Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1894-01-04


|
I The American peop Ter th
fullest and most thor debat'
ever given by any pe6 10 thei
! fiscal policy. have dell lely ans
rightly decided thai existiny
tariff ia wrong IN 5tple ant
grievously unjust in 81 kion.
| They have decided. freemer
must always decide, Gu Ne powel
of taxation has no la1 III consti
tutional exercise. excs "a III provld
ing revenue fol the - op cf gov
ernment. Every De-. tase from
this principle is departure from
the fundamental principles Of pop
ular institutions and inevitabl,
works out gross inequality in th.
citizenship of country. For more
than 30 years we have levied the
largest part of our federal taxes in
violation of this vital truth, anti
We have reached in the existing tarifl
an extreme and voluminous system
of class taxation to which history
may be challenged to furnish any
parallel.
4
So many private enterprises have
been taken into partnership with
the government so many private
interests now share in the preroga-
tive of taxing seventy millions OF
people, that any attempt to dissolve
this illegal union 10 necessarily en-
conntered by an opposition that
rallies behind it the intolerance OF
monopoly. the power of concentrat-
ed wealth, the inertia of fixed .hab-
its, and the honest errors of q gen.
GRAFTON of false teachings.
The bill on which the committee
has expended much patient and
anxious labor is not offered as q
complete response to the mandate
of the American people. 1t NJ
more processes to be purged Of all
protection than to be free Of al
error in its complex and manifold
details. However we may deny the
existence Of any legislative pledge,
or of the right of any Congress ID
make such pledge for the continu.
ance of duties that carry with them
more or less acknowledged protec'
ton, we must recognize thai great
interests do exist whose existence
and prosperity it is no part Of oul
reform either to imperil or to cur.
tail.
We believe and we have the war.
rant of our own past experience fol
believing that reduction of dutie.
will not injure, but give more abun.
dant life to all our great manafac
turing industries, however, mucl
they may dread the change. II
dealing with the tariff question al
withevery other long-standinl hbuse
that has interwoveu itself with oul
social or industrial system, the leg
islator must always remember that
IN the beginning, temporal reform
is safest having in itself the princi
| pie of growth.
TARIFF LEGISLATION REVIEWED
| "A glance at the tariff legislation
of our country ought to satisfy ev
cry intelligeus student that protec
ton has always shown its falsity a
a system Of economy by its absolute
failure to insure healthy and stabI
prosperity to manufactures. /
teaches men to depend on artificial
help, on laws taxing their country
men for prosperity in business, rath
er than epon their own skill an,
. effort. 1t throws business out o
its natural channels into artificia
! channels, where there must Away
be fluctuation and uncertainty, an,
it makes q tariff system the foo
ball of party politics, and the sta
bility Of large business interests th
stake of every popular election.
None have recognized this trutl
more fully than the wiser men VIII
from time have engaged in the so
called protected industries. Year
ago Mr.. Edward Everett stated, il
an grafton at Lowell, that the Ga
, gacious men who founded the man
ufactures of New England wer
never friends Of q high tariff policy
Hen. Amasa Walker. . former mem
Der of this house from Massachu
setts, and oneof our foremost writer
on economic questions, declared
!, to be within his own personal knowl
edge that when the proposal wa
made to impose the protective tarii
of 1916 the leading manufactnrsr