New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-05
AMERICAN INDUSTRY.
nrrrNprD BY SENATOR SHERMAN.

defended BY SENATOR SHERMAN.
.-,rc,, ~ rur SENATE YReTERDAY-A CRfTI-
c,su OF THE PRESIDENTS MEssAGE-PRoTEc.
rIoN AND LABOR.
mY rKLEoRAru TO THE TRIBUNAL
WASHINGTON Jan. Awhile the House contin-
mes TO frittcr away it's time and the Speaker is still
engaged in the thanklcss task Of reconcilinB the
conflicting claims of the Brigaders" to places on
important committees, the Senate has gone 10
work In good earnest debating the question OF
revenue reduction, the Presidents extraordinary
message and the best manner Of disposlng OF 'i.0
surplus. The motion to refer the fresiuon''
message to the Committee on Finance gave och"'oi
Sherman to-day an opportunity OF oeh..nNe
mastery speech on the financial ques''ons "'
ISSUE That so important sub]eco' '1ea'eu "
30 competent an authority, shouio a'''"oO rs
crowds in the galleries and ON attentive auoehoe
on tho aoor Of the Chamber goes without saying.
Tbronobout the delivery Of his speech, which ne
rood rom carefully prepared notes, Senator Sher-
wan hold the undivided attention of the Senate
Crourvad abo II him sat half dozen or moro
nemocratio Senators-a compliment rarely paid
Go a Republican by political opponents. Many
members of the House had come over wheh III
formed that Sherman was speaking and occupied
seats In the rear of the Chamber. Even the up
lomatic galleries showed that the representatives
of foreign Governments take an unusual lnUereso
In tile questions discussed to-day.
Mr.. VOORHEES, followed Mr. Sherman in speech
full Of substance and devoid OF logic. In TACT nc
smoke an infinite deal Of nothing" His rea-
sons. like Gratiano's were "as two grains OF
wheat hid in two bushels of chaf-you shall seek
all day ere you find them and when you nave
them they are not worth the search
MAIN POINTS OF THE SPEECH.
Mr. Sherman's speech was in substance as
follows:
The President of the United States. departing
from the practice of his illustrous predecessors
dropped from his recent annual message all refer
ence to the foreign relations OF this country ana
to the interesting questions IN natlonal ahalrs
oven omittng the usual recognition of the Supreme
Ruler of the Universe and pOstroning all things
celestial and terrestrial, until the surplus revenue
be got rid of. This extraordinary message he
MIR Sherman) felt called upon to consider; TO
inquire whether the dangers spoken OF IN 1t were
exaggerated not; and to examine the remedies
proposed The existence of a surplus revenue had
been "a constant occurrence before and since the
close of the war. Instead Of its being danger
IL was an indication of the continuous increase or
the domestic productions of the country and its
fore.n and domestic commerce, and of the steady
Improvement of its financial condition. When,
In SOC, President Jefferson had the good fortune
of a surplus revenue he asked lin his message to
Congress) to what purpose the surplus should be
applied and expressed his belief that the patriot
ism of the people would prefer the continuance
of the imposts and the application of the money
to the great purpoS>s OF tie public oducttCn,
roads rivers, and canals" General Jackson, when
he had like good fortune, had recommended the
distribution of the surplus among the States, and
q bill for that purpose had been introduced by
NJ Colb Ind hOuSpS
maiorities and had been signed by President Jack
SON. Larger surplusscs had frequently been dealt
with wisely by Republican Administrations, being
either applied by the executive authorities to the
payment Of the public debt or its accumulation
having been prevented by Congress, from time to
time. by the reduction or the repeal of taxes.
These simple remedies have been applied in the
Administration of each Of Mr.. Clevland's prede-
cessors (snce the close of the war without other
matters being neglected cry of alarm being
raised All such reductions of taxes had been
made by the Republican party. The Democratic
party had now had control of the House of Repre-
sentatiyes since the su .cess of the Mississippi
plan Except for two years and had not in that
time originated or proposed reduction OF the
taxes The only Republican Congress in ten years
had by the act of March. 1888, largely reduced
both internal taxes and customs duties 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 pow
ers conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury
and applying the surplus to the reduction of tic
public debt
WHAT THE PRESIDENT AND HIS PARTY HAVE
FAILKD TO DO.
Instead of that and though outstanding bonds
were redeemable at pleasure his Administration
has changed the form of the debt statement so
l.. Al. If
unavailable assets, and had swelled the surplus
for nearly year until friend and foe alike cried
out against it, If the President regarded this
growing surplus as danger why had he not, as
soon as possible, brought his influence to bear
upon Congress to provide for a reduction OF tax
alton? And why had not Congress applied the
remedy? The XLIXth Congress had lived its
two years. and did. Mr.. Cleveland was then
President of the United States The House OF
Representatives contained a large majority OF
his political friends. They alone had the initia-
tive-the Constitutional power to introduce bill
to reduce taxes. Why had that not been done ?
The only answer was that a controlling majority
Of the Democratic party would not allow bill
to be reported unless it contained provisions which
lin the opinion of q majority Of the members Of
the House, would "reatly njure destroy dOmes-
tic production. creating real distress, and reduce
wages.
If it had been the desire to reduce taxes with
out reducing American production, the task WAS
easy; but the enormous powers Of the Speaker Of
the House were used to prevent even the prescn-
tation of such bill; and in this the Speaker had
lit was UNDERSTOOD the hearty sympathy and
support of the President and the Secretary of the
Treasury. He (Mr. Sherman) had called the at
tention of the Senate, the / 9th of July, SS6,
to the precise difficulty and danger OF the stu
ation and to the readiness of the majority of the
Senate to provide for the reduction Of taxes and
the application of the surplus and, If IL had not
President
ministration Including the Democratic majority
in the House of Representatives. the taxes would
then have been reduced without endangering
domestic industries Even without reduction
of taxation, the surplus revenue might have been
applied for great National objects but for the
vetoes of the President. for the failure of the
Secretary of the Treasury 10 exercise plain dis
cretionary powers conferred upon him by law. and
for the failure Of the Democratic House of Rep