours She saved on the cost OF
material. Mr.. Mills claimed the tariff
by increasing the cost of production pre-
vented US from becoming the Creates
manufacturing country n the world, anc
statistics showed hiSh tarll helped
the capitalists, not the laOorer
He proceeded with frequent cita
, tons from economic authors, fruu
tabuated statements to elucIdate his ar
gumeut that a high rate Of wages was nol
I he result of the pro tectNe system. III
could not, he said, continue TO tell the re
suit OF his Investigations for want OF time
He spoke an hour aud three-quarters ant
clos ed amid great applause.
. Mr.. Kelley OF Pennsylvania, took The
floor in opposition. He said the enact
ment of the bill would instantly parayiz
the enterprise and energy Of the people
Under the bauctul influence of such
law, our manufacturing 9upremac.
would bt Overthrown, our cOmmdudiu.
commercial position reduced to that o
colonial dependence. ii was studlousi.
designed to produce these dire results
and nicely adapted to its purposes
: Ii was cOnfessgdiy partisan measure an'
p framed in the interest of the party who's
leader appeared ODlviouS to the over
!. wheminI social economic change
. wrought by the abolition of slavery. Tn
n gentlemen who framed the bill were VIII
. two exceptions representatives, of tn
J. former slave territory. The bill was a
anachronism and had no relation to thu
O era. II belonged TO the 5 stddest epoch o
t our national history, the period betWee
e 1924 aud 1861. Kelley predicted that tn
0 enactment Of the NILS bill would ruin TIA
= sheep industry, impoverish LOGO coo shee
e owners, close "A majority of the Dituminou
o coal fields and ore banks how employiu
e hundreds of thousands of lab1rers.
II Messrs Edmunds and Vest Have Littl
Dispute.
"a The Senate to-day resumed the consiC
d Grafton Of tue bill for the admission {
:. South Dakota and was addressed by VI
Is Vest in opposition. In the course of h
", speech Messrs Vest and Edmunds had
ne COllCQuy over Int electoral COMMISSION
h 1876. Mr.. Vest sald if Southern Stal
E. had done what Dakota did Mr.. EdmunC
Z would propose another such piece of legi
Al lation as seated Hayes. Mr.. Edmuds Il
40 serted that uine-tenths of the people
n the country believed HAYES was electe
sd Mr.. Vest disagreed and said if Hayes WI
nt elected Packard was. Mr.. ConklIng hG
mr. in the Senate chamber alluded
rt Hayes rs fraud" Mr.. EdmunC
~ doubted the statement and sa
he he believed Mr. Conknng thought Hay
! honestly elected. He was foremost amor
he the advocates of the electoral commlssio
ar Mr.. Vest insisted Conkling made the stat
ment attributed to him many times. NJ
10 Edmunds took the floor to speak in su
a port of the bill, but it was laid aside wi
er unanimous consent that the vote will
&c taken tomorrow.
,s The Weekly Free Press fro
* this date is reduced one half
at is now only ONE DOLLAR