Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-12-27
NEW TARIFF BILL.
Democratic Report on the Ad-
u1inistration Measure.

Rowing = the majority report Of the
ways anG means committees:
Tl,c american people, afrer the fullestand most
Che (, igb debate ever given by any people to
their fiscal policy. have deliberately and rightly
decided that the existing tariff is wrong in
RrinetpSe Sud gTievoqsly unjust IN opera
must always decide, that the power of
slsNa;tSn las no lawful constitutional eXer-
Csse except for providing revenue for the sup
port tie gurcrnnent Every departure from
this principle is q departure from the funda-
m2Htt! principles OF free institutions and ineyi-
Fabiy works out gloss inequality in the citizen
ShIPof country. Fer more than thirty years
we have levied the largest part of our federal
EaxcS ina violation of this vital truth until we
Havv reached III the existing tariff an extreme
end NCluMinous system OF class taxation to
which history may be challenged to furnish any
parable SO many private enterprises have
SceR ttNen iutO partnership with the gov
orlt1lcnt Sc many private interests now
share In yhe rich prerogatiye Of taxing
seventy millions of people that any attempt to
dissolve this illegal union IS necessarily en-
T0uGteTed 10y all opposition that rallies behind
Shc tolerance ct monopoly, the power of con-
cepteTateG wealth, the inertia of fixed habits
and the honest errors OF Il generation Of false
Coaching
The bin on which the committee has expend-
ed muca patient and anxious Ia Dor is not offered
as a complete response TO the mandate of the
American people. 1t no more processes to be
Plugged 0: all protection than to be free. of
ali cicoT in It's complex and manifold
details. However, We may deny the eN
ssctce Of any legislative pledge of the
wight OF Congress to make such pledge. For
the continuance of duties that carry with them
snorc or less acknowledged protection we must
recognize that great interests do exist whose eX-
lstence aud prosperity it is no part of our
form either 10 imperil or to curtail. We believe,
and we have the warrant of our own past eXpe
sleucc foT believing, that reduction of
duties viii not injure but give more abundant
life TO al our great manufacturing industries
however much they may dread the change In
dealing with the tariff question. with every
other long standing abuse that has interviewer
itself with our social or industrial system, the
legislator must always remember that in the
Beginning temperate reform is safest having in
sfsclf the principle of growth
4 glance at the tariff legislation our own
country ought to satisfy every intelligent stu
Gent that protection has always shown It's talsity
as system OF economy by its absolute failure to
4nsvtre healthy and stable prosperity TO ma nufac
SurerS, Ii teaches men to depend on artificial
&elp, on laws taxing their countrymcn
upon their own skill effort. 1t throws
business out of its natural channels into arti-
fetal channels, in which there must always be
tiuctUation and uncertainty, and it makes a tar
nit system the foot ball of party politics and the
stability Of large business interests the stake of
every popular election. None have recognized
this truth more fully than the wise men
who from time time have en-
gagged in the so-called protected industries
Years ago Mr.. Edward Everett stated, in
saas oratiaR al Lowell, that the sagacious who
founded the manufactures of New England
were never friends of a high tariff policy Hon.
-Amasa Walker. former member of this House
tiuEl Massachusetts, and one Of our foremost
writers on economic questions, declared it TO be
within his own personal knowledge tn at when
the proposal was made to impose the protective
98FEtt Of 1916 the leading manufa cturerS of
Rhode Island. amongst whom was Mr.. Slater,
the father Of cotton spinning in this
country, met at the counting room of one
OF their number and after deliberate conSulta-
eion came unanimously to the conclusion that
they had rather be let alone, as their business
had grown up naturally and succeeded well,
aud they felt confident Of its continued pros
pecity il left alone by the government. They
hyl ,rifH t1,.9Tr
natural channels and be subjected
Eo fuctuation and uncertainty. But
usual the clamor OF selfish and less
ftr-Sjcbted men and the ambition of law max
1erS 70 usurp the place of Providence prevailed.
The country entered on protective policy with
the uufailing result that the government help
t3egot 6 violent demand for more government
help. The moderate tariff of 1916 rapidly grew
0he country to the verge Of civil dis
cord Cor. &nd Provoked natural 1i,- revolution:
nee m haT When run Congress ke bega G9uFs e
repeal way burdens and to relieve manufacture
crs oE the internal taxes which they had used TO
secure compensating duties like foreign
products, there arose demand throughout the
country, without respect TO party, for reduc-
tioEl OF the war tariff
'dustries baf1ed and thwarted any reduction by
substituting a Senate bill Which carried
horizontal cut of 10 per cent. As soon, however,
as the election of 1874 gave the next House TO
the Democratic party, that bill was repealed by
Ghe outgoing Republicans ana rates restored 10
ssssa1 thew were before 1872. And although the
demand fOT tariff reform and for reduc-
ton Of taxes has ever since been u
burning and growing one in the country
tEs rcQtected industries have eXacted and
eeceiTed from every Republican congresses
astaefcd since 1874, an increase of their protec-
u2un, occasionally permitting the repeal or the
ieSseuIEg OF 2 tax that was PAID into the treasury
IN order 10 keep away from or to increase duties
Eeysed for their benefit Protection, left TO its
era telraI momentum never stops short of prohibit
n
DC d2l@lt higher or to be patched ana strength
'encd- A protective tariff never has and
eFef f. o,rg give anu Even if its
victims aTc too weak and too scattered
20 agitte for its decrease those benefciares are
sure 10 agitate Tor an increase. When the re-
form tariff Of 1916 was before Congress the air
was fllld Of pTophesies that it would destroy our
manufacturing industries, throw labor out
ss.atlg,cl- wages, and dwarf and arrest the
prosperous growth of the country. Every
representative OF four great manufacturing
states OF New England voted against it with
a loorlE 1oTebodings OF its blighting effect The
rate OF duties provided in that tariff was much
$oueT than those of the bill we here offer. What
was JI,e result? Instead Of practically killing
lhg industries and paUperlzing the labor or
New England or the rest of the country,
manufactures with steady employment aud
1RctGas5ag wages to labor; so that after eleven
wears experience under it, the longest period OF
stability have ever enjoyed under any tariff,
The represeQ tatives of those same states with
practical unanimity voted for further reduc-
9ai0u OF % per cent and by two thirds vote suS-
canned the tariff of 1857 which made a reduction
OF - per centum; and well cOntented and
prosperous were the manufacturers of that and
<,tir sections Of the country under the low rate
at GaCf OF 1857 that when the Morrill, bill OF 1861
took the first backward step there was a general
lgoYotest gainst 1t.
The Hon Alexander Rice. of Massachusetts,,
gslia IN the House: "The manufacture asks no
additional protection. He has learned among
c,ttler things that the greatest evil next to a
ruiuous competition from foreign sources is an
czslSeeSsjve protection which stimulates alike
ev15ena~s and irresponsible competition
az iloEEe.'-[Congressiona Globe, 1859 60;
page 1867. Mr.. Sherman, Of Ohio
said: When Mr.. Stanton says the
EralzUSacturers are urging and pressing the bills
he says What he must certainly know is not cor;
Eect, the manufacturers have asked over and
over again to be let alone."-[Ibid 2,053]. Mr..
31orrill himself has since said that the tariff OF
1857 aa1s ret asked for. and but coldly welcomed
lgsy n2lnufa cturers-[ Congressional Globe, 1869
e, page 2295]. Senator r. NJ. I. Hunt
or OF Virginia, the chairman Of the
senate finance committee, said: Have
z1ur OF the manufacturers come here
60 complain or ask for new duties? 1t
IS notorious that if we were to leave it to
NoVE En-