Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1883 — THE TARIFF. [ARTICLE]

THE TARIFF.

A Lively Debate In the Bout of BepreMBtettVM. [Associated Press Report.] In the House of Representatives at Washington, on Monday, Feb. 5: Mr. Kelley moved to suspend the rules and adopt the following resolution: That on the 12th of February, or on any day thereafter, the committee of the whole on'the state of the Union, having? consideration of the House Tariff bill, is hereby empowered to order the bill and amendment thereto to the House for its action, with such recommendations as may be determined upon by the majority of the votes of said committee, and on Feb. 12 a motion made in the committee of the whole to rise and report the bill to the House shall take precedence of a motion to amend. The motion was seconded, 120 to Bft Mr. Kelley said the country expected this Congress to revise the revenue system, and jto reduce the excessive surplus income. The tactios which had delayed the Internal Revenue bill until near the close of the last session, and had forced down its proportions, were now being resorted to in connection with tin pending Tariff bill If the House was to pass the Tariff Mil it must have power to escape from the distinguished leadership of the other side—no legitimate leadership; not the leadership of distinguished gentlemen who represented that side on the Committee of Ways and Means, but that leadership which proposed amendments to that which no man on the floor wanted amendments, which called for divisions and tellers, and which, unhappily, found support enough to obtain them: that leadership (referring to Mr. Wheeler, of Alabama) which would have rallied the cotton States in favor of putting ootton-seed oil on the free list; that leadership (referring to Mr. Springer) which on a joke mistook a specimen of American ceramic art as a cuspidor, and lectured the House on the extravagance of American workingmen in providing themselves with such costly spittoons The House must escape from that leadership and bring the bill under the control of its friends

Mr. Morrison said one paramount duty of Congress was -to revise the tariff, and so revise it as to reduce taxation. - This the bill prevented. Thebill was to deprive the Government of revenue by increasing taxation, and it was thus proposed to forestall any reduction of the tariff. It was a sham, and once passed it would be claimed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Kelley) and his friends that it was a revision of the tariff and therefore a settlement of the question, and that the question must not De again agitated, lest the business of the country be disturbed. The Tariff Commission has been revising the tariff for six months; the Committee on Ways and Means for six weeks; the Finance Committee of the Senate and the Senate itself for several weeks, and none of these four revisions was alike. Now the gentleman from Pennsylvania proposed to ask 2D2 men to take the work of the Committee on Ways and Means when it did not agree with the work of the other revisers. The gentleman knew it was impossible to consider half the bill in five daya Mr. Carlisle said the House had only been considering the Tariff bill for one week, and now at the first opportunity it was proposed to limit its consideration to one week more. The House had not as yet completed two schedules, and they by no means ihe most important By the end of the week the metal schedule would have been passed, but the committee of the whole would not have reached those schedules where lhrge increases of taxation were made, in cotton and the woolen schedule there was an increase of taxation to the amount of millions. He stood here as anxious to see the passage of a proper measure as any gentleman could be, but he stood here also to demand for the representatives of the people that right which had always been enjoyed by them—the right of free speech for the interest of the taxpayers of the country. He should protest against any measure calculated to stifle the rights of the people’s representatives on a bill which proposed to tax them to the extent of at least $200,000,000. If Congress were to pass the measure making an insignificant reduction in the revenue and at the same time increasing taxation, it would be claimed hereafter that the question was settled, and if the Democrats undertook to reopen it they would be subject to the accusation of being simply agitators and disturbers of business interests.

Mr. Hatch thought It came with bad grace from the gentleman from Pennsylvania to ask the House to pass a tariff bill when, during a session of eight months, the same gentleman had declared, by a bill which he brought in and championed, that after thirty years of delving in this tariff question he was unable to manage it, and wanted to relegate his high trust to a tariff commission, yet, having raised that commission, he swept the report aside and brought before the country a bill which increased the rates recommended by it. Mr. Haskell commented on the fact that the country had watched six years, and had waited in vain for a revision of the tariff at the hands of the Democratic party. Now that the Republican Congress had brought in a bill largely reducing taxation, the Democratic side of the House said “Nay." Mr. McKinley believed the Democratic side had made up its mind deliberately that, if it could be prevented, no tariff legislation should be enacted by this Congress. Mr. Springer—That s not so. Mr. McKinley—l have no doubt of it When we proposed the Commission bill you were erring for a revision of the tariff, declaring that this proposition was “an affidavit for a continuance," but we passed it, and it is the gentlemen on the other side who are making “an affidavit for a continuance” now. I have heard representative men on the other side of the house say they could amend this bill until the 4th of March, and that they would do it rather than that the Republican party should pass a Tariff bllL Mr. McKenzie—Name your men. I defy you to name them. Mr. McKinley—Does the gentleman want me to name them? Mr. McKenzie—Yea Mr. McKinley—l can name them by the score Mr. McKenzie—You can’t name one. Mr. McKinley—l can name men on the very committee on which I serve who were honest enough to say that rather than have the bill reported by the Committee of Ways and Means they would sit here until the 4th of March before the bill should be passed. Mr. McKinley—l ask that we pass the Tariff bill because the business interests of the country demand it The business Interests want rest, and certainly, and above all, they do not want a Democratic Congress to make for them a Free-trade bill Mr. Reed, in a brief speech, charged the Democrats with the intention to defeat the bill, and then a motion to suspend the rules ana adopt the resolution was lost—yeas 189, nays 10»—not the necessary two-thirds in the affirmative—a party vote, except that Messrs Hardenburg. Morse, Spear. Wilson of West Virginia, ana Wise of Pennsylvania voted with the Republicans in the affirmative .