The record-union., 1895-12-13

Claims, by Reduction in Tariff.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12.-The first
gun in the tariff fight in the fifty
fourth Congress was fired to-day IN
the House by the venerable eX-SpeaKer
Grow, Representative-at-La from
the State of Pennsylvania. At his re-
Quest the House went into Committee
OF the Whole on the estate of the I'm
ion" and for nearly an hour he COM
pared the workings of the protective
tariff as it existed from 1861 TO 1o9t
with the results achieved by the pres
ent law. asserting that the latter had
not proved much of a success. He pro-
posed. instead of the retirement OF the
greenbacks in exchange for bonds, as
recommended by the President that
national banks be permitted to de-
post them, and the silver certificates
as well, in circulating notes, receiving
$40 for every 500 so deposited, the
greenbacks and certificates, when de-
posited. to be cancelled. The gold re-
serve he contended, would always
prove a source of weakness whenever
and as long as the Government was
compelled TO borrow money TO meet lis
expenditures.
He read the following paragraph from
the Presidents message as a text Ior
his speech: BY command of the peo-
ole a customs revenue system, ue-
Eigned for the protection and beneht OF
The favored classes AT the expense OF
the great mass of our cOuntrymen, ana
which while efficient for the purpose
of revenue. curtailed our trade rela-
4aI .af1-~ ont
markets of the world, has Deen super
seded by tariff policy which in prlncl-
Dle is based upon denial of the rlghl
Of the Government to obstruct the
avenues to our peoples cheap living,
or lessen their comfort ana content
n1ent, for the sake of according especial
advantages to favorite ones, ana
which. while encoura ging our inter
course and trade with other nations
recognizes the fact that American
seIf-reliance. thrift and ingenuity can
build UP our country's industries and
develop its resources more surely than
enerYating paternalism
The President has failed, he said, TO
give Congress any information as 10
the working and results Of the new Gus
IONS revenue system which he eXtOlIed-
He had discredited the custom OF pre-
senting the receipts and expenditures
Of the treasury, leaving Congress 10
learn Of the financial condition OF the
Government as best it might tlgufes
furnished by the Treasury Department
= showed that from July L, 1884, the date
AT which the new bill went into effect,
10 December 10, 1890, the deficit in the
revenues of the Government amounted
to S131, ,534 204, beside the amounts
which NAV be included in deficiency
bills covering the part of the fiscal year
prior to December 10th. In the same
time the bonded indebtedness had been
increased S162, ,315. 400. ''The new sys-
lem of customs revenue does not seem
70 have been a success.
The speaker reviewed the operation
OF the old system, denounced by the
President, and compared it with those
OF the present. The tariff had been
changed in 1861, in 1888 and 1890, but
throughout. he said, it had been a con-
4inuance of the system inaugurated by
the Morrill, Act Of February, lool- Mr
buchanan had closed his administra-
ton having experienced a deficit in
every year of it, the total amount being
$4,000 GOO This was met by the issue
of bonds That was the last Demo-
cratic administration until the present.
and this one seemed TO have begun
where the other left off, by the sale OF
bonds. daughter and applause)
He asserted that no market was OF
any consequence to any people unless
they. could put articles in them at less
labor cost than they could be there pro-
duced. The United States sold aSri-
cultural products abroad because its
vast area produced a surplus over home
consumption. Other articles could not
go abroad unless the laborers of Amer
lea were willing to reduce their wages
There would be, he said, no advantage
in going into market that does not pay
the producer living wages.
And the President thinks the old sys-
TEN blocks the way TO cheap living,
continued Mr. Grow. According to his
theory the poorhouse would be the IDEAL
place of existence. People live cheaper
there than anywhere else" Naughter)
Mr. Grow then reverted TO the finan-
cial portion Of the message, saying that
the only recommendation the President
made was to change five or six millions
of non-interest bearing debt into inter-
est bearing obligations in the shape OF
longtime loans. In lieu of the Presi-
dents proposition, Mr.. Grow presented
a Dlan TO authorize the issue OF national
bank notes in the ratio of $l1O for every
500 in exchange for treasury notes and
silver certificates. the latter to be can
celled as fast as they were so deposited.
This. he said, would give elasticity to
ahe volume of currency without restrict
ing il in any degree, and without in
creasine by a dollar the interest bear
inc obligations of the Government.
This would wind up the endless chain
OF which so much mas been said and
protect the gold reserve
After two years of experience with
this Administration, he said the
people issued a new command through
the ballot-bo with an energy and TAR
reaching result that trust the Presl-
dent of the United States, in his oilcial
acts. will not disregard, though ne en-
tirely ignored it in his message. mir
teen representatives of this great
Democratic party in thirty states OF
this Union are all that can speak iol
that party in those States on this hoof
to-day one of them must speak ioi
all New England. one of them must
speak for the Pacific Coast. The re-
naming eleven speak for the remaining
States which lie north Of what used tc
be the old Mason and DiXons 5 line
But on the other hand, thirty-twc
members sit upon this floor to-day tC
speak for the lon-hearted, indomit-
able Republican party of the heretofore
solid Democratic South. Is this de-
lnand of the people of any consequence.
What was tried in the election of 1891.
The Democrats say The election OF lS9.
was a condemnation Of the Mckinley
bill
solid Republican delegates are here
now from a greater number of States
than ever before. Something brought
them. If it was not a condemnation by
the people of your legislation, then il
was a condemnation of the Democratic
marty. and that is what l think ii was
Srhey were on trial in the last election
For il did not make any difference
what kind of a Democrat il was
whether a Jealous advocate of this new