The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1897-04-03
THE BILL
TILE MINORITY REPORT ON THE TAR
IFF MEASURE.
Mr.. Bailey Presents 1t to the House
suit in Compelling to
Pay More for GOOLx-Charnctcr-
to Prepare IL substitute.

~ ASSI&lTS u SuDNNltltcs
Washington. March 24.-Mr. Bailey
OF Texas presented to the house tho
minority report on the tariff bill. The
report was signed by the Democratic
members OF the ways and means com
miriec. and gives the grounds of their
opposition to the bill. 1t says:
This bill was framed with the
avowed purpose of protecting the man
%ufacturcrs of the United States against
foreign competition, and it is perfectly
obvious that If it accOmpliSheS that
purpose it must result in compelling
the consumers of this country to pay
more for their manufactured goods and
for this reason we think it should not
pass. We rest our opposition upon
the broad principle that congress was
invested with the power of taxation as
Il means Of collecting from each citi-
zen his fair proportion toward the sup
port of the government. and that it is
IL gross perverSion of that sovereign
power to employ it as a means of ell
aiding favored classes to levy unjust
charges upon the great body of the
people. We believe that after contrib
uting his proper share toward tho
maintenance of the government every
citizen OF this republic is entitled to the
full possession and enjoyment, of all
he can honestly earn: and~wc deny the
right of congress to make or enforce
ally regulation which requires II man
to give any part of his honest earnings
toward encouraging the enterprise Or
increasing the fortune of another. No
man. however blind he may be. would
defend Il system Of taxation under
which the government first collected
the money and afterward distributed
it among it's favorites. 1t is true that
the tariff act of 1890 vpntured to this
extent in dealing with the sugar
growers. but the disapproval of that
policy was so overwhelming and sc
bitter that the advocates of protection
have been forced to abandon it. and
they have hot dared to incorporate any
provision for Il direct bounty i'll the
present bill. We are unable. how
ever. to perceive any difference in prin-
ciDlc between a law which requires
the government to collect the money
and distribute it among the protected
industries and a law which enables
these industries to collect the money
direct from the people. Ii the govern
ment has the right to levy taxes upon
the people for tho purpose of inducing
men to establish Improbable indus
tries or industries which Il only be
made profitable by compelling the on
sumers Of the United States to pay eX-
orbitant prices for their products. then
the bounty system is a more direct
and less complex way Of attaining that
end, and Mt least has the advantage of
dirpctneSs and simplicity.
1.-The majority of the committee seem
to think that taxation can be made a
blessing and that the support of the
government instead of being Il burden
upon taxpayers can be made to en-
rich them. Ii this opinion is we'll
founded. tl.en Ill the struggles for
freedom which have revolved around
tho questions of taxation without rep
resentation INDUCED a mistaken zeal
for liberty. The patriotic resolve of
our %forefathers not to Use goods upon.
which Great Britain had laid III im-
pert duty was wrong if the argument
for protection is right, because. ac-
cOrding to that argument the British
importers were really paying the tax
over which the American colonists
went to war. There cannot he found
in the wide range of economic litera-
turc an authority with the few and
rare exceptions which only serve to
emphasize the general concurrence.
who does not treat taxation. direct or
Indirect. as a burden: and when we re-
member that Il protective tariff not
only collects more for II government
than is needed for it's economical adj
ministration. but that it also enables
favored classes to collect more than
the government itself. the injustice be-
GENES clear and SO enormous that it
would be n reflection upon the intelli-
gencc of the American people to sup
pose that it can escape their swift and
decisive condemnation"
After discussing the bill in detail I'M
der the separate headings, THE Bill
Encourages Extravaganza" and THE
Fill Fosters Trusts" the report of the
committee concludes:
I'VE are unable to offer Il substitute
for the pending bill because we have
not been allowed Il reasonable time to
prepare one Congress convened in
extraordinary session on Monday. the
10Th day of March. and this bill was
introduced the same day and referred
to the committee OH ways and means.
which met the next morning. and on
| Thursday it was ordered to be report
ell to tie house. The majority of the
committee had spent the three months
of the last session of the last congress
in the preparation of their bill, vet they
refused to allow the minority three
weeks i'll which to prepare a substi-
tntc. We are unwilling to propose Il
measure that has not been carefully
matured. and we must therefore con-
tent ourselves with protesting against
the passage of the committee bill"