The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1888-10-18
SENATOR VANCE ON THE TARIFF
BILLS.

members of the finance committee.
next addressed the Senate He
drew an imaginary sketch of the
partnership entered into at the close of
the war between the government OF
the United States and the manufac-
turers ofthe United States-the terms
of the partnership being that the
government was to enact law and
subject foreign products to taxation
for its own benefit, while home pro-
ducts were to be taxed for the benfi-
of home manufacturers He describt
ed this as an unholy and iniquitous
system Of taxation upon the many for
the the benefit of the few. The
House bill ne said, made total re-
duction of $78,OOO,0OO, but how had
the favored classes responded to that
fair proposition Every Republican
member of the House of Representa-
tives had voted against it, and it had
been rejected by an equally unanimous
vote Of the Republican Senators on
the finance committee And how, he
asked did the Senate substitute di-
vide the reduction of duties as be-
tween the government and the people
on one side and the favored classes
on the other? 1t took off the tax on
tobacco 1926, 5,000,000) and the tax on
alcohol used in the arts (s7,000,OOO
and reduced the duty on sugar, near
ly all of which taxes (amounting in
all to $65,0OO,00O) were pure revenue,
In other words, the Senate bill took
nine dollars from the government for
every dollar that it took from the
manufactut
Mr.. Vance proceeded to discuss in
considerable detail the provisions OF
both bills on tie various schedules
arguing that the House bill had in
view the interests of the people and OF
the government, and that the Senate
bill was especially in the interest OF
the manufacturers and favored class
es. As to the claim that the manu-.
| facturers furnish home market for
the farmer he iDstanced as refusa.
| ton Of that claim that nowhere in the
United States was the decay of agri.
culture inore noticeable and lamenta-
BILE than IN the Northwest, where
manufacturers most abound. The
| effect of protection was to convert al
Independent yeomanry into dependent
factory operatives. The annual cot
ton product of the South was sever
million bales, Of which five million
were surplus. What was to be done
with that surplus and with the surplus
of wheat, corn and meat. if it could
not be disposed of in foreign markets
If American producers were confined
to the home market they would have
to do what the American manufactur.
ers did when they found themselvei
in the presence Of an over stocked
market-shut down their works anC
turn the blessed American lahore
into the streets to beg bread for him
self and his children. The Democrat
ic party, he said, had for the last tel
years made honest efforts to reduce th'
taxes to the requirements of the gov
ernment, and had been at every stel
thwarted by the Republican party
The finance committee acknowledged
the imperious necessity of reduction
but blamed, first, the President of tn
United States for the existence 0
the surplus, and said that be coulC
have expended it in paying "a pre-
MUM Of so per cent. to their friend,
the bond holders. 1t is very true tina
he could, said Mr.. Vance, or coul,
have squandered it as countless mil
lions have been squandered unde
the administrations Of his predecessor
but he did not choose to do it. The,
say, in the second place, that the re
sponsibility rests on the party tina
controls the House of Representative
and that this is the first bill which tn
House has sent to the Senate for re
ducing the revenue in several year.
Nobody will be deceived by that, 70
it is as wellknown to the people as
is to the Senators who make the as
sertion that almost the entire body {
the Republican members in the Hous
have resisted at every step every bi
that the Democrats have tried to pas
within that period and were abb
with the help of handful of Den
ocra!s) to defeat every such bill, an
they know that those Democrats VIII
aided the Republicans to defeat tari
reduction were lauded to the skif
and made patriots ant, moral heroe
|. Tney know that for ten years past Il
Republican in the House of Represel
tatives Certainly no considerabl
number of Republicans had SO muc
as proposed a bill to reduce take
The House bill is framed, not only
relieve the Treasury but to relieve ii
people, while the Senate bill is fran
, ed SO as to relieve the treasury and
increase the burdens of the peopl
and after all that can be said that