Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-08-30

was tax on these of S11, 600, 900 annual
ly. Again the Republican party steps in
and says no we can't tax these men, and
il goes like the other. Salee OF goods. On
this item IS, 900, 600 was collected, and 1t
mad to go. Special taxes of $l4,OOO,OOO
annually went the same way at the behest
of the monied classes There was an in
come tax. from which $40, 900, 900 was col
lected. Every man with an income Of
over 5000 yearly Was subject to it. 1tdid
not touch the laborer. 1t came out of the
pockets of men who were best of all
able to bear it, and it too was
wiped ont By the Republican party.
| That is the record OF tax reduc-
tion and yet in all that time the taxes on
the necesearies of life, the tax that bears
hardest upon the poor has been increased
and piled up, making unesrued fortunes
for protected millionaires and grinding the
poor into destitution and want. Now,
gentlemen, is that fair? They have re-
| leased wealth of $500, 600, 600 tax and have
left nothing but Sis, 900, 600 from the in
| ternal revenue The Democratic. party
says that the great masses of the people
are entitled to demand their pro rata share
of the release from taxation. That ID their
doctrine and its embodiment is the Mills
bill.
THE WHISKY TAX. I
Senator Faulkner then proceeded To
show that the record of the Democratic
party was consistently in favor OF an In
teraal Revenue duty and quoted Madison
/ anI Taf in, favor of a fay IN whisky
Continuing, he said: The working of
the customs laws is simple. They say
| that so many pounds of certain article
that comes to an American port shall pay
certain tax. The importer pays that
tribute. He adds it to the cost OF the
article. 1t goes to the merchant with the
extra burden. 1t comes to us, who buy
it with that burden imposed, and we pay
the tax in the end.
Now the position of the Democratic
party is simple. They say reduce taxa
ton TO an amount that will be sufficient for
the expenses Of government economically
\ administered. Do you want to pay more
than that? But that is not the whole po-
/ sition of the party. They say in reducing
| those taxes, itshall be done in a way to pro-
tect the wages of honest labor. They 90 far
ther than that. They say that the grandeur
| and glory of this country depend to great
extent on its manufactures and industrial
wealth, and that tax reduction shall not
be so made az to injure seriously any OF
these great interests. That is the Demo
cratic position. What fair minded man
! can object to 1t?
With this great surplus in the treasury,
and in accordance with those principles,
what did the Democratic party do? The
Ways and Means Committee of the House
of Representatives set to work to remedy
this great evil. 1t worked fairly, honestly,
and intelhgently. After months of con-
sideratioa, they presented a bill, the Mills
| bill, and on that the Democratic members
of the House voted practically solid; and
| let me cay here they were not the only
ones who voted for it. The Repub-
!. lican cry is that the Mills bill is inimical
| to labor interests, and yet when that test
ballot csme three out of four of the labor
members of the House voted for the bill.
LABOR FAVORs IT
When these men, the ablest, the most iu-
telligeut OF labor representatives, after
hearing every clause and every line of The
bill read and discussed put the stamp OF
this approval on it,, who will dare to say
that the Mills bill is pjurous to labor.
sly friends 1 will tell you my honest
opiniun of that bill. After careful study
| / can find nothing in it of which anyone
/ has right to complain. The present tariff
has been pushed mp by protected monopo-
! lists to an unjust and oppressive hight. 1t
amounts to over $47 on every 800 worth
! of property imported into this country.
| 1t is tax which no municipality, district
| or State would dare to lay directly. What
does the Mills bill do? 1t reduces that
enormous burden of taxation, but Is with
no unjust or truthless hand. 1t does
| not It cannot iojure legitimate inter
ests. The whole whole reduction is from
an average OF $i7. 10 on the 100, to $i2.49
| on the 100. Do you my friends want to
nav any more tax than that? The Mills
bill would relieve you of $4.6l tax On the
! 500 worth OF goods you buy, but the
widest stretch of Republican imagination
cannot copjare mp a legitimate industry
which suCh q moderate reduction will In
jure.
want 10 say here that appreciate the
great industrial development OF our land.
| appreciate West YIrgiDia's growth and
prosperity. l will never, so help me God,
vote in such way as to injure West Vir-
gjuia's industries But do not intend to
be frightened from my plain duty. No
false cry that the misunderstanding interests
of our land are being injured will prevent
me from registering my ballot in favor OF
lessening the unjust and grievous burdens
that lay upon the working classes.
! S ,natOr Faulkner then read from the
census reports of 1856 series of tables
showing the amounts invested, the costs OF
| materials, the costs of labor and the value
of products of the various industries Of the
country and showed that in the aggregate
there was net profit to the manufacture
! ing interests of over 40 per cent. annually.
| Now, this verifes what l say. The
| present tariff is too high. Manufacturing
profits are too large. The Mills bill pro.
poses to equalizs this great and crying evil,
and give Us all chance.
THE STEEL SCHEDULE.
But that is not all that the Mills bill
docs 1t is designed to wipe out the irreg-
ulatiou of the present tariff. You suffer
from one of these irregularities right here
in Wheeling 1t is in the steel sche julie. In
the Wheeling mills what is called soft steel
is manufactured. Pennsylvania mills
make hard steel, or steel rails. The cost of
ore is practically the same. the cost OF labor
the same, yet the present Republican tariff
protects Pennsylvania steel rails at SIT
ton, while West Virginia soft steel is pro-
tected at 81 q ton. When the Wheeling
steel manufacturer goes TO buy his
ore he is met in the market
by the Pennsylvania steel rail man. He can
outbid you for ore and practically controls
the market. Now the Mills bill can't do
everything that would be Just and proper,
bu; it can do something. In this case it
brings Pennsylvania steel rails down to
Sl1 ton and leaves Wheeling soft steel
still at 81 ton. Six dollars ton is
wiped ont of, the protection which your
Pennsylvanis steel rivals have against you.
Wheeling certainly has no reason to COM
plain of the Mills bill in this particular.
POTTERY TARIFF.
We have also heard much about the pot
terry interests Of this town being injured.
Now give my authority: The New York
4 H. IalrA and