Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-12-29
Report of the Republican Minority on
the wilson Bill.

the wilson Bill,
The report of the Republican minority
of the ways and means committee on the
Wilson tariff bill was made public last Fri
day. 1t was prepared by ex-Speaker
Thomas b. Reed and contains this charac-
teristic opening paragraph:
"IIad the Democratic majority of the
committee in making what the chairman
on the floor of the House has called 'po-
litical bill,' followed the plain, uncompro-
missing declaration of the party which they
represent, and abolished protection, giving
us a tariff for revenue only, our task i'm
commenting upon the result of the COM
mittee's efforts would have been much
more simple. SO far, however, have the
committee departed from the demands of
their national convention that we should
have been much tempted to borrow a
phrase from their own platform and desig-
nate the bill as 'cowardly makeshift.'
were it not that the results have been al
ready too serious for mere epithets.'
The report points out that the Wilson
BILL ostensibly revenue measure, will cut
down the government revenues by at least
S74,000,000; that it transfers the burden of
taxation from the shoulders of foreigners
to those of our own people, and that in
making ''raw materials free it deals ia
tai blow to some of the most important in
dustries in the United States. 1t says
"What is one mans free raw material is
another mans finished product The man
ufacturer in Massachusetts, is told that he
is to be encouraged by having free lumber
to build his factory and to pack his goods,
but inasmuch as that very lumber thus
made free is the Maine manufacturer fin
ished product, no wonder the Democrats of
Bangor denounce class legislation with a
new appreciation of what class legislation
really means. And with them sympathize
the lumbermen in Wisconsin and Michigan,
the Pacific slope, Alabama, Georgia and
Florida
The analysis which the report makes of
the free list of the proposed BILL and of
the effect of the unrestricted admission of
foreign woods, iron ore and bituminous
coal is especially able The gross injustice
of the wool schedules, not only to the
farmer, who is entitled to full protection
for his product, but to the manufacturer
and his employees, is plainly brought out
The report says:
"The terms of the bill are equivalent to
an ediCt from the committee commanding
every manufacturer to shut down and keep
shut down until the bill becomes a law,
and turning thousands of operatives into
the Streets The fraud breeding ad valo-
rem duties proposed by the Wilson bill are
condemned with deserved severity All
the experience of American history: all
the sound maXims of American statesman
ship; all the consideration of prudence, of
patriotism, of humanity, demand the de-
feat of the Wilson bill. Not avowedly
free trade measure, except as to raw ma
terials, it strips every industry of protec-
tion, and exposes every workingman's fam
lily to the degradation of beggary.
1--WE have not thought it desirable to
make any appeals to passion or to preiu-
dice the report continues. in 100 rep
resentative cities where the number en-
ployed exceeds 100000 people, fully one
third, by the most conservative estimate,
are without employment. These are en-
gagged in the protected industries. Those
who are not, and who thought they were
beyond the touch of the tariff, now know
the solid fact that all industries are pros
porous, or none. We will not strive in any
way to increase the turmoil which this bill
has already created. An end can be put to
all this by the defeat of this bill, and to the
accomplishment of this every energy should
be bent