The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-05-01
THE TARIFF DEBATE.


S,nntor Mills speech-somc OF the
Evils Of ProtectIUn--A Strong Pres
entation OF the Democratic Side.
WASHINGTON, April A.-Immedi
ataly after the reading OF yesterdays
journal, the Senate held brief execu-
tive session and then at p. IN. the de-
bate on the tariff bill was resumed and
Mr.. Mills closed the general debate u
on the Democratic side in support OF
the bill.
Every act of legislation, he said, was
necessarily an act of compromise and
mono more so than one which imposes
duty on imports. The pending bill
did not meet his entire approval, and
he doubted If it met the antire approval
of any of tho gentlomen on his side of
the chamber. But, as it was, 1t should
have his cordial support. II he should
think that there was prospect OF i'm
proving it, no might Otfcr and support
somo amendments. But whether he
succeeded in having amendments en-
grated on it or not, he should bow to
the collective Judgment on his side OF
the chamber, and should support what
ever conclusion IL reached He believ-
ed that that was due from him and due
from every party man, because the
tariff bill was a strict party measure,
and had boon one since the foundation
of the government
If he had been chosen to construct
the bill, and had the forty-four Demo-
cratic Senator in perfect accord with
his views, he would have constructed
it on very different lines. He would
not have left coffee and tea on the free
list, and taxed woolen and cotton goods
or the manufacturers of iron and steel.
He would have put a tax on coffee, tea
ID 81 Il
carry out the Democratic principle of
obtaining the revenues of the govern
ment with the least ssibleburden to
the taxpayer. His Republican friends
ESA put duties on cotton goods and
wOolen goods, and on iron and steel
because in that way, while raising
revenues for the government, four or
five times as much went to the favored
classes.
He charged the Republicans with
having deceived the farmers by the
promise that under their protective
system q home market would be built
up that non-agricultural classes would
be brought into the country to consume
the surplus wheat of the Northwest.
And yet the surplus product of this
country, which had either to GO to
waste or seek u foreign market, was
enormous. AS to competition from
India, he declared that a bushel of
wheat could not be produced in India
and laid down in the city of New York
in competition with q bushel Of wheat
raised in Dakota or anywhere in the
United States; and that even the cost
of transportation to London could he
paid and still Americans wheat would
compete there with the wheat from
India. He had been told by a farmer
T,li fl,n Dt1, Il I,
could gather POO bushels of wheat in
one day at labor cost not exceeding 2
cents a bushel, and yet Republicans
got up "scary talk to frighten farm
ers about the competition with India
where plOughing was still done with
the fork of tree and reaping done
with a small hand hook. They had
been singing to the farmers Of the
United States the little song:
"Hush Hush Hush
The bogey man is coming;
You've got no show,
You'd better lie low.
He'll catch you if he can"
They had been thus trying to fright
on men who produced ten or twenty
times as much wheat as the farmers in
India, and at u labor cost five or six
times less.
The Republican doctrine was opposed
to trading with fGraign people and
wanted to build up q home market.
But here was five billions worth of
manufactured products to be consumed
at home. How was that going to be
consumed?
In order to carry out the Republican
doctrine, people would have to be i'm
ported to consume these products. The
Democratic doctrine was to export tho
product all over the world, where the
people live and where they should re-
main. The Republican doctrine, on the
contrary, was to import people to con-
sumo the surplus agricultural pro-
ducts; and it would be necessary to
import 33,000,000 of people to do that.
The Republicans would import Chinese
and Japanese and SOudenese and Nal
tese and Chimpanese to join CoXey's
army among the aborigincs. Laugh
ter.)
He had been taught by his pious
mother to read the Bible, and he re-
membcrcd reading of Elijah, where he
attacked the 400 false prophets OF Baal
and slaughtered them. 1t was thought
then that all the false prophets were
dead but it seemed that some of them
got away. And they had come down
to the present time, and had told the
people sophistries in order to soothe
them. The United States would have
had in 1901 the agonies which it was
passing through now, if it had not
been that the crop Of 1891 had been
more valuable than that of 1890, and
the crop Of 1890 more valuable than
that of 1889 The crop of 1891 had in
creased by 5000, 100000 or $500, 900, 900
il. value, and that fact had kept OFF the
pa tc. The panic had not come, as
was charged, with the advent of the
signal had been hoisted before. The
people had been admonishcd to look
out for squalls. And on the 8th of No
vember, 1892, the people had felt the
squall was coming. The crop Of 1892
had fallen below that of 1891 to the
amount of 5000, 100000 and the crop of
1893 had fallen below that of 1899 to
the amount of $6O0,000,00 in value.
And the country was now where it had
been in 1889. And still they were told
by the Republicans that the Demo
cratic administration had brought on
the panic and had filed the streets
with wretohed people. But it was the
exhaustive taxation under the Nc
Kinley bill and the exhaustive obstruc-
tions in it that had prostrated the
farmers of this country; and when the
farmers felt the strain they stretched
out their arms and, like Samson,
pulled the whole fabric over the heads
of all.
Great Britain imports wheat from all
countries OF the world-from Russia,
Germany, France, Austria, Roumania,
Turkey, Egypt, India and the United
States. 1t imported 50 per cent. of its