Connecticut western news., 1894-04-26
THE TARIFF DEBATE.
MILLS CLOSES THE GENERAL DISCUS
 SION FOR THE DEMOCRATS.

He Does Not Approve of the Wilson Bili,
 but VIII Vote For It-He Defends the In-
 come Tax Provision--A Plea For Closure
 In the Senate.
 WASHINGTON, April 25 The closing speech of the so called general debate on the tariff bill was made in the senate by Mir. Mills of Texas for the Democratic party. The galleries, which had been de- serted during the morning. filled up, and number of representatives came over from the house. A number of Republican senators also gave Mir. Mills close atten- tion throughout.
 Mir. Mills appealed to his Democratic brethren to pass the bill promptly and full fill the party's pledges. He ridiculed the idea of duty being imposed for the bene- fit of the workmen and said it was merely & case of going from skin to core and from core back to skin again. meaning that the manufacturers got all the benefit of the protection which was demanded in the name of the workingmen.
 MT. MiiIs' Speech.
 At the outset he declared that legislators often had to make a selection between two parliamentary measures, neither of which meets their approval. It must necessarily be so, for no man could frame measure to meet the approval of every one. Every act of legislature must be compromise measure, and no act more so than one reg ulating taxes.
 This bill does not meet my approval" said he, ''and doubt if it entirely meets the approval of any gentleman on this side of the chamber; but, such us it is. it will have my hearty support. might want to offer some amendment to the bill, 1" he con- tinued; but, whether or not he was able to secure its adoption, he would bow to the will of his party and vote for the measure as they ordained 1t should be. It was strictly party measure and had been party measure from the foundation of the government and from the foundation and organization of the Democratic party.
 If he had been chosen to construct this bill and had had the A members on the Democratic side of the chamber in accord with his views, he would have constructed 1t on far different lines. He would not have left coffee on the free list and would not have put cotton, coal and iron on the dutiable list It had always been the pol icy of the Democratic party to put n tax on those articles which were used by all the people and would yield the largest revenue at the smallest cost to the people.
 The Republican promise of an enlarged home market by high protective tariff had not been fulfilled. He would put on the free list metals, wool, cotton fibers, iron and steel in pigs and all yarns-every- thing which required to be manufactured. He would do this in order that the manu- lecturers of the country might manufac- ture their goods at the lowest possible price, so that they could go into the mar kets of the world. e--.-+.e
 He declared agriculture to be the staple interest of this country, and no benefit had been derived from a protective duty by this interest. He declared that no other country could compete with us in agricul- ture. Not even India could compete with us in the raising of wheat.
 It. was ridiculous to say that man blowing with the fork of tree and yoke of oxen, and who could not sickle an acre in two hours, could compete with a man who uses machinery in every stage; who by the use of one engine could cut, thrash, winnow and bag so acres of wheat in a day. He told of a farmer in California who could gather ], 200 bushels of wheat in a day at a labor cost not exceeding cents per bushel. Yet the Republican par ty had been trying to get up & scare and had been singing a little song:
 Hush. hush, hushl The bogy man Is comingi
 You've got no show; you'd better lie lowl
 He'll get you if he can!
 The Home Market FaIlacy.
 The Republican policy, he said, was to provide a home market, but there was s, ,0O0, 900 900 worth of goods made in this country. Where were the people to come from to consume themp In order to carry out the Republican policy people would have to be imported to consume our sur plus agricultural products. It would re- quire 114, ,000, 900 people to consume these products and would require the importa- tion of Chinese, Japanese, Singalese, Mall tese and chimpanzees to join Coxey's army of aborigines. Laughter.
 A large part of the speech was devoted to discussion of the income tax, which he warmly advocated. Taxes, he said, should be proportional to the protection afforded, and if the New England states received two-thirds of the benefits of the governments protection it was not sec tional to demand that they should pay two-thirds of she expenses of the govern ment. He made strong plea for closure in the senate and declared that if all the Democratic senators were of his opinion the tariff bill would be passed in AS hours.
 How to Do Many Little Things of Use.
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