Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-04-13
MAKERS OF THE TARIFF.
A Little Light on the Old Jobbing
Methods of the Rep ublIcans.


Methods of the Rep ub1icans.
Theoretically congress made the
tariffs. But it has been good many
years since congress did anything more
than to ratify what men not in con-
gress wanted the tariff to be. Con-
gress quit making its own tariffs in
1857, and it has jobbed the business
out pretty nearly ever since. 1t did
undertake the work in 1872, when it
passed what was known the little
tariff bill; but it did it so bunglingly
that it actually reduced the taxes. and
the other fellows took it out of the
hands of congress and restored the
rates in 1875. and have been running
the business ever since. To be sure, in
1882 congress felt that something must
be done to appease the people. who
had begun to growl little; and SO,
not being competent to do the job
themselves, they let President Arthur
appoint a commission to fix up the
schedules for them
This commission was almost w holly
composed of men who had been max
ing tariffs for congress, but they
thought the taxes could be cut down %
per cent. without hurting any body,
and so reported But the other fellows
TdlIiSo 10 Tile OcI0hSc Oh tuclr JOD, anu
when the commissions bill came out
of all the ommittees it had to go
through, including the final conference
committee, tie rates were higher than
ever.
Then came the bill that William Nc
Kinley is popularity supposed to have
made. 1t bears his name, and he had
to stand all the kicking it caused, and
he was plucky enough to take it all and
not complain a bit, although he knew
that he was as innocent of its provi-
SioDs as was Ben Harrison. Every body
who knows enough to read now knows
that it wasn't Mckinley or his commit
tee who made his bill, but it was the
| same old job lot of fellows who have
| been making tariffs for the republican
| party for over thirty years who made it
Mr.. Glassnan told the committee just
what the tariff should be on glassware,
| and the committee wrote it out and put
| it in the bill And Mr.. Wool came and
| told them how much he wanted the tax
| tn be on wool: and his relative. Mr..
! Woolens, followed on his heels and said
what he wanted cloth to be taxed. And
| SO the procession went on down
through all the schedules, and if any
body wanted anything taxed all he had
| to do was to tell the committee how
| much it should be and it was done And
| about all that the committee did was
to say that n. o. p, which means all
| other articles not otherwise provided
| for should pay an ad valorem tax of
| forty-fve per cent That is the way in
which these tariff bills have been made
since the blessed year OF our Lord 1851.
It took the people of the country a
long time to find this out 1t was not
| done openly until within recent years
| Men used to think that it would look
bad If people interested in having heavy
taxes laid on foreign goods should be
| known to be deciding how much those
| taxes should be; even the manufacture
| ers felt shame-feced about it. But a
| vice becomes virtue if you look at il
| too long, and of late years the commit
| tees have given notice when they would
| sit, and have asked all who wanted the
taxes fixed to come and tell them what
| they wanted. Then the people came to