Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-19
SHIFTING. THE TAX
From the Foreign Producer to Our
Own People.
SENATOR PERKINS ON THE WILSON BILL
The income Tax Does Not Fall
Alone on the Rich.
THE PRESENT NECESSITY


Senator Perkins Of California addressed
the Senate today in opposition to the Will
son bill. He opened his speech with a
general statement describing the business
and financial conditions of the country.
saying that he preferred to consider and
discuss the question as a business rather
than a political matter, saying:
THE question of expense and revenue IL
very simple one that comes home to each
member of every community, and the same
rule applied to us as individuals must gov
ern us collectively, whether organized into
municipality, a state or a nation. 1t
requires In round numbers, say, five hun
dred million dollars per annum to properly
carry on this government. This large sum
of money must be obtained either by di-
rect or indirect taxation. 1t must all come
from our own people, and from those who
do business with from other countries.
selling US the products that come from
their soil or that which is manufactured
by the skill or labor of foreign workmen.
Our people pay their taxes for the support
or municipal. county, state and national
government, and. in addition thereto, they
must pay a special license for conducting
the business in which they are engaged.
Why, then. should we permit foreign ma
tions to bring their products here to COM
pete with our industries. giving them equal
II not better advantages than our own
people?
1T has been the plan for the past thirty
years Of wise American craftsmanship to
raise about one-half of the expense of the
government by placing an import duty
upon the products Of other lands that come
into this country for consumption or use
of our people, and to so adjust these duties
that they will best protect and foster
Aran ind, %ri.
and protect American labor against the
cheap. servile and contract labor of foreign
lands. That this is the correct principle
is evidenced from the fact that during
this time our Industrial interests have been
stimulated and our people prosperous, con-
tented and happy.
Burdening Our Own People.
1.-The bill before US for consideration, ,desig-
mated a tariff for revenue. proposes to take
from the import duties SIS. .oOO. 600, which is
simply a license the producer pays for the
privilege Of entering into our home market
with their merchandise on equal terms
with one to the manor born, and impose
this additional burden upon our own people
in the form of an increased excise duty, and
an ir come tax upon the gain or profit made
by their diligence. industry and enterprise.
We have been accustomed to hear much
about a tariff for revenue without discrm-
ination as the only constitutional tariff. and
tariff for revenue with discrimina ton,
and upon these distinctions the American
people divided into parties in the early part
Of the century.
These propositions were well defined n
the platform of the two political parties In
the last general campaign, and these were
expected to be discussed in this Congress.
But we have wandered far away from our
course. The democratic party has fallen
from Its high estate. abandoned it's prin-
ciples utterly, and instead Of making open
= ~ ND
adopted platform enters beneath the re-
publican platform, attacks the republican
tartn measure. which it declared unconsti-
tutonal and robbery. and. tearing ii down,
attempts to build up on the same principles
weaker structure from the same mater
ials- We are thus brought to this strange
contest with no great fundamental prin-
ciple to investigate, but to contrast as a
measure OF polity the legitimate with the
fllegitimate. the complete with the incom-
plete. the strong and carefully completed
with that made of the madly gathered and
weakened fragments"
Problem of the Unemployed.
He then took up and discussed the aues-
ton In detail and at some length as to the
various California interests borax. quick
silver, beet sugar, sulphur, salt, fruits.
nuts, wine wool and COAL affected by the
bill, claiming for them all the protection
given under the present laws. Referring to
the labor problem. he said:
I'VE are, indeed, confronted with the
strange problem of an overcrowded people
problem which the fathers of the republic
never dreamed would come so soon To
this may be added the marvellous devices
of invention in the direction of labor-saving
machinery. Men were never so cheap nor
muscle so superfiuous In the work OF the
world as now. The star of the empire has
moved westward until the tide of popula-
tion has met the confines of the Pacific.
We find unemployed men everywhere, mines
and factories closed and thousands march
ing toward this city, and everywhere en-
forced idleness and suffering. 1t was not so
in the early history of the republic; II was
not so before the attempt to depreciate the
intrinsic value of one-half our circulating
medium: and, indeed, II was not SO before
the threatened blight of free trade fell upon
the country.
'The present administration assumed the
control Of the country the 4th of March,
1898. During the seven months following
as shown by Bradstreet the falling Off in
the business of the clearing house amounted
to the vast sum of nearly five billions of
dollars. and 1t has kept up at that fearful
rate ever since. This s'upendous deficit
represents the countrys value of trade
Twelve billions of dollars less money circu-
lated In the ordinary channels of trade and
commerce, In wages. In the manufacture of
goods In the employment of labor And all
this under the tariff reform or free trade
policy OF the present administration in the
brief period of twelve months. Indeed, the
that threatens 1t.
Income Tax Delusfon.
This ought to be the richest country in
the world; taxes should be the lowest. La
Dor on a higher standard and better paid.
Its products bring the greatest satisfaction
All of which it would be and do, but for
the Anglo-mania that has turned the heads
of large portion of our people. especially
of one of our great political parties There
is nothing genuine with some so-called
Americans in their estimation that does
rot wear a foreign stamp. Even American
manhood is of little worth compared with
the effete and dissipated titled roues Of the
old world. They come here for the rich
plums that are ready to fall into their open
mouths, and they seldom so away empty.
"Of the income tax l can but say that IT
appears in the bill before us one OF the most
insidious and deceitful ever expressed in a
multitude of words. 1t appears most fair
that the individual who rides Mr. Dellamy's
COACH which other individuals pull through
should be made to pay his fare or al least
and 1t is on this theory the income tax is
advocated. Were this theory sound, it
would still be found impracticablc to collect
that fare with any equality or any degree
of satisfaction or profit At first glance il
appears that the income tax is levied only
against those who ride. This appearance
makes the proposition popular with those
who believe they do all the pulling for this
coach made so famous in the Looking
Backward story. a closer examination OF
these sections of the bill show that the pull