The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-10
TARIFF DEBATE ON.
concIndea from First Pnge.

Concluded from First Page.
Foster to conceal the bankruptcy Of the
treasury. The Fifty-first congress dealt
with the treasury surplus after the true
and traditional methods of protection.
which was 10 lessen or abolish those
taxes which pass directly and undimin-
ished from the pockets of the taxpayer
to the public treasury and TO increase
those taxes which were intercepted in
their passage from the pockets Of the
taxpayer to the public treasury by the
private to,l gatherer.
Iniquities of the Mckinley ELL.
The Mckinley bill reduced the inter
nal revenue taxes on manufactured to-
bacco, abolishing special taxes on deal
erS and manufacturers of tobacco and
wiped out the duties on raw sugar which
for years past had been our chief rev.
enue-prOducing article on the customs
list. Both Of these taxes were in a just
and proper sense revenue taxes and
neither of them should have been
touched so long as the rates of duty
upon clothing and other necessary ar
ticles of consumption We're so enor-
mously oppressive. Tobacco taxes were
reduced under the cry that tobacco had
become a necessity for the poor as we'll
as the rich, but new and heavier taxes
were laid on the wooden clothing Of the
poor man so indispensable TO his health
and his productive energy. Sugar was
untaXed TO give the American working
man a free breakfast table, but new
taxes were placed on his cups and Sau-
GERS, his plates and dishes, his coffee
pot, his knives and forks, his food and
his table cover. In a word, he was re-
lieved from the taxes he paid his gov
eminent in order that he might be made
10 pay much greater taxes TO the bene-
ficiaries Of that bill These released, the
taxes would have yielded us since their
omission more than S150000000 and
would have saved US from any danger
Of the treasury deficit.
story of Depleted Treasury.
The magnificent surplus turned over
10y the Cleveland administration was
thus scattered. A large portion OF it was
used TO purchase at high premiums
bonds not yet due. In the first seven
months of the Harrison administration
10000 bonds were thus purchased
at premiums ranging from 5 to per
cent on the bonds of 81 and from y
to % per cent. on the bonds due in
1907.
In the first five months of the fiscal
year. beginning July l, 1890 over $685.
100000 We're disbursed in the payment of
bonds and in the prepayment Of interest
not yet due. But, even this did not
dissipate the surplus and the Fifty-1rst
congress was obliged 10 try its hand
upon It. 1t refunded the direct tax to
the states, a mere log-rolling scheme
to get at the treasury surplus which
Mr.. Cleveland had vetoed when at
tempted in previous congresses. This
was a pure gratuity, but il has taken
out Of the treasury over $14, 600. 600. Next
came the sugar bounty act, under which
SUNS amounting to S17000,0 900 have been
paid TO sugar growers. Last of all as
obi Of sr--s g
plus was the dependent pension bill,
under which our annual pension expendi-
ture has risen more than SEQ 900.
Whatever Of merit or justice there might
have been in this bill, il is very certain
1t would never have become a law but
that those other pensioners, our pro-
tected industries, might have the first
pull and the largest profit out of the
taxes gathered TO pay the pensioners.
Neither must it be forgotten in this
story OF n depleted treasury that the
Sherman law turned over TO the last
administration as available cash a trust
fund OF SOL, 100000 deposited by national
banks to redeem their notes, nor that
Secretary Foster changed the forms OF
treasury statements by adding to il
100000 900 of subsidiary and minor coins
as part Of its available cash. If, then,
to more than 5000 900 900 thus made away
with by the last administration, we
should add the $50, 600 loss of reve-
nue. by the omission Of taxes on tobacco
and sugar alone, we should have a
clear idea of the rapid and headlong
steps by which we have been brought
TO our present empty treasury.
The Pledge to the People.
He did not believe that those who
voted to put the last administration in
power expected any revision from it
in the direction Of increasing rates. The
campaign of 1883 was fought on the
question of reforming and reducing the
existing tariff and not on the question
of revising and raising the tariff Of
1888
No single interest in the country.
either in congress or elsewhere, had the
hardihOod 10 assert that it meant 10
demand any increase Of the protection
only the wantonness of self-greed,
rapacity and selfishness and the knOwl-
edge that their demands, no matter how
exOrbitant, would be graciOusly accord
ed, that brought them 10 Washington
in 1890 to write up on their own inter-
ests the sucC essive schedules of the Nc
Kinley bill Under the operation Of that
bill taxes in every one of the important
schedules have been mercilessly and
needlessly increased. In manufactures
Of wool they had been raised from an
average of 40 TO an average of 100 per
had been raised from an average of 81
to an average Of 81 per cent In manu-
features of iron and steel, although the
year of 1857 had been a year of immense
production and prosperity to those in
terests. the tariff was raised from an
avera ge of SO to an average of 63 per
cent On cotton goods, although the
tariff of 1883 had been made by the
manufacturers themselves. duties were
increased from an average Of 40 to an
average of 81 per cent.
Such is the bill that we have been
called to revise in the interests Of the
people who consume, of the people who
labor and Of the people comprising the
country in general and of the prosperity
of the country itself.
Mr.. Wilson, who is In poor health,
after speaking one hour and a half, sug-
gested to his colleague, Mr.. McAIillin,
that he would like to finish his speech
tomorrow, and upon the latter's motion
the committee arose. The democrats
and galleries applauded vigorously when
Mr.. Wilson took his seat.
Real Merit