Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-04-05
VOORHEES, TARIFF Speech
A Notable Effort by the In
diana Senator.
ApPLAUDED BY THE LISTENERS
A Challenge to the Advocates
of Protection.
Republican Senators Indicate a Purpose
j to Obstruet Consideration of the Bill
Democrats Bound in Honor to Aid in
Carrying Out Their Party's Pledges.


:ariH--has entered daily for many months
into the business and the occupation of the
whole country, Had the legislators chosen
to represent their opinions and execute
their commands been so quick in response
rs their constituents had the right to an
! tlcipate. this vital and perplexing question
would long before this time have been
settled. Business, once more adjusted
| upon satisfactory and a permanent basis.
would have flowed in its accustomed
| channels and anxiety and unrest would
| have been buried under the current of re-
stored confidence, For nearly two months.
while tho country from one end TO the
other has been in turmoil, scarcely n
| word on the tariff has been publicly ut
tered on the floors of Congress. To-day
that silence was broken, The Senate,
| toward which all eyes and all hopes have
been turned, took up its long-delayed OBJ
! legation. The tariff at last obtained the
place to which it has so long been entitled,
and the Senate, it is now understood, will
address itself to its duty.
The chairman of the finance committee
| Nf. Voorhees,. at o'clock slowly rose and
| faced crowded galleries aud q close mass of
his associates on the iloor. IL is we'll un-
| derstood that to him attaches but little
share of the responsibility for the pro-
tracted wait, as he has at any time for sew
eral weeks been ready to proceed. He was
| III Hlle COllultlOn, Will MS FesOHdnI NOlCp
| clear and strong and all his physical and
mental energies iii the best of play. Fort-
4 fled by double pile of documents foot
! high and his clerks close at hand, he with
| but little preiiminarieS warmed at once TO
his work. He charged with his opening
sentence right into the centre of the ranks
4 Of the privileged classes who stand behind
theprotective tariff and smote them hip and
! thigh. Summarizing briefly but with tell
/ ing effect, the reductions proposed upon
/ the necessaries of life, and the consequent
1 abridgment of the excessive tolls levied by
| the monopolists, he instanced that withal
ample revenue would be derived for the
support Of the government Deprecating
the concessions made in the Senate bill to
1 the throtlers of industry, which he said he
had vainly opposed, he held it was yet
| measure to be commended and upheld. 1t
i tlisarmed the criticisms of a threatened de-
ticit as applied to the bill as it came from
the House. He told the story of the evils.
| the vices, the immoralities, the decay Of
j public virtue caused by the protective
i system, and characterized in striking Ian
i gunge the continued recitals for century
past of the old, stale, WORKOUT and ex-
ploded arguments with which monopoly
has striven to bolster up its cause.
A CHALLENGE TesFBorEcrroH ADVOCATES,
Referring to the lobby which has hung
for months about all the corridors of the
capitol, clamoring for admission to the
chamber of the finance committee and
hurting delegations at its doors, he said
not a voice in all this array was raised for
the people, for the consumers. They had
u no one paid to represent them. They were
too poor to come here themselves. Draw
ing the striking comparison of benefits
and injuries, as shown in the proportion
Of those directly interested, or alleged so to
be, in protective tariff, who, operatives
and all, scarcely number fraction of the
population. lie threw out the bold chal-
lenge to any and all protection advocates
OF their utter inability to prove that the
wages of labor had ever been increased by
protective tariff.
The Mckinley law was dissected in vari-
Gus of its provisions to expose the skilful
and cunningly devised manner in which
its infamous exactions are covered up, so
much so that duties of the enormous
amount of 400 per cent have been success
fully hidden from the unhappy victim.
Ad valorem duties could not be availed of
in such system as this, which accounted
for the violent affection of the protection
lists for specific duties. Revenue reformerS
did not find specific duties to suit them.
The Walker reform tariff bill of 1846 did
not contain single specific duty. He held
up for the instruction and editication of
Republican side the pregnant fact that
this tariff was passed by the Senate after
10 days debate, and at that period the pro.
tected and privileged classes did not dare
to send their agents to Washington to
undertake to influence the action of Sena-
tors.
The Walker tariff was the first reform
measure of that character. Men like
Daniel Webster, Reverdy johnson and
others predicted the most dire disaster Us
the result of low tariff. Not one of these
predictions ever came true. To the con-
trary, so intense was the public gratifca-
ton and content at its results that the
tariff was not an issue IN the four succeed
ing Presidential elections, nor would it
ever have been had not the war given to
protectionists the coveted opportunity to
come to the front once more.
The croukcrS who are now making such
disastrous predictions would be brought to
the same griefas their predecessors OF 1876.
Thesugar-bounty clause of the Mckinley
bill was fraud, and in addition viola
ton of the constitution. The tax OH sugar
suggested by the finance committee was
less than one-third of that of the Walker
tariff of blessed memory. lie discounte-
nanced the proposition that it was any
concession to the Sugar Trust.
Not little space has been devoted by
Mr.. Voorhees, to explanations of the
finance committee amendments to the bill
and answers to objections to its admins
trative provisions.
RADICAL VIEWS ON THE INCOME TAX.
He thought the income tax clause was
so Just as to call for the slightest explana-
ton or mention, and but for the clainor of
the rich he would pass it by without
notice. The limit of endurance 10 the
arrogance of accumulated wealth had been
reached, and per cent tax on incomes,
he held, should not excite their. opposi-
ton. This income tax, rs already shown,
would affect not more than rs OOll nprsons
q little more than one in thousand oil
the population. The utterances of the
speaker on this point were decidedly OF a
radical character. His comments on the
/. assumption that the educated and wealthy
classes of this country would commit per
Jury to escape such u tritling tax we're SO
calistic as to create sensation on the !looT
and elicit applause IN the galleries, which
was very promptly checked by the presid-
ing officer.
Mr.. voorhees, denied emphatically that
the provision was any more inquisitorial
than many provisions of law now on the
statute books. The tax was not novelty,
not an experiment; it was u relief TO the
poor and no oppression of the rich. Mr..
Hill, Mr.. Mcpherson and one or two other
Senators on the Democratic side who have
been outspoken in opposition to the in
come tax listened attentively, but with
evident disapproval, to what Mr.. VOORHEES,
, said. Once Mr.. Hill attempted in his quiet
but determined manner to interject ques-
ton. The Indiana Senator quite as gently,
but with quite as much determination, re-
fused to permit the thread of his remarks
| to be broken.
, FREE WOOL WILL BENEFIT THE FARMER.
Leaving this branch Mr.. Voorhees,. re