The Elbert County tribune., 1904-10-06
FOR REVENUE ONLY
a DEMOCRATIC POLICY AND
HowIT WORKS IN PRACTICE
Tie Wilson Tariff Law and Its Stu
psrdous and Disastrous Failure,
with -Four Years OF Accompanying
business Disaster.

REvENUE ONLY" And what this high
sounding policy always In practice Ia,
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 nnti-protection features OF
Democratic tariff tnkering. but TO the
very serious falling OF In government
revenues which II accustomed.
When there Is n 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 In 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 finan-
cial means with which to buy foreign
laces. silks teas, wines, perfumes. dia-
mon6s. works OF art, etc.
As revenue-pruducing measure the
Wilson tariff law was a stupendous fall
ure. Its authors showed colossal bust
ness Incompetence In their failure to
make II supply anywhere near the
amount OF revenues required to meet the
expenses of the government. The reve-
nue. from the Wilson bill fell short of the
estimnfes of its Democratic trainers by
no less n sum than SS7.00O.OO0. and
this. including its 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 70 manufacturing
industry everywhere throughout the
country. but II had disastrous effects on
the nations credit. because In causing
the revenues to drop heavily below the
expenditures 1t forced the government to
draw for its routine expenses on the
treasury gold reserve, which was needed
tn preserve the gold standard OF value.
and this shrinkagc in the gold reserve In
turn neccssitated the enormous kond is
sues In which syndicates secured their
notorious ''rnke-offs." aIa.-.
All through 1894 trade Decentralization
Increased. and the government revenues
for the first six months OF the year turn
ed ont to be about $40. 100000 less than
the Democratic Secretary of the Treas
ary, Mr.. Carlisle, had estimated they
would be In his report of December.
1893. 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 OF the import taxes on coal. iron
ere, and wool, which were exclusively
protective duties. and therefore logical
subjects for revision, from the Demo
cratic standpoint. but it refused to con-
dnue the sugar duties. which were a
revenue tax " the most productive char
acter. The Senate. through the infiu-
ence Of II. G. Davis. now the Demo-
CRITIC vice presidential candidate. whose
vast fortune was represented chiefly In
coal hands. replaced the duty Of 40 cents
per ton on coal, which was an utterly
insignitic,nt source OF national revenue,
but 1t 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. II is true.
produced eventually hardly one-half as
much revenue as had been yielded by the
sugar tariff of 1883. but there was never
tbeless collected from this source. in the
FIRST full year under the amended Wilson
act. the sum OF S29.S00,0O0 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
A.
IN the upper house il 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
clnipor 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 principie"-an assertion which.
IN view of the platform of the majority,
was certainly not unwarranted. From
the floor of the Senate. the Democratic
leaders retortej publicly with much
show of indignation. when. finally.
after long and stubborn struggle. the
Senate tariff bill prevailed and passed
bu<h houses. President Cleveland refused
70 put his name to 1t. and left the bill
% become law without his signature.
From Had to Worse.
The result of this haphazard reckoning
on the revenue was a law which never
produced a 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 n sum
than $S1. 100000. For tbis exceedingly
iil-tlmed miscalculntion. the Democratic
Fifty-third Congress is properly held re-
sponsible for the necessity of subsequent
bond issues. II Is true that both houses
had added TO the hill tax of two per
cent on incomes over $4,000. and in a
vague. indefinite way had reckoned that
the product of this tax would make good
whatever deficiencies might arise from
other schedules The income tax did not