Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1888-05-26

expenditures, 1nclud- SAMUEL j. RANDALL.
mug Inc sinking 1und for the current year.
lie then quoted from the Presidents mes
sage defining his position on the tariff and in
ternai revenue questions, and said that from
the utlerance OF the President, he understood
the Executive to be adverse to any reduction Of
1he internal taxes, as that mode of taxation
afforded, In the opinion of the President emo
just complaint, and that nothin g is so we'll able
TO bear the burden without hardship to anv
portion of the people,
The President had further said that the
Iarlf law was Vicious and illogical source of
'hequltaple tax and ought to be revised and
Aodlhed; and the President had urged upon
congress the immediate expression of this
matter to the exclusion of all Others The
President had asserted in substance that the
reduction necessary should be made by ad-
dltlons TO the free list and by the lowering of
the rates of duty.
In the absence of such language, emanating
from the Executive. authorized by the direc-
tlon or the constitution to communicate and
from time to time, give to Congress informa-
ton on the state Of the Union, and recommend
such measures as he should judge nee
essary, IL was required of the
representatives Of the people to
give fair, intelligent and prompt attention to
the suggestions made. He had done so. He
had introduced and had referred to the Com,
mittee on Ways and Means bill to re:
duce and equalze duties on imports and
some provisions Of the bill showed
that the remedies he would apply
were at variance with those recommended by
the President. The President sought to pre-
vent the continuation of the surplus revenue
by reSOrtlng to changes in the customs duties
only. The remedy he RandalD proposed
was through the repeal of internal-revenue
taxes as well as by o full revision of the
tariff, as promised to the people by the Dem
ocratic convention Of 1891. The reduction pro-
i,,h tic, 1>,1 lre-,.n
ternal taxes. Those taxes had always beensthe
last to be levied, and the first to be repealed
when no longer necessary. Jefferson
had given the death-blow to excise
taXes-that most vicious of all taxes-and
among other things he received the thanks of
the Legislature OF his native State for having
the internal taxes abolished. The first tax also
to be repealed after the war of 1912 had been the
excise tax, which was recommended by Mad
lson and was the first law enacted under the Ad-
minlstration of Monroe. The Democratic con-
Ventlon OF 1884 declared that internal revenue
was war tax, and this declaration, taken in
connection with the other declarations of the
platform, clearly established the fact that the
opinion or the convention was that some
of the internal revenue taxes should
hrst go, and that they should all go whenever
sufficient sum was realized from custom
house taxes TO meet the expenses of
the Government, economically admins
tered. The country was practically in
Such condition now, and the true
responses to these declarations were
warranted by the repeal of the internal revenue
taxes to the extent proposed by his bill He ia
&Vored noW,as he had always done, a total repeal
of the Internal revenue taxes (applause) In
THE bill which he introduced, he proposed
Ito sweep all these taxes from the statute
8books except tax of so cents on
whisky, and he would transfer the col
lection of that tax to the customs Off
to ba
Ecable. With Albert Galatin he had regarded
#eXcise taxes as offensive to The genius of the
people, tolerated only as a measure OF emer-
Egency ana as soon as the occasion for that had
passed away they should cease to exist.
& Mr.. Randall then began an analysis of the
mills bill, but the gavel fell, the chair an
fnouncing: 1.-The gentleman's time has ex-
Spred There were cries of $50 on!'' but
Mr.. Mills (Tex) objected. Members from
both sides of the House crowded around
the chairman of the Ways and Means,
but he was neXorable. Finally Mr.
Randall asked as personal favor
that he be given a few minutes more. but Mr.
Mills replied: No, must draw the line and
draw it here This was greeted with groans
and Kisses. In the midst OF the confusion Mr..
Mckinley (O) who was to follow Mr. Randall,
said he would give the gentleman from Penn
sylvania fifteen minutes of his time, and Mr.
breckenridge (ky) made similar offer.
MI. Randall then resumed He declared the
Mills bill would bring about incalculable injury
to the industries of America He could lind
nothing in the bill which gave a return for free
wool He found many inequalities in it, and
discovered few features intended to relieve the
poor or the laboring man. He quoted from
Edward Atkinson to show that since the close
OF the war, and even since the so-called panic
of 1873, there had been greater progress in the
common welfare among the people of the
United States than ever before. The state
seemed to settle the question as to
whether we should adhere to the benevo-
lent policyof projecting home manufactures.
"onstrated Enthusiastically the truth that to
wages products must be increased for
wages were but the laborers share
ducts. II the tariff itself did not give
alsller wages to the laborer it did preserve
from foreign competition the industries irons
which the laborer received his wages. Re-
ferring to the fundamental proposition which
mad been advanced il this tariff discussion,
that the duties were always added to the price
to the consumer, Mr.. Randall said that on
articles not produced in this country this
doubtless was true as general rule
and measurably true on articles in part pro-
duced in this country but not IN fcent
quantities to supply the home market. On all
commodities produced in sufficient quantities
TO supply the home market different principle
controlled. In these things competition deter
mined the price and the foreign producers
came into this market where the prices were
fixed, and the duties were what he paid for the
privilege OF coming into the market. Another
erroneous proposition that had been put for
ward was that duties on articles produced in
this country were a tax or bounty which the
consumer paid TO the manufacturer by which
the. manufacturer derived large profits Mo-
nopolies, Mr.. Randall said, existed without
I the tariff. The Standard Oil Trust and other
trusts were not protected by it. He was for
( protection of labor in all States. Referring
( TO the late Secretary Manning's re-
ports on economic questions, he said that they
/ were maryels of honest conscientious and eff
fective labor. He quoted extensively from
j them. He then took up the criticisms that had
( been made on the metal schedules of
his own bill, and quoted figures
sustaining his position. The Mills bill
placed on the free list as so-called raw ma
terials various articles which it would be i'm
possible to manufacture IN this country, ex-
cept by reducing American labor to worse
condition than that of the laborers OF Europe
He asserted that instead Of reducing customs
rev enue s., 600 900, the effect would be to
largely increase the revenue, while it would
destroy an incalculable amount OF material
wealth. He stated that the bill would give free
tin plates to the Standard Oil Company and
would impose q duty OF 100 pei cent. on rice.
= It would make free the animals imported by
the gentlemen Of the turf, and free statuary to
the millionaire. He said he did not think
that the adoption Of the committees
bill would make sure Democratic control
II OF the Federal Government. He would not
be coerced by party caucus. The period OF the
political caucus had departed never to return
and yet the party should confer and have unity
II possible In conclusion, Mr.. Randall spoke
OF industrial development in the Southern
States. IA new era of Industrial enterprise .
he said "has already dawned upon the South.