Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-03
passed the hlll increasing the pension ior

Inc presiding oificer announced tnat
he had appointed as the select committee
10 which had been referred the Presi-
dents message on Pacific railroads
Messrs Frye, Dawes, Hiscock, Davis,
Morgan, Butler, and Hearst.
Mr.. Kenna then proceeded TO address
the Senate on the subject Of the presi-
dents message on the surplus revenue
aud tariff matters and Of MIR. Sherman's
speech in reply thereto. He said that he
( had read the Presidents message more
than once and with more than ordinary
care and had given more than casual ex-
animation 10 Mr.. Sheiman's speech.
| That Senator was conspicuous IN tho
councils OF his party and had much TO
! do with the shaping OF its policy, so
that his assault on the Presidents posi-
| ton in favor Of revenue reform and re-
| duction Of taxation was to be re-
parded as significant, Time and
thought had been devoted to the
preparation Of that speech and the
/ assault had been deliberate. It might
| therefore he fairly assumed that the
Senator's "reply" was exhaustive of his
Own and his psrty's resources on that inn
portant subject. In the light OF that
/ fact the speech might Justly he regarded
rs a challenge 1t presented a square
issue rs TO whether the Senator's party
/ should stand in that assault or foil IN de-
/ fence. The speech, taken in connection
with the Senator's former utterances on
the same and similar subjects, presented
/ he SAID, r. contrast as astounding as 1t
was unexpected; a conflict as irrocon-
/ cilable as il was positive and absolute on
enigma which lie would proceed briefly
TO analyzc.
After quoting some extracts from Mr.,
/ Sherman's speech and also extracts from
the works OF jefferson bearing on the
question Of public improvement from
messages OF Presidents Jackson and
Arthur. from reports Of Secretary Fol
ger, Secretary McCulloch, and Secretary
Manning, he summed up by saying that
four successive Secretaries Of the Urea
sury-two Republican and two Demo
/ cfatic-and two successive Presidents
/ one Republican and the other Demo
/ cratic-had united in their condemnation
| of idle surplus revenue and in their
/ demand for a reduction in the public
/ burdens. And so it had been, he said,
1 throughout the history OF the Govern
ment. There never had been time
when the unnecessary withdrawal from
| circulation OF the currency Of the coun-
try and its boarding in the Treasury was
| justified or calmly contemplated. The
/ Senator from ONO was the only person
who seemed to regard such condition
1 rs "good fortune" Such condition
/ had always created apprehension and
/ had sometimes contributed to panic
and financial disaster, and yet when the
President, inspired by the teaching OF
/ his country's history, dared to raise his
voice TO arrest impending calamity, the
/ Senator from Ohio would laugh to scorn
faithful Administration and would hold
/ mp its author to the rIdicule OF the
7 public. The Senator had forgotten
his own anxiety when surrounded III
/ both houses of Congress by Il
majority Of his own party friends He
exclaimed in 1882 in the Senate that
| there was no sentiment in the country
/ stronger than that Congress had neg
/ lected its duty in not repeating taxes
/ that were obnoxious and unnecessary,
and he was determined that that Sin
/ should not lie at his door. The Senator
from Ohio had assailed the President be-
canse of the statement in ms mes
sage that there appeared to he
no lust complaint of taxes on
| spirits tobacco, and beer, and had ar
/ gued that the traditions and policy OF
/ our people are against internal taxes. "
/ When, he asked, HAD the honorable
/ Senator undergone a change OF heart on
/ that important subject? for he had de-
clared IN 1867 that spirits. wine, ana to-
/ bacco were undoubtedly the first OBJ
| iccts that should be taxed" He should
/ not follow the Senator in all that he had
said as 10 the surplus IN the Treasury !;
/ but two instances would suffice.
/ The Senator had denounced Con-
Qress for its failure 20 provide
subsidies for postal communication
with the South American States
and had denounced the President for his
failure to approve the river and harbor
/ bill. But the question of subsidies was
familiar to the whole people. The an
taeonism of the President and OF his
party to the substituting of special III
/ terests or classes needed no defence at
his hands. That invention OF the Re
publican party had never found favor
/ with the Democracy. As to the river
and harbor bills. the President
/ had already approved one appro-
priating more than ten millions the
preceding wear, and the President
/ had been called on TO sign that OF last
session Cappropriating $l4. 600, OO0) with
ont an opportunity to read il or know a
line of its provisions. He had been en-
gagged in the very act Of reading it in the
/ Capitol when the hammer fell and Con
Dress adjourned. Faithulness to the
public trust and judiciOus regard for the
I public interest had stood alike as barriers
/ t. an act whose omission the Senator
/ from ONO condemned.
He (Mr Kenna) had no further pnr-
pose in the discussion than TO indicate
/ his corporation with the President in the
Interests Of the people. The bill to re-
form the revenue system and TO reduce
taxation would come into the House OF
REPRESENTATIVE and he did not doubt
that it would be framed in a spirit Of
conservative fairness to all sections of
the country and to all interests The cry
OF the demagogue that the President
and his policy were aiming at
lesscning Of the inst reward
Of labor vas as indecent as 1t was false.
The system OF taxation in this country
Tor the last twenty years had been n
standing menace aud a source of constmt
Injury to the laborer himself. Who
would deny that the system which had
prevailed under the Republican admins
irations in this country, and for years
past, had made more strikes, driven more
men from employment, filed the conn
try with more tramps, aggravated
more distress. created more discon-
tent, and produced more starvation
ana death than any other system
the country ever saw? Was 1t not time
for change And yet when the Prcsi-
dent confronting bravely the solemn