St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-05
THE SENATE.
Senator Sherman'S Speech Rela-
tive to the Presidents Message.

tive to the PreSiUentS Message.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3.-The senate re-
assembled to-day, and when Mr.. Sher-
man gained the floor he began his speech
on the presidents message. He said:
THE president of the United States,
departing from the practice of his illus
triOuS predecessors, dropped from his
recent annual message all reference to
the foreign relations of the country and
the interesting questions i'll national af-
fairs, even emitting the usual recOgni-
lion of the Supreme Ruler of the uni
verse, and pOStponing all things, celeS-
tial and terrestrial, until the surplus
revenue be got rid of. This eXtraor-
dinary message he (Mr. Sherman) felt
called upon to consider: to inquire
whether the dangers spoken of in it
were exaggerated or not: and to exam
inc the remedies proposed. The exist
ence of surplus revenue had been
constant occurrence before and since
the close of the war. Instead of its
being danger it was an indication of
the continuous increase of the domestic
productions of the country and its for
eign and domestic commerce. and of the
steady improvement of its financial con-
dition. When, in 1906. President Jeffer-
son had the good fortune of sur
plus revenue, he asked Gn his mes
sage to cOngress) to what purpose the
surplus should be applied, and expressed
his belief that the patriotism of the peo-
pie would prefer the continuance of the
imposts and the application of the
money to the great purposes of the pub
lie education, roads, rivers and canals.
Gen. Jackson, when he had the like
good fortune, had recommended the dis
tributiOn of the surplus among the states
and bill for that purpose had been in
trOdUced and passed. Larger SurpluSeS
had frequently been dealt with wisely
by Republican administrations, being
either applied by the executive authOri
ties to the payment of the public debt;
or its accumulation, having been pre-
vented by congress, from time to time,
by the reduction or repeal of taxes.
These simple remedies had been applied
in the administration of each of Mr..
Cleveland's predecessors, since the close
of the war, without other matters being
n elected or a cry of alarm being raised.
A Il such reductions of taxes had been
made by the Republican party. The
Democratic party had now control of
the house of representatives since
the success of the mississippi plan'
Except for two years. and had not
III that time originated or proposed
reduction of taxes. The only Repub-
lican congress in ten years had by the
act of March, 1888. largely reduced both
internal taxes and customs dntieS to
meet the very difficulty which now so
alarmed the president. Why had not
the president followed the example of
his predecessors by using the powers
conferred upon the secretary of the
treasury and applying the surplus to the
reduction of the public debt?
Instead of that, and though outstand-
ing bonds were redeemable at pleasure,
his administration has changed the form
of the debt statement SO as to conceal
nearly S30,000,000 of money as unavail-
able assets, and had swelled the surplus
for nearly year until friend and foe
alike cried out against it. If the preSi-
dent regarded this growing surplus as a
danger, why had he not, as soon as pos
sible, brought his influence to bear upon
congress to provide for reduction of
taxation? and why had not congress ap-
piled the remedy? If it had been the
DESIRE TO REDUCE TAXES
without reducing American production.
the task was easy; but the enormous
powers of the speaker of the house were
used to prevent even the presentation
of such bill; and i'll this the speaker
had, it was understood, the hearty SYM
pdllll anu SuppoII vi lut pTeSlutnJ ana
the secretary of the treasury. He. Mr..
Sherman, had called the attention of
the senate the 18th of July, 1886, to the
precise difficulty and danger of the situ-
alton, and to the readiness of the major
lty of the senate to provide for the re-
duction of taxes and the application of
the surplus. If it had not been for the
action of the president and his admins
tration, including the Democratic ma
jOrity in the house of representatives,
the taxes would have then been re-
duced without endangering domestic in
duStries. Even without reduction of
taxation, the surplus revenue might
have been applied for great national
tobjects but for the vetOeS of the presi-
dent, for the failure of the secretary of
the treasury to exercise plain discre-
tionaIy powers conferred upon him by
law and for the failure of the Demo-
cratic house of representatives to make
appropriations for some of the highest
national objects demanded blythe people.