The Van Buren press., 1894-01-20
y
Mr.. Wilson on the Traiff.

Congresses it had been the chef
subject of controversy in both
Houses. eve are here,o said he,
.'with the commissions of the
American people to put into law
that general reform which they
themselves, in their constitutional
methods Of expression, have Or
dered at the polls"
They expected, he said, that
friends in the country would fall
away from them whenever they un-
dertook to prepare any definite
measure of Legislation. They knew
from all their experience in the
past that not all who march brave
~ in the parade are found in line
when the musketry begins to rat.
tie. (Applause.) If there was ever
a time when the burden of taxa
ton should be lightened it was at
a time when men were struggling
for the very necessaries of life
(applause), a time when that trade
was held in the paralysis of y com.
mercial crisis. (Applause.) All
through this country the enemies
of tariff reform are seeking to pre-
JUDGE it's success by an appeal to
those whose reasoning and whose
power of reasoning is for the time
being blunted by personal suffer-
ing and personal distress.
Prior to 1889 the Democratic
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr..
Fairchild, estimated a surplus rev.
enue of $1O3.OO0,0OO. The first re-
port of his successor, Secretary
Window, showed surplus rev.
enue of $105,000,000, when Mr..
Fairchild left his seat at the head
of the Treasury Department he
turned over to his successor, Mr..
Window, an available cash balance
stated in the present form ofTreas-
ury statement, of over 1885,, OOO,000
How was that gotten away with /?
Immediately by the purchase of
bonds not yet due, Immediately by
going into the market and buying
up bonds at q premium of from 5
to 8 per cent. on the bonds Of 1891,
and from q to 20 per cent. on the
bonds of 1907. Between the 4th
of March, 1889, and the LIST of o.
tober of that year Secretary Win
dom purchased with that surplus
$66, 1854 900 of bonds at the prem.
ium | have mentioned. In the first
nine months of the fiscal year 1891,
between June 80, 1890, and the
date Of his report, he had pur.
chased and redeemed $9S,OO0,000
more Ofbonds, paying in their pur-
chase ten millions of premiums and
anticipating interest by the pay.
ment of $l2, 100000.
Not only was the surplus thus
dlssipated in the purchase ofbonds
at high premiums, but it was ap.
prOpriated by the Fifty.first Con,
gress, seeking out new methods
and objects ofappropriation. That
Congress gave back as a gratuity
to certain Of the States the direct
tax under which some fourteen
more millions Of dollars have been
paid to the Statee. Under the pre-
text of a free breakfast for the
American workingman sugar was
untaxed in order that heavier
taxes might be put upon his cups
and saucers, his knives and forks.
the furniture or his table, and the
other food that came upon that
table.
Taking then, these RENTED tax
es, which in the meantime would
have produced from $3.50, 100000
to 5000, 100000, it is hard to see
why the Federal Treasury to-day
is empty, and this Congress is
called upon, in the face of a great
movement to relieve the people
from taxes, to find out and devise
some new sources of revenue. But
the greatest drain was from the
dependent pension bill of June,
1890, under which the pension ap.
preparation had run up $60,OO0,00O
a year. He waived the question
of justice and liberality entirely,
but he did say that that bill never
would lMve passed, just or unjust,
if there had not been an overflow
ing treasury which it was desired
to empty, and if there had not been
devised along with it new scheme
Of taxation under which those
other pensioners, the protection
industries of this country, would
get the biggest pull and the larg.
est part of the taxes levied to pay
pensions. applause on the Demo.
cratic side.), An examination OF
the returns of that taxation to-day
showed that while the Treasury
was starving, the people were pay
ing heavier taxes than they ever
paid before.
Nobody expected, after the cam
paign of 1888, that a new and high
er system of taxation would be
imposed on the American people.
But when the Fifty.first Congress
met, and when it was known that
new taxes and new bounties were
to be had for the asking, the room
of the Committee on Ways and