St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-14
BUrTERwoRrH WILL BOLT.
He Points Out Weak Spots in Nc
kinIey's Bill.

WASHINGTON, May 13.-The house
met, and, after the transaction of some
routine business, went into committee
of the whole on the tariff bill. Mr.. Nc
Millin, of Tennessee, move to reduce
the duty on ammonia. He said ne could
see no reason why this article of neces-
sity to the farmers should be so heavily
taxed. Mr.. Mckinley, in opposition,
stated that since the tariff had encOur-
aged competition in this country, the
pIice of ammonia had been reduced
from 20 to ~ cents per pound. MIR.
Butterworth said that the price
of an article was not reduced on
account of competition alone. 1t
was reduced on account of improved
methods OF manufacture. He never
doubted that the protective system was
wise and had scattered blessings on the
land from shore to shore. If there was
any danger to the protective system it
was in its oscillation between the eX-
treme of free trade Oh the one hand,
and, on the other, the extreme which
created inequalities among Americans
themselves. The country, in the cleo
tion of Harrison and the Republican
congress, had declared unequivocally in
favor of sustaining and upholding the
had not been between schedule rates.
but between economic policies. The
Democratic policy was well known. 1t
was that the tariff should be
Levied for Revenue Only.
The Republican policy was that the
tariff, whether high or low, should be
so adjusted as to establish and protect
American interests and industries in
competition with the rest of the world.
Did that policy mean to remove the in
equaltes which existed between in
dustries on this side Of the water and
Industries on the other, or did it mean
to shut out all Importation? He insisted
that we should not create any Unequal
tiles here. The protective system dealt
with conditions and not with national
boundary lines. except when the pres
ence of those national boundary lines
indicated the presence OF those con-
ditiOns against the influence of which
1t was necessary to interpose the barrier
of protective tariff. If the tariff did
not deal with conditions, then a tariff
was good in the abstract, and if it was,
the fathers of the republic had paid
themselves a poor compliment when
they provided that as between the
states there should be no restric-
ton of commerce. Competition never
created new industries. They were
created Oy the work of the brain-by in
Ventors. The committee had tried to
do the best it could in framing the bill.
but it was not always safe to rely alto
gether on the testimony of the bene-
ticiaries under a law. Applause on
Democratic side. He had indicated his
belief respecting the proper function
of tariff act, and would sooner resign
his seat than depart one hairs breadth
from that belief. OF course he respect
ed the wisdom of the committee, but
why was Paul favored and Peter turned
down? Why increase the profits of Ger
tain classes? He could name capitalists
whose profits had exceeded those of all
the agriculturists in any state of the
Union. Applause On Democratic side |
He was not. he said, disturbed by the
applause on the other side. He was ex-
ceedingly grateful that they began to
realize IN any sense that our country
men deserved protection. If, when we
had protected equally and lifted up all
our industries, and the time should
then come when we could not hold our
Own-being the most intelligent the
greatest and the abIest people on the
earth-then we had better retire from
the field. Democratic applause.] Mr..
Butterwortb then proceeded to eXpOund
his views touching
Reciprocity With Canada.
He said that we were endeavoring to