The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-25


what was reciprocityl II meant free
trade, If it meant anything. 1t meant
reciprocity advantages IN trade. If the
republicans wanted reciprocity why
would they not Join with the democrats
| ana try to get reciprocity with Great
Britain}
AMERICAN LABOR THE CHEAPEST.
MIR. Mills went on to assert that Ameri-
can labor was the cheapest in the world
the poorest paid, in proportion TO what it
produced and that given thing in man
ufacture was propuced cheaper in the
United States than anywhere else on
earth. He quoted from a speech of MIR.
Blaine to the effect that the tariff was
question of labor, from skin
to core and from core back
TO skin again" and he ask ed why In the
! name of the poor, distressed people Of the
country, only small part of the duty on
the manufactured articles went to the
laborers Why, for instance, was less
than So ton paid to the laborer for pro-
duclng ton OF steel rails, while the tariff
was Sl3.44} AS to the reduction
of prices in all articles, which the
protectionists ascribed to the tariff.
Mr.. Mills asked why it was If
the tariff reduced prices in the United
States free trader reduced them in Great
Britain, and he asserted that prices had
been brought down everywhere by i'm
proved methods of production, by ma
chlnery, by inventions. Adam Smith
had stuck pins In the protectionists the
ory IN Great Britain. and the common
school in this country was sticking pins
In IL now, and would continue TO stick
pms in 1t until it was as dead in this
country as it was in Great Britain.
PROJECTIONS FALSE THEORY.
AT first the theory of protection was
the encouragement of infant manufac-
lures; but when those manufactures had
grown up and ceased TO be infants, then
the ground was shifted, and the
tariff was said to be for the protection of
American workmen against the pauper
labor of Europe. He asserted, however.
that the American workman could only
be protected by finding constant employ
ment; and he could only find constant em-
ployment when his products were sold at
their lowest possible cost. Aud their
cost could only be low when taxes were
removed from all the materials of manu-
facture, so that his products could go into
all the markets of the world. "Emanci-
pate our people, MIR. Mills exclaimed,
give them a chance to show their skill,
their genius. Give them their natural
and heaven born rights. Give them back
the ocean, and then the workmen will not
be coming to Washington to implore the
government to do something for them.
Their remedy is not to come to Washing
ton now. Their remedy Is to 20 home 20
to the ballot-box, and sweep out of exist.
ence the party which dares to pile taxa
tion upon them and destroy their chance
of getting a market for the sale of their
goods. The ballot box is their place, not
Washington"
THE INCOME TAX.
Coming to the question Of the income
tax, MIR. Mills asked why should not
wealth be taxed OF all the rights he
said, that depended for protection upon
associated power property was the most
dependent, The poor man required little
from the government; and why should he
be prosecuted to death with taxation ON
everything that was necessary for his ex-
istence} When people were associated
together In governmental it was
fair and just government-every
citizen should contribute his proper share
toward its support. His proper share
was to be determined by the amount he
had to be protected by the strong orga-
nized power Of the government He
quoted from Adam Smith as laying down
the principle that 'the subjects
of every state ought to con
government as nearly as possible
in proportion to their respective abilities
that is, in proportion TO the revenue
which they respectively enjoy under the
protection of the state" And he added
that the American people intended that
that should be done. Some applause in
the galleries.
EQUAL PROTECTION FOR ALL.
He declared that he was no communist.
no anarchist, and that there was no diff
ference, in his mind, between the million
aire and the poor man as TO their being
entitled TO the protection of the govern
ment. If necessary, he would exhaust all
the resources Of the government to pro-
tect the millionaire in all his rights He
would call to arms every able bodied
man from the Pacific to the Atlantic in
order to protect the millionaire and
the poor man alike. His motto was
equal rights to all, and exclusive privi-
leges TO none" On what sort of princi-
pie. he asked, did the owners of wealth
insist that they should not be taxed2 He
recalled the fact that some years ago
when the state of Pennsylvania was una
BILE to protect railroad property at Pitts
burg federal troops had to be sent there,
and he added that the railroad had never
contributed one cent to the federal gov
ernment.
HILLS ATTACK ON THE INCOME TAX.
The income tax had been denounced to
the Senate by the senator from New
York, Mr.. Hill, as socialistic, anarchisUic
and sectional. When the poor laborer
had to pay 9Sl8 per cent. duty on the shirt
he wore, that tax was not so denounced.
All taxes, he repeated, should be assessed
in proportion to the ability of the tax
payer to pay, and in proportion to the
property which he had TO be protected.
He had never heard that the senator
from New York, when he was governor
of that state, had called on the
legislature to repeal the in
come tax there; and if such a tax
was q fair one for the state of New York,
why was it not also fair one for the
United Statesl II was useless, he ex-
claimed, TO denounce the income tax as
odious. sectional and inquisitorial. II
was useless TO make any sophistical argu-
ments against the right and duty of every
man TO contribute to the support of the
government. 1t had TO be DONE The
American people were in earnest about il.
If this congress did not do 1t the next
would. II was going to be done. II was
prohibitory legislation that was closing
the American markets and driving unem-
pl0yed people into the highways, bringing
them to Washington, In thousands, to
plead, not for their rights, but for the
fallacies more ruinous and impracticable
than those under which they were living
now.
MUST STOP TALKING AND ACT.
Ia conclusion Mr. Mills said: There
is n duty dpvoi wing on this bO6V It can