The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-09-20
ALIEN PAUPEK SERFS.
Four Millions OF Them Imported
Within Four Years.

| Idle. but Taxed to support ignorant
Foreigners - Tariff Reform
Versus Protection.
Congressman Melbourne Il. Ford ad-
dressed his constituents at Grand Rapids,
Mich, the other night. His speech, which
Is one Of the test delivered during the
present campaign, was as follows:
| Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN or THE
CONVENTION: thank you for the honor you
have done me through nominating me for the
second time as your candidate for Representa-
tive In Congress. deeply appreciate the honor
you have done me- and am sens BILE OF the
high compliment paid me IN beng nominated
unanimously and by reclamation. / accept the
nomination: and do so with the utmost conf
| dence and enthusiasm, because never before
have we been more cverlastingly in the right
upon the great questions Of the day than We
are at present. We are confronted to-day by
an issue, in my judgment, as II may be
decided by the people, for veal or woe,
| 70 an incalculable extent. With an overflow.
4 ing Treasury; with over 100000, 600 on
hand which we know not how to dispose.of; with
| money enough now IN the Treasury to pay on the
| bonds that will come due in 1884, We are still
ievying taxes on the people to an extent OF
from tSo,0O0,0OO to sl2o. 1900 year, more
than we can possibly use. Is not that an out
| rage! Why, there is not . country In the world
that would stand such thing. There II no
| tyrannized people upon this earth that would
submit to IL, and yet that very thing are we
standing under in tn q country to-day. Why
has this policy OF piling up money in the
Treasury been SO long pursucdf 1t is because
the protected monopoists Of the East have
4 had such . control In Congress that they have
| been powerful enough to thwart all attempts
| to relieve the people. The Government OF the
United States Is not like an individual. When
| an individual has . surplus of money. more
than he can use, he can invest it In some bust
ness; but with the Government, when It has
surplus OF money, 1t can do nothing but pay on
| its debts, and when all the debts Of the Gov
| eminent that are due are paid. there Is no
other way to get the money out OF the Treasury
| except by paying the obligations that are not
yet matured. This has been done. The fnan-
cial situation has been so critical that the Sec
| rotary OF the Treasury, in order to get the
money out among the people, has actually
gone into the market and fought bonds that
4 are not yet matured. But when the Govern
ment does that the price Of the bonds advance.
Shall we continue to tax the people to buy
bonds ut premium? The simple statement
4 OF such proposit on. it seems TO me, Is en-
ough to refute 1t. Something has got to be
done. We can not keep locking up money in
the Treasury and contracting the circulation
without causing, pretty soon, the most de-
pressed financial panic that we ever had.
What is the remedy? Reduce taxation. There
is no dispute about that proposition But the
question is, hows We say, reduce taxation
where II is the most burdensome; take it OF
the tarin. The Republican party say: LET
the tarin alone; take il on the internal
revenue take IL on alcohol, take 1t on cigars,
take it OF whisky Now, what have we done.
We have passed the Mills bill in the House. !
voted for II. 1t is not perfect measure by
any means. After the tariff has been
substantially untouched for twenty
i've years it is not possible in one
session OF Congress to pass
perfect bill reducing the tariff; but we have
done the best We could. There are lots OF
things that ought to be in the bill that are not,
but the Mills bill is one step in the rght direc-
ton. We have done something, at any rate.
What are they doing! They are critcising the
Mills bill They are very much exercised about
wool going on the free list They want TO pro-
tect the lamb in that way. So does the wolf.
The wool tariff has been the greatest decoy the
Eastern manufacturer ever had. II has been
their trump card. BY 1t they have been en-
abled to fool the farmer for years, and it is no
wonder now that they make a great ado about
il. These iron and glass manufacturers are
greatly concerned. What about. Not about
the iron and glass, but about the wool. Oh, my
friends, this wool tariff has covered q multi
enough to talk about, and no one knows this
more than these Eastern manufacturers, who
now pose as the farmers friends. Why, even
II the wool tariff did benefit the farmer, the re-
duction made in tho Mills bill on articles OF
| wearing apparel alone would more than COM
pensatc the farmer for putting wool on the free
list.
A few years ago we put hides on the free
list. Our Republican friends said there would
not be beef creature in the United States In
five years. What has been the resultS The
result has been that the product OF our leather
manufacturing industries has increased SID
0Oo, 600 in eight years, making better demand
| for our own hides and giving employment to
| thousands Of more men, and the business OF
| raising cattle has never increased SO rapidly.
They say now 10 put wool on the free list would
destroy the sheep. Why, seventy wears ago,
before We had any tariff on wool at all. we had
more sheep In proportion to our population
than we have to-day, and wool sold for o high
cr price. We can not raise all the wool needed
In the WOODEN manufactures in this country, be-
cause God Almighty has not given US the soil
or the climate. We must import wool, and
when you put high tax on the importation OF
wool you injure the manufacturing industries,
because about thirty. three per cent. of the
wool consumed In this country is imported, and
when you injure the WOODEN anufacturers you
injure the farmers customers. The wooden
manufacturer Is the man who buys the farm
er's wool, and he must prosper, or the price
on wool will decline; that is just as Ger.
tain rs holy writ. The question IS. shall We
reduce the taxes on the necessaries, or shall
we reduce them on the internal reyenues Do
you want to pay Is for q u blanket in order
that you can buy whisky AT cents drink!
Or do you want TO have cheap blankets, and let
the price Of whisky remain where it is. There
can be but one answer to that question from
any impartial, candid man. There is not q CIV.
.1f1nd amt he fa nj nth
that does not tax spirits. Outside OF this
country there is no statesman who advocates
such monstrous proposition to tax clothes
and let whisky 90 free. Heretofore all men,
and all nations, have recognized whisky as q
most proper subject OF high taxation, and it Ia
enough TO astonish any man to hear the doc
trine OF free whisky propounded in this en-
lightened age by tho party who has claimed to
be composed OF intelligent and educated me n.
Why do they do 1t! Simply TO save the pro
tective monopolists from any reduction Of the
tribute which the law compels the people II
pay them During the war we used to have 9
tax on manufacturers which brought US IN 1864
tls1, O1O OF revenue. What was thati A
tax on wealth. What has become OF it. Abol
| ished by q Republican Congress. We uset
| TO have u tax on incomes. The tax made 400.
ODO persons who had annual incomes Of ove
tsO O0o, 900 year to pay revenues to the Govern
} ment OF a72O00.0Oa year. They said that wa
publican Congress abolished it. We had tai
on the receipts Of railroad companies; taxe
on express companies; taxes on insuranc,
companies; taxes on bank capital; taxes Of
bank deposits: taxes on bank checks. Wha
has become OF those taxes! Gone. Stricken
from the statute books by Republic can Con
crosses years and years ago. And these taxe
were abolished at q time when the debt OF tn,
Government was over $1,000 600 900, and wheI
we had to pay ti4o,O OOoo q year interest. /
the Government needed big revenue it need
cd II then. II these taxes had been kept vi
) ten years they would have wiped out the pub
! lie debt ent rely. Why should the Republican
party abolish q tax OF three per cent. on rail
road companies at time when tho Govern
lnent needed the money, and object now to re
, duce q tax Of two dollars on q poor man
blanket, at y time when the Government don
. need the money at all. II the rich man is on
titled to have three per cent tax on income
abolished when the Government was hard VI
for money, why should not the poo
, man have the tax OF eighty cents Of
the WOODEN shirt reduced at q time when tn
Government Treasury Is bursting with wealth
! Does it not look as II these men wer
J straining at gnat. when they had previousl.