The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1888-08-22
REgIlE TA.|I.E.l.AIIIT''IlIN 1. q
And Lighten the Burden, In
jurlng No One.

And Lighten the Burden, In
jurlng No One.
HON. n. q. MILLS CLOSING SPEECH
The Treasury surplus-Free wool Against
Free whisly-The TariG Left Twice as
High as the Wages raId--Falsity of tho
Cry of "Free Trade"
The house having under consideration the
bill tH- r. 9051 to reduce the taxation and
simplify the laws in relation to tho collection
of the revenue
Mr.. Mills said:
Mr.. Speaker: The reI 7rt of the treasury
department shows that Se have nov in the
United States over S. 100000 IN gold,
silver md paper money OF this r4nount, ex-
elusive of bullion, thcre is securely locked
within tho vaults of the treasury the sum of
e6o0,O0o;o0o. After all demands against tho
government have been provided for, there IS
left a balance of $4,000, Geo, which repro
sents the sum wrunS from the people by ex-
cessive and unjust taxation.
Under the rates of taxation now existing,
tho excess of receipts over expenditures is
increasing over 100000 per month. To
take from the people this large excess not re-
quired for any just and necessary expcndi-
ture. of government, even if done by a just
and equitable system of taxation, would be
vicious and hurtful enough; hut when we re
member thlt taxation is lowed not upon the
wealth of tho country, but upon the products
of labor, and thGt tho amount required by.
law is SO much taken from tfe annual supply
that must satisfy the necessary wants OF life,
and that tl;c sum of the exaction 50 required
is equal to S+7. 10 on every 500 taxed CT,
ticies, it is enough to startle the country and
arouse it 20 action.
But this is not all of the vicious conse-
quences that Cow from unjust and excessive
taxation. Wrongs never so alone. This
large sum OF money extracted from the chan
neiS of business circulation and locked up in
the treasury is constantly lowering the price
of the products of labor not protested against
competition and wlllc Increasing the de
nlands of the tax gatherer it decreases his
ability to comply with those demands
These who have means, and who have been
excused from sharing with their fellow citi-
zens the burdens of taxation, find their for.
tunes improved, while the less favored citi-
zen, who must live by his duily toll, firds
himself anziously inquii.ing how he is to OBJ
tain employment and support Tor himself and
those dependent on him. Depicting tho chan
nols of circulation necessarily arrests con
sumption. When ability to buy the things
that want requires is decreasing the demand
for them will decrease in tho same proper
ton, and when the demand decreases tho
production VIII correspondingly decrease.
Then employment is restricted; laboreTs arc
reduced or discharged, and suffering, distress
aI1 discomfort are seen on every band
Sir, that is question we must consider
If this contraction continues at the present
rate it can not be long before the threatened
disaster reaches us: but tho time of its com
ins nome can tell. 1t is enough for us to
ls1 ow that the country is in pe-ilous situa-
tion and that il is yet iii our power to avert
TIE peril Aptly ard well did the president
in his message define the situation wien lie
said it was not question of theory, but a
question of condition, that confronted us.
On this side we have made an honest effort
to relieve this condition of affairs. Wc have
brought before the house a bill which viii
lessen the inflow OF money into TIE public
treasury and permit the excess to renlain
wherc it rightfully belongs, in tho pockets of
the people. By existing la@ the average rate
of taxation on dutiablo goods imported is
S4T. 10 on every SOD worth.
Tho bill now pending, when reported by
tho committee on ways end means, redu Ell
the average rate from StT.10 20 SO But
tha amendments witch have been adopted in
the committee of the whole have restored to
the dutiabie list marE articles which VIC
llcd placed upon tho free list, and raised
tho duties on othcr articles which we had re
iuccd, so that the average rate of duty on
ti;;tiab!c goods by the bill as amended is now
si24o OF every S1o0 worth imported. This
is S4Gl reduction on the present average
rates on each $1c0 worth imported
Tho total reductions on the revenues de-
rived from imports By tho bill as amended
amounts to $50, ,5o1 ,G36, of which $50. .SG9, ,T9l
arc reductions on the dutiabIe list, and SI3,-
753, SIS are reductions from articles placed on
the free list. These are exceedingly mod
crate, yet this bill has been stigrlatized as a
free trade measure. a proposition TO malzc
reduction amounting to less than 50 in q
hundred Is met with s5o-m of denunciation.
and characterized by tho combined interest
protected against competition as n FREQ trade
PROPOSE. ion that is to ruin all tho r.:anufac-
turing industries of the country. Is S42.c9
Of taxation on every 500 worth of dutiable
goods imported free tradel 1t seems to me
al enormous rate of taxation. It is a rate OF
taxation that if levied on the wenith of the
country would not be permitted to stand for
one hour. What state in the Union imposes
u rate of taxation equal to per cent?
In n minority OF the states the rate of tax
alton does not reach 81 On the SIC0 for state
and county purposes, and there are but few
cities in the United States, extravagant as
they generally are in their municipal admin
istrations, that support taxaLion of , per
cent
And yet this bill, carrying taxation Of
42.40 per cent, is characterized as free
trade measure" Tho term "free traden
seems 10 have double meaning. Some gen
tlemen seem to understand that free trade
means IN absolute exemption of our foreign
commerce from all taxation. Gentlemen on
this side of the house and the Democratic
party il ell its history have used tho term
free TRADE to mean freedom of our foreign
coinlnerceJrom all obstruction save that OF
just and necessary taxation for the support
or an honest and economical administration
OF the government. IApplauseJ
The tariff of 1876 was framed to raise rev
enue and for that purpose only, ard it was
called by both parties a free trade tariff. The
tariff of 1851 was u still lower tariff and
framed for revenue purposes alone, and it
was called free trade tariff. But nobody
ever contended for the abandonment Of tho
policy, born with lie government, of raising
revenue by duties on imports. | have often
spoken of these tariffs as free trade iariffs,
and the decade from 1850 to 1850 as a free
trade decade, because under those tariffs and
during chat time the foreign commerce of
the United States was not then fettered by
Instructions in the interest of individuals
i