The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-02-03
DEMOCRATIC POLICY
Congressman Mills and Bynum
Give Their Views
TARIFF REFORM AND FREE SILVER
The Power of the House as Legislative Body
to be Restored Rightful Rules
of Procedure.

of Procedure.
| Especial to THE HERALD-Examiner Dispatch. I
New York, Feb. Congressman Roger
Q. Mills, of Texas and W. d. Byuum, of In
diana. have written to the Sunday World
their views as to what should be the best
course to be pursued by the Democrats
Here is an extract from Mr.. Mills article
In my Judgment the best thing that the
Democratic Representatives can do in the
next House, and at all other times, is to
speak and act in accord with the principles
OF tue great founGer of that party The
Democratic party has always been the
strongest a1d retained the strongest hold
on the confidence of the country when it
was strictly Democratic. IL has always
been weakest wnen by tilne-serving poll
ticlans il has been led off after political
heresIes. The country has sustained the
Democratic party " hen 1t was Democratic,
because 1T enjoyed tue highest prosperity
under the laws enacted and administered
IN accordance with its principles; auC it has
! been ready at all times, and is now ready,
to give its support to all measures which
are IN harmony with those principles.
GREED OF THE DEMOCRAT
"The creed of the Democrat is lf-gov-
eminent of the person, self government of
the subordinate locality-county city or
toWn-self government of the state, ana
self government OF the United States. In
all matters of doubt the constitution and
laws of the nation and the states should be
construed in favor of the liberty of ciJi-
zens and against the surrender OF power to
the government. Every Democrat, if he is
one from conviction, believes the country
will attain its highest prosperity and the
eOple their highest possible liberty of
thought and action. through the smallest
! possible interference by the government
which is consistent with the preservation
OF order IN the state. Guided by these
| principles, Democrats will always oppose
all federal legislation which proposes to use
| tue power rightfuIly belonging to the state
and local Jurisdictions, and all state or local
interference with the Individual rights of
the citizens.
REPUBLICAN VIEWS.
"The Federal party in its day held, and
the Republican party now holds precisely
the opposite OF these views. The Republi-
can does not delieve The people capable of
self government He would probably not
say so in so many words but his party
measures are In accord with that faith. He
believes that the capacity to govern belongs
to a class, and while the masses have the
ballot they may be governed in the interest
Of classes by discipline. A Republican be-
lieves in special privileges: Democrat in
equal rights.
Next year we will again have the House
OF Represer tatlves, while the Republicans
will have the Senate and President With
out all three, no Republican measure can
be repealed, and ali we can do is TO declare
to the country what measures we would
pass II we had the Senate and presidency
as well as the House of Representatives..
We should do all we can to redeem the
pledges which we made to the people from
one end of the country to the other We
can then, in 1892, show them we have kept
the faith aud asa them to give US the
Senate and the executive, and then. fully
invested with legislative power. we eau
liberate the country from the letters of
class domination and restore prosperity to
distracted land.
THE POWER OF LEGISLATION IN THE HOUSE.
1.-THE first thing to be done is to restore
TO the House the power of legislation
instead OF the power of proclamation The
House is the great representative body of
the people. In order that it may legisate
wisely and guard with care the interests of
the people, it must have the power to
0S+ANNAS.NSf 0ScehbN1
proposition submitted for its CON
sideration. The constitutional mode of
passing bills by quorum of the
members, present and voting, must be
restored. The rights of members to
to make motions to invoke the will of the
House, must again find place in parliament
airy procedure. Minorites and Individual
members must receive respectful and court
cons consideration.
RIGHTFUL RULES OF PROCEDURE,
"Having restored to the House its right
full rules of procedure, the first and most
impor tant of all measures which can come
before it, and which will he presented 10
and passed by it, will be a bill TO reduce
the taxes on imports. The necessity for
reductions of duties on imports has been
growing for twenty years. II is now more
urgent than at any former time. We are
TO-DAY threatened with deficit and 1t will
be realized fact at the end of the next
fiscal year. The tariff act of October |
1880, increased duties 10 check imports and
reduce revenues so that under existing
laws the receipts into the treasury are to
decrease anu expenditures to increase The
large surplus lett by the Democratic admin
lstratiOn is gone. The large revenues from
sugar Will go IN the spring and some means
must be devised TO raise revenues to meet
expenditures If the tariff is not reduced
so as TO admit larger imporJations and thus
OBTAIN more revenues from Imoorts, tue in
come tax must be resorted to to
supply the deficiency II is not
only as a revenue necessity that the tariff
must be reduced, out the industrial condi-
ton OF the country demands an outlet for
our exports, which can only be done by pro-
vldlng an Inlet for Imports
RECIPROCITY.
Another measure should receive the at
tention OF tue Democratic House, and that
is reciprocity, full aud complete with Can
ada and Mexico. Free trade with Canada
and Mexico is almost as important TO us
and to tnem as free trade between our own
states. or course the House could 90
nothing more than express the wish OF the
representatives of the people. But the
measure should be presented and pressed
until our own government and those of
Mexico and Canada should make it an ac-
compished fact.
FREE COINAGE.
eff the present Congress fails. or if it
passes bill for the free coinage of silver.
and it is vetoed by the President, the Dem
ocratic House will pass il again and give
the Senate or the executive another oppor-
tunity to exercise the veto. This issue.
like that of tariff, will not down. The
campaign of education has gone far enough
to convince the people that their interests
demand both tariff reduction and the free
coinage OF silver They are both OPP
posed by ytwo classes: one wishing
TO monopolize manufactures; the
other, money; one wishing to make