The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-10-26

| human legislation can make II why do
say the Republican party will do thati
Simply because, as you will agree with me,
it has never yet addressed itself to any sin
gle subject that it has not stuck TO it until
| it has been settled once for all, and nc
question in this country is ever settled
once for all until it is settled right.
| Now, | come to another subject, and a
somewhat fruitful one: the subject of the
tariff ICheers. / stated on this platform
two years ago the kind of protection / be-
lieved in. How firmly l believed two
things: First, that wise system of pro-
! lection was necessary for the public safety,
was necessary for public growth, was nee
essary for public prosperity; and how a
system of that kind might be adopted as
that the importers Of foreign goods should
| in large measure pay the expenses OF
running this government. The govern
| ment of this state can lay its hand upon
/ you by way of imposing taxes so heavily
| that you shall have nothing left, and the
/ federal government can do the same thing.
| IL is the only power which cannot afford
! TO be limited by constitutional enactment,
| because its exercise may sometimes be
necessary, as in the case of the rebellion
where it was exercised TO the uttermost
| limit to prevent the overthrow of the gov
ernment itself. Therefore, the power TO
tax must be given, unlimited by the con-
/ stitution as it is practically now in the
constitutions of most of the states. Now,
| here is this great power as | have stated,
which has aptly described as tine
/ power to destroy. What a great
thing it would be to have
this thing which can be made to destroy
so used that it shall build up, and so used
that it will not impose burden upon the
poor, and which shall be so light that it
will not be practically felt. am not here
to deny that the tariff is tax. haven't {
got along to that point which is described
by the 4th of July orator when he said
that the true idea of a Republican govern
ment was a government that not only
levied no taxes, but paid every man a
small sum annually for staying around,
| presume that will comein the Millennium.
The only thing is we shall never know
about that because we shall never try it,
No. my friends, no judicious person ex
poets to live under a government that he
has not helped to pay something TO main
tain. All he has right to ask is that
when it comes to levying tax for money,
as little shall be raised as is necessary for
the proper accomplishment of public
purposes; and that in the distribution we
shall so discriminate that it shall be made
to bear as heavily as possible on those who
have most and as light as possible
on those who have least. Now we
have two systems before us. / say
two-up to the latest date-but do not
know what there may be tomorrow in the
Kaleidoscope arrangement ofthings which
we have to consider; and in all things be
fore the American people from which we
have to choose we have simply the queS-
tion as to whether we shall have a tariff
for revenue only or whether we shall have
a tariff which shall combine the principles
of revenue and protection. | have here
something which 1 brought along just for
CONFERENCE.-The platform of the Demo-
cracy of the state of Illinois. 1t is a fair
sample except that the verbiage is better
than il Is in most of them:
I'VE are unalterably opposed to the tar
iff because it taxes the earnings of the
masses for the benefit of the fovored few.
As long as there is a tariff at all it should
be levied for revenue only etc, etc.
That idea is amplifed, but it is the
Democratic platform of 1876 on which
Mr.. Tilden ran for the presidency. Mr..
Mills, of Texas, says he is for free trade,
and he is the oracle of his
party OF course he don't mean by that
there shall be no custom houses, but he
means that when we come to impose duty
there shall be no such discrimination.
That we shall in no way shelter American
industry. Now let us see what that re-
suits in. A tariff for revenue must be for
articles not manufactured in this country,
because if you levy n tariff on the goods
we produce, to that extent whether great
or small, you levy tariff on production,
behind the shelter of which the American
manufacturer may labor. Then suppose
we take the great articles of consumption
of the American people which are not pro-
duced in this country; or, II produced at
all in small quantities. Take, for instance
sugar and coffee and tea and spices, all ar
ticeS that are found upon every American
table; all articles that are consumed by the
mass of the American people, in proper
finn n their aDnptitpS and not in O-opor-
tion their pockets The appetite of man
that works for a dollar and half a day is
Just as strong as that of Vanderbilt or
Gould If we work after the Democratic
plan, these duties would be levied upon
these articles. They would produce the
revenue necessary to carry on the govern
ment, and could be so levied as TO prac-
tically produce no more, because we know
how much sugar and coffee and tea Is used
per head: and, therefore, when it comes to
putting tax on sugar and tea and coffee
we can calculate to a very close fraction
and they could be raised from one, two.
three, four, five or ten cents per pound
Now, who would pay these taXesy The
American people would pay them so much
per capita. The labOrer at 81 per dav
would have to pay as much as the man of
millions: and thus the whole burden of
the government would rest, share and
share alike, upon the shoulders of the
American people.
Now, | will ask you in the first place.
how much cheaperit would be to pay these
taxes in the shape of a duty levied upon
these articles than it would be to levy it
upon cotton and woolen goods which you
wear upon your backsy What odds, if
you pay it?
This odds that the tariff can be so levied
and is so levied, that the smaller portion
of the burden falls upon the poor and the
greater portion falls upon the rich Not
so much probably as there might be but
the distribution Is not a per capital
distribution; and under the tariff laws
which we have had since 1861 the burden
has fallen more heavily upon this class of
people than upon those of smaller means.
This tariff for protection can be so levied
as TO make an importer of foreign goods
pay a large per cent of the expenses Of the
United States, and thereby save that
much to the American citizens. How
Every manufactures in the world has his
home market-his obvious market his
nearby market; his practically non-com-
petitive market. He makes we will saw
as he is Liable to do at any time, more than
that market will take Take the
manufacturer of horse shoes, of
woolen goods or cutlery in Great
Britain, Belgium or Germany: he manu-
faCtures first for the men and the market
Immediately around him Next for the
man who lives nearest TO him in adioin-
ing countries, and if when he has got
done with supplying those markets he had
still a surplus over he sends it to any
other market and sells it for any price he
can get.
You see examples Of this every day on
your own streets.
The regular retail merchant in Wichita
has bought more goods than he can sell:
he has miscalculated the means Of the
people TO buy, and he has a surplus What
does he do, He sells all the goods he can
az The regnlar retail price-all bis trada