The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-22
Its Blighting Effect on Labor, Manufac-
lures and Revenues Made Plain
by Ex-Speaker Reed.
MANY lNCONGRUITIES FOUND
That Make Democratic Reform
PretensiOns Appear LudicrOus.
All the Money Invested i'm Sheep Grow
ing Wasted If the Measure Is Passed
Iron and Other Schedules.

the minority members of the ways and
means committee on the tariff bill was SUBJ
mitted to the House to-day. The first part
of the report, discussing the bill generally,
was prepared by ex-Speaker Reed. The
other members of the minority Messrs
Burrows, Payne, Dalzell, Hopkins and Gear
prepared the portion of the report dealing
with special features. The report says:
The most surprising thing 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
$685. which was only 81, 0OO 600 above our ex-
penSes. This fact, and the other fact that
by this bill the larger part Of the burden
of taxation is transferred from foreigners
and brought to our own Cit ems, 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 called
political BILL" followed the plain, uncom-
promising declaration of the party which
they represent, and abolished protection,
giving us a tariff for revenue only, our task
in commenting on the result of the commit
tees efforts would have been much more
simple. The bill would then have been a
straight forward, manly attempt to carry
out pledges, would have placed in issue two
great principles and have led to clear and
comprehensive discussion. So far, how
ever, 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 designate the bill as a 'Cowardly make
shift" were Ii not that the results have
been already too serious for mere epithetS.
Such a phrase. even thus sanctioned, would
be out of place in a discussion which in
wolves so much Of Importance TO all classes
of citizens. 1t still. however, remains a fact
that the bill presented can in no way be
justified by people who claim to have OBJ
tanned possession of all branches of the
government upon distinct promise which
they now as distinctly repudiate
If it should be said that these pledges,
solemnly made on yea and nay vote, after
full discussion, were not intended for ac-
ton, then the breaking of the pledges has
the additional disadvantages of premedi-
tation. II subsequent events, and they have
to startle the country. have convinced the
committee that the Democratic platform
is as utterly wrong and indefensible as his
tory will know 1t to be. then IL is a great
misfortune to this country that the COM
mittee did not have the courage to openly
abandon the false doctrine and leave the
country undisturbed, that IL might con-
valesce from the shock Of its great mis-
take.
A GREAT MISFORTUNE.
But the committee, instead of proceeding
in its great work of abolishing protection
and preserving the people from the load of
taxation which they have always averred
was the result of protection, has presented
u bill which is only another tariff tinkering
BILL the like of which has disturbed the con-
ditions of business so many times the last
thirty years 1t is a great misfortune that
such is the case, for had the bill been for
revenue only, in the only sense possible
for that term, 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
for all. and the country might have
attained to that repose, stability and GER
tainty which our business prosperity so
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. 1t is open to all the derisive and
harsh epithets with which the present sys-
tenn used to be overwhelmed. 1t taxes the
people with tariff taxes; it creates, or
rather proposes to maintain, what they
used to call privileged classes and is de-
tended by its authors by arguments and
expressions strangely like those which they
used so freely to denounce. manufact-
urer Is told that the duty will protect him,
and his claims are listened to on that basis,
and are argued with him on that basis,
just as in the brave days of old.
The Democratic district attorney of the
northern district of New York comes down,
as he had right to. and declares that.
from a protection standpoint, barley and
malt cannot go together under the same
ad valoi EN-, and promptly the committee
raise the tariff taxes from % to 80 per cent.
to protect the manufacturer, though it must
lessen the revenue. So also some one has
presented persuasively the cause of boards,
planed, tongued and groOVed, to the commit
tee, and although the lumber passes IN the
same plant, from the saws to the planners,
the work of the men who manage the saws
Is unprotected, while the work of the men
VINO run the planer IS shielded by protective
tariff taxes. These are but instances of
corrections maze where the ear of the COM
mlttee could be had, and are KEYS to the
notions on which the bill was formed
The new plan also involves q new method
OF encouraging manufacturers by giving
them what are called free raw materials
so that what goes into the mill paws no
taxes, ana what goes into consumption pays
all the taxes. The manufacturers have no
taxes on what they buy, and the people
the equivalent of taxes on all they plr-
cnase 1t unfortunately happens also that
Tree raw material is an elastic term
ana what is one mans free raw material
Is another mans finished product
These so-called free raw materials-free
Wool, Tree coal and free iron-are not nut
on the free list with any reference direct
or indirect TO raising revenue. They are
paced 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 with the cheaper labor of the old world,
with Whatever energy they may have left
after the struggle at home with the same
cheap labor led into our markets by a low
pensatlon even OF larger revenue.
PLAIN CASE OF ROBBERY.
All the objections so often urged by the
dominant party against the existing svs
tenn, we repeat, lie against this bill. The
difference is only one of a degree. If the
present system be robbery" as these men
have iterated and reiterated the proposed
system is practically the same 1t is true
that the. consumer will no longer paw trih
ute 10 the western farmer for the wool of
the sheep, but the New England and other
manufacturers are still authorized to Law
tribute upon the citizens of the TTnite1
states, who must pay, so these men have
always said, 80. 40 and 40 per cent TO the
manufacturer on every yard of woolens
and WorSteds, while the country will only
receive, by way of revenue, a lesSeneI
sum, unless increased importatons sgnalize
the death of American production
IL Is true that the coal miners of West
Virginia and the ore producers of Michi-
gan will be stripped of their so-called rob
lose their transportation CT millions of tons
of freight, but the manufacturers are there
by stimulated and aided so that they can
as the committee aSSeverate, still continue
their profitable business here and reach
across the ocean for the business of other
countries land the foreign trade without
limit"
II. as it is asseverated. the 100000 Of
American people have been for thirty years
thousands of favored individuals why
should the taxation be continued even in
diminished ratio for another series of years
and these Jew hundred thousand favored
creatures be given new lease OF life
The doctrine OF the Democratic platform
that protection is robbery and should be
abolished Is comprehensive and sturdy.
The new movement on behalf OF mitigated
and sporadic robbery is contrary alike TO
good morals and public faith. All
false pretenseS are unwise. contrary to
So md