Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1888-04-25

tabulated statement prepared by Mr.. Wright,
giving the result Of indttify In number OF
cases, which appeared to fully bear out the
rule.
Mr.. Mills then proceeded, with frequent
citations from economic authors and from
tabulated statements, to elueidate his argu.
ment that the high rate of wages in this coun-
| try was not the result of the protective eys-
| tenn. We had grown rich, prosperous and
| powerful not by the aid of restrictions on for=
quoted tables to show that the tariff was hot
| intended to benefit labor; that the benefits of
the tariff pass into the pockets of the manu-
fafturer and never come to the pockets of the
labofer.
Taking up the case of pair of blankets
where the tariff exceeded the labor cost by
$1.52, MIR. Mills declared that every dollar of
excess was reaped by the manufacturer.
MIR. Grain, of Texas, interrupted to ask
how the ways and means committee had
treated those blankets.
Mr.. Mills replied that 1t had reduced the
| tariff on blankets from 81 n to n cents. Jap
plause. Continuing, he said it was asserted
that congress had intended to benefit the
| laborer by the tariff. It had failed, and not
| 81 of the protection afforded got beyond the
| manufacturer. He however, hired his labor
| at the lowest rate in the open market, The
committee had lost in the bill more than
l ShouS5h W loi All tuC 1uUOi uiiss
bonds besides. The pr sent policy Was max
| ing vast distinction in this country between
| the two classes-one poor and numerous, one
small and powerful and rich. The concentra-
! ton Of the wealth of the country In the hands
of few men would overthrow our free gov
| eminent.
In conclusion he said the bill was very
moderate one, yet it would send comfort and
| happiness into all the homes ami bosoms of
1oh nr NJ ntpry and
he asked the hotse i'd behalf of th. &c people
to consider their claims and help reduce the
burden that had been loaded upon them. Mr..
| Mills spoke about an hour and three quarters
and as he took his seat he wss surrounded by
q crowd OF democratic members who pressed
forward to tender congratulations
Mr.. Kelly, of Pennsylvania, next took the
! floor In opposition to the bill. He said the
enactment would paralyze the enterprise and
energy OF the people, overthrow our manu-
featuring supremacy and reduce our COM
handing commercial position to colonial de-
pendence. 1t was studiously designed to
produce these dire results and nicely adapted
FORTS PURPOSE. ftwas cppfessedly partisan
measure, and was framed in the intceest Of a
party whose leaders appeared to be obliyious
| to the overwhelming social aud economic
changes wrought by the abolition of slavery.
The gentlemen who framed this bill and could
| brook neither modification nor discussion OF
| Its provisions by their associates in the COM
mittee were Representatives Of what was the
| slave territory. The bill was an anachronism
1t had no relation to this era; 1t belonged to
| the saddest epoch in our national history.
During that period slavery dominated our
national councils and guided the administra-
ton Of our national affairs in hostility to ma
tionhl interests, and In the interests of free
trade twice threatened war.
By putting wool on the free list the bill
would abolish sheep husbandry. destroy the
the immense capital embarked therein and
impoverish more than /, 100, 900 men who own
focks or are employed in their care. and by
working this ruin 1t would diminish the sup
ply of cheap and healthful animal food now
furnished by wool grower to the mining and
manufacturing laborers of the country.
| 1t would also render the production of
| American tin plate and cotton ties impossible
| by placing those articles on the free list with
WOOL By the transfer of these and other pro-
ducts of coal and iron ore to the free list, and
by reducing the duties on steel rails, structur-
al iron and many other forms of iron and
steel, 1t would, though it maintained the ex-
isting duties on coal and iron ore, close the
majority of the bituminous coal fields and ore
canks which were. now giving profitable en-
| ployment to hundreds of thousands Of labor
ers, not only in the northern states but in the
south. But while protesting to have aban-
| uOucu tucI W put COaj Ut IRON Orc ou
the free list the trainers had ingeniously con
trived to make the importation by such meas
ures OF indlrectiOn as might enable them to
saddle the treasury department or the judici-
airy with the political consequences Of their
deliberate tergiversations.
To illustrate the puerile absurdity of Pres
ident Cleveland's assumption that the duty
was always added to the cost, not only of i'm
ported commodities but the price of like com
| ynpIifinc all in, rol
| the presidents attention to the fact that
| though the duties on sugar when reduced to
| ad valorem standards were never so high as
now, the price OF sugar was never SO low in
the country as now. The progress of sugar
making in Louisiana since 1867 might be cited
as an illustration Of the vitalizlng influence
| Of protective duties.
| The politics of this country are now dom
mated by the whisky trust as absolutely as
they were by slavery before the war, and king
alcohol Is proving that he is as hostile to
national development as king cotton ever
| was.
In concluding Mr.. Kelley said: 1.-THE per-
| petuation OF internal taxes Is the issue pre-
eented to the American people by the presi-
| dent in his free trade message and by the five
southern gentlemen who have dominated the
councils of the committee on ways and means
For myself will stand for the protective sys-
| TEN and the maintenance of such rates OF
duties as will insure the development of all
| the resources Of the country, increase the
number of its industries ami perpetuate in
national independence the commercial and in
dustrial as well as the political interests.
This cannot be done If the internal tax sys-
tenn is tc be maintained, for the surplus is in
a condition that it cannot be perpetuatcd
with safety to our republican institutions.
The purity Of the government, the safety OF
| business and the morals of the public demand
l 4 49, L.. ~
the internal taxes from which 1t flows"
Mr.. Kelley spoke for two hours, and when
he resumed his seat was loudly applsuded
and received the congratulations of his party
friends The committee rose and then the
house adjourned.
Coming to the subject of the surplus M.
Kelley said he would 60 legislate on the ques-
ton of the surplus and the sources whence it
flows as to increase the wealth, power and
dignity of the country by promoting the de-
velopment of its natural resources and the
Investigations of its Industries and thus
diminish its dependence upon the foreign i'm
portations upon which duties are collected.
He would derive the national revenues from
customsdu SO adjusted as to stimulate and
defend home productions, while preventing
combinations, trusts and monopolies of any
kind. The reduction of taxation should be
effected Immediately by the abolition of the
sources OF income, the receipts from which
may be computed month by month If not abb
solutely day by day.
WASHINGTON, April 1s.-The conference
report upon the bill authorizing the president
to arrange q conference between the United
States and the South and Central American