The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-08-17
Secretary Carlisle Champions h
Democratic Platform-No Free List.

Secretary Carlisle Champions the
Democratic Platform-No Free List
Since the Tariff bill was first intro
duced to the Senate by the Hon. DAN
TEL w. VOORHEES, Of Indiana, the Chair
man Of the Finance Committee, there
has been no such illuminating explanation
Of the national Democratic principle Of a
"tariff for revenue only" as the letter from
Secretary CARLISLE to Senator HARRIS, adj
vising the Senate to reject the supplement
sry House bills for free coal, free sugar,
and free iron.
Senator VOORHEES, reasoning for the tax
which the Finance Committee had promptly
placed upon sugar, was strictly in accord
with his party's platform. Every dollar
collected from the tariff tax on sugar" said
he, twill relieve SOM other article from
the imposition OF tariff taxation" A tariff
bill made up to derive no revenue from
sugar, thereby e~xacting a correspondingly
higher duty from other articles, would have
been as much q tariff for revenue only as the
MCKINLEY bill, and not a suspicion more.
Secretary CARLISLE puts the principle that
free sugar, or free anything, is impossible
In a tariff conforming to the great rule OF
revenue, with diplomatic tenderness toward
the theories Of the White House. but with
convincing clearness as to their indefensi-
bility equal to that which characterized
the speech of Senator VOORHEES,. 81
am of the opinion the Secretary Of the
Treasury writes to Senator HARRIS, that
IL would not be safe to place all the articles
enumerated in your letter, or even sugar
alone. upon the free list without imposing
taxation upon other articles or subjects sufii-
cient to raise an annua revenue of about
$40, OOO, 600"
Equal taxation upon every article i'm
ported, nothing oppressed and nothing IA
vored. nothing absolved, nothing free. alone
makes a tariff for revenue only, the con
stitutional tariff demanded by the Demo
cratic party.
A free list composed Of sugar, with nc
matter what in addition, forces every other
duty on the list, or such other duties as the
jugglers in power may select, above the point
where the constitutional and undiscrim-
mating principle of revenue draws the line.
Suppose that diminishing the revenue by
$40, 900 900, which would be the effect Of
unconstitutionally freeing sugar, still left
the exact sun required for the Federal ex-
penses; the remaining duties would still be
left tainted with the discriminating rise
caused by this same elimination of sugar
from the revenue-producing field. To make
the tariff agree with the Democratic plat
form, it would be necessary not to lop off
sugar, but to scale every duty down equal
ly until, all told, sugar included, they made
receipts and expenditures meet.
In truth, the doctrine which ~justifes the
maintenance OF arbitrarily high tariff taxes
on some articles by the abolition of taxation
on other articles is first found in the Re-
publican national platform Of 1888. When
In the election following Mr.. CLEvE-
LAND's original tariff message reduction in
revenue was in order, and the Republicans
declared in favor Of the ~"entire repeal OF
the internal taxes rather than surrender any
part of our protective system" they nunci-
ated the precise principle which now would
make an alleged Democratic free list. II,
instead Of selecting the internal revenue for
abolition, they had preferred to say that
"rather than sacrifice the general sys-
tenn OF protection, and particularly
those industries which we most incline
to favor, We recommend the sacrifice
of the entire sugar industry Of the State OF
Louisiana and the rice industry of South
Carolina, and proclaim it TO be the Republi-
can protection policy that, IL the revenue
Is to be reduced, there shall not be a gen
eral and impartial scaling of duties. but that
sugar and rice, coal and iron. shall be Free"
this Republican platform would have diff
fered from the new Executive platform
OF free iron, free coal, and free sugar as
tweedle-dum differs from tweedle-dee. The
principle Of revenue only cannot be dis
torted into favors for any private interest,
or into any public purpose other than
revenue, without rending it from top to
bottom.