River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-10-06


announced to be "a TARIFF FOR
REVENUE ONLY" And what this high
sounding policy always in practice has
produced is DIMINISHING REVENUE
AND INCREASING DEFICIT.
The great business depression which
overlook the country during the last
Democratic administration was due not
merely to the anti-protection features of
Democratic tariff tinkering, but to the
very serious falling off in government
revenues which it occasioned.
When there is a condition of uncer-
tainty and instability" in business, which
Mr.. Parker himself has admitted follow
ed past attempts in the tariff tinkering
line, the imports Of certain classes OF
dutiable goods are always sure to fall OF
even with the decreased tariff, for the
reason that the people consume less for
eign Injuries in hard times than III good.
With the foreigners flooding the Ameri-
can markets with articles that can just
as well be produced by American labor,
our own people naturally have less tlnan-
cial means with which to buy foreign
laces, silks, teas, wines, perfumes, dla-
mOnds, works of art, etc.
AS a revenue-producing measure the
Wilson tariff law was stupendous fail
ure. It's authors showed colossal bust
ness incompetence in their failure to
make it supply anywhere near the
amount of revenues required to meet the
expenses of the government. The reye-
nue. from the Wilson bill fell short of the
estimates of it's Democratic trainers by
no less a sum than $S7, 100000, and
this, including it's sugar import tax, to
which many Of the Democratic leaders,
including President Cleveland himself,
had been bitterly opposed. This bill not
only did direct damage to manufacturing
industry everywhere throughout the
country, but it had disastrous effects on
the nations credit, because in causing
the revenues to drop heavily below the
expenditures it forced the government to
draw for its routine expenses on the
treasury gold reserve, which was needed
to preserve the gold standard of value,
and this shrinkage in the gold reserve in
turn necessitated the enormous bond is
sues in which syndicates secured their
notorious "rake-offs.'
All through 1894 trade decentralization
increased, and the government revenues
for the first six months of the year turn
ed out to be about $40000,00O less than
the Democratic Secretary of the Treas
ury, Mr.. Carlisle, had estimated they
would be in his report of December,
1898. Nevertheless the Democratic lead
ers failed to heed the warning, but went
ahead with their free trade tariff bill
without paying the slightest attention to
whether or not the bill could produce
enough revenue for running the govern
ment.
Davis Looks Ont for His Own Revenue.
The House Of Representatives not only
struck off the import taxes on coal, iron
ore, and wool, which were exclusively
protective duties, and therefore logical
subjects for revision, from the Demo
cratic standpoint. but it refused to con-
tinue the sugar duties, which were a
revenue tax of the most productive char
acter. The Senate, through the infiu-
ence of III. G. Davis, now the Demo
cratic vice presidential candidate, whose
vast fortune was represented chiefly in
coal lands, replaced the duty Of 40 cents
per ton on coal, which was an utterly
insignificant source of national revenue,
but it restored only such part of the
sugar duties as could play directly into
the hands of the sugar trust. Consid
cred merely as a law contrived to pro-
duce sufficient revenue, the Senate bill
was undoubtedly superior to the House
bill The Senate sugar tariff, it is true,
produced eventually hardly one-half as
much revenue as had been yielded by the
sugar tariff of 1888, but there was never
theleSs collected from this source in the
first full year under the amended Wilson
act. the sum of $29,S00,O00, none of
which revenue would have been obtained
by the government under the House bills
free-sugar provisions. But the public
refused for very obvious reasons to give
the trainers of the Senate amendments
any credit for this achievement. On the
eve of the passage of the Wilson bill
in the upper house it was discovered that
several Democratic Senator's, whose
votes controlled action on the sugar du-
ties, were specializing in Wall street in
sugar trust stock. The angry public
clamor over these disclosures was follow
ed by an open letter from President
Cleveland to his supporters in the House.
declaring the senatorial changes to be
Outrageous determinations and viola
tons of principle''-an assertion which.
In view of the platform of the majority,
was certainly not unwarranted. From
the floor of the Senate, the Democratic
leaders retorted publicly with much
after long and stubborn struggle. the
Senate tariff bill prevailed and passed
both houses, President Cleveland refused
to put his name to it, and left the bill
to become a law without his signature.
From Bad to Worse.
The result of this haphazard reckoning
on the revenue was a law which never
produced surplus. Even with its sugar
import tax the yield OF the Senate bill.
in the succeeding year, fell short of the
estimate of its authors by no less a sum
than $S7,O00,000. For this exceedingly
ill-timed miscalculation, the Democratic
Fifty-third Congress is properly held re-
sponSible for the necessity of subsequent
bond issues. 1t is true that both houses
had added to the bill a tax of two per
cent on incomes over $4,000, and in a
vague, indefinite way had rechoned that
the product of this tax would make good
whatever deficiencies might arise from
other schedules. The income tax did not
stand the test of examination by the
United States Supreme Court, and no
public revenue was ever derived from it.
Even after the income tax was knock
cd ont by the Supreme Court and even