The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1893-12-28
IT Is WRITTEN BY REEL
THE MINORITY REPORT ON THE
TARIFF BILL PRESENTED.
The Ex-Speakcr DevOtcs His Atten-
tiOn to the Tariff and Tells Why
1t Is His Opinion That the Wilson
Bill Is Not u Good One.

the minority members of the ways anu
means committee on the tariff bill has
been submitted to the house, The frs,
part of the report, discussing the bill
| generally, was prepared by eX-Speaker
Reed. The other members of the minor
ity, Messrs. Burrows, Payne, Dalzeli,
| Hopkins and Gear, prepared the portion
of the report dealing with special feat
ures. The report says in part:
The most surprising feature about this
bill, which We will treat of in detail
somewhat later, is the fact that this
| proposition to raise revenue will lower
the revenue of this country $74 4,0C0,0OO
| below the revenue of 1893, which was
only s., 100000 above our expenses. This
| fact and the other fact that by this bill
the larger part of the burden of taxation
is transferred from foreigners and
brtr ght to our own citizens should al
ways be kept in mind during the discus
| sion.
Had the committee, in making what
| the chairman on the floor of the house
has called "a political bill" followed the
| plain, uncompromiSing decarati tion of the
| party which they represent and abol-
| iShed protection, giving Us a tariff for
revenue only, our task in commenting
| upon the result of the committees eff
forts would have been much more simple.
| The bill would then have been a straight
| forward, manly attempt to carry out
| plcdges, and have placed in issue two
| great principles and have led to Il clear
| and compr ehensible discussion.
| SO far, however, have the committee
departed from the demands of their ma
tional convention that we should have
| been much tempted to borrow a phrase
from their own plltform md designAta
tn" bill as a ''towArdly makeshift.
| it not that the results have been already
| too serious for mere epithets.
| Such Il phrase, even thus sanctioned,
would be out of place in Il discussion
which involves so much of Importance 20
| all classes of citizens. It still, however,
remains a fact that the bill presented
can in no way be justified by people who
! claim to have obtained possession of all
branches of the government upon a dis
| tinct promise, which they now as dis
| tinctly rtpudiata.
| If it should be said that these pledges,
| solemnly made on Il yea and nay vote,
| after full discussion, were not intended
for action, then the breaking of the
| pledges has the additional Disadvantages
| of premeditation. If subsequent events,
| and they have been numerous enough and
| weghty enough to Startle th& country,
| have convinced the committee that the
| Democratic platform is as utterly wrong
| and indefensible as history will know it
| to be, then it is a great misfortune to
| this country that the committee lid not
| have the cOIrag2 to openly abandon the
| false doctrine ard leave tt>
| disturbed. so that it might convalcScG
from the shock Of its great mstAK'
But the committe-, instead of proceed
| ing in its great work of abolishing pro-
lection and preserving the people from
| the load of taxation which they have al
| ways averred was the result of protec-
ton, has presented a bin which is only
another tariff tinkering bill, the like of
which has disturbed the conditions of
| business so many times the last thirty
| years.
1t a great misfortune that such is the
case, for had the bill for revenue only,
| in the only sense possible for that term,
beer presented, the people of this country
might have seen at one glance whether
| they desired the one policy or the other,
| and the question might have been settled
once for all and the country might have
attained to that repose, stability and GER
|
| much needs.
This other and fresher plan has all the
| faults which the trainers of this bill
| charged upon the old, and very few of
it's virtues. It is open to all the derisive
and harsh epithets with which the pres
| ent system used to be overwhelmed. 1t
| taxes thu people with a tariff tax; it
| creates, or rather proposes to maintlin,
what they used to clll privileged classes.
| and is defined by its authors By arEu-
| rents and expressions strangely like
| those which thCy used so freely to de-
n UnCe. \ manufacturer is told that the
| duty will protect him, and his claims are
| listened to on that basis and are argued
for him on that basis just as in the
| brave days of old
These so-called free raw materials, free
| wool, free coal and free iron, are not put
on the free list with any reference, direct
or indirect. to raising revenue. They are
| placed there to encourage manufacturers,
who are to be compensated for any loss
in this market by the markets Of the
world. where they will have the chance
| to struggle with the cheaper labor of the
cid world with whatever energy they
may have left after the struggle at home
| with that same cheaper labor, let into
our markets by lower tariff which does
not give us the compensation even of q
| larger revenue.
All the objections so often urged by the
dominant party against the existing sys-
TEN, we repeat, lie against this bill. The
difference is onlytone of degree. If the
present system be robbery as these
men have iterated and reiterated, the
proposed systemsis precisely the same.
1t is true that the consumer will no
longer pay tribute to the Western farmer
for the wool of the sheep, but the New
England and other manufacturers are
still authorized to lay tribute upon the
citizens of the United States, who must
pay, so these men have always said, 30,
40 and 45 per cent to the manufacturer
on every yard of w0olens and worsteds,
while the country will only receive, by
vay of revenue, a lessened sum, unless
increased importatiOns siGnallze the death
of American production.
Minneapolis school Board Loan.
| Minneapolis, Dec. 22.-At a special
meeting of the board of education Tues
day afternoon the report of the commits
tee on finance advising the borrowing OF
| $4,000 was adopted, and the amount
| was secured from II. J. Neiler at 3-3
per cent, with $50 commission.
Policeman on Trial.
| Crookston, Mimi, Dec. 22.-The trial
| of Policeman Tweeten for shooting An
| drew Thompson commenced here to-day.
| Eleven jurors were secured up to adj
| journment. States Attorney Edgerton
| =. -,