178 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



the British Parliament on great questions ot 

 this kind is strongly in support of the bill 

 reported by the committee, and which was 

 introduced by the Senator from Connec- 

 ticut." 



Mr. Coke, of Texas : " Mr. President, it is 

 not my intention to make a speech upon the 

 tariff question, but simply and very briefly to 

 give the reasons for the vote that I shall give 

 upon the measure now before the Senate. I 

 shall vote against the bill known as the Eaton 

 bill and in favor of the substitute proposed by 

 the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Garland]. I 

 would vote against any measure looking to a 

 tariff commission at all if it were not that we 

 are now at the conclusion of the session of Con- 

 gress. If these bills had been before the Sen- 

 ate at the beginning of the session I should have 

 opposed the passage of either of them. I pre- 

 fer the bill of the honorable Senator from Ar- 

 kansas for one reason above all others, that it 

 proposes that the commission shall report to 

 the next session of Congress, and I particularly 

 oppose the Eaton bill because the commission 

 provided for under it is not to report until De- 

 cember, 1881, jumping over the next session of 

 Congress. 



" This question is one which I think demands 

 immediate action. There is a sufficient num- 

 ber of enormities in the existing tariff to call 

 for action at once without information, without 

 light from anybody. We all know that there 

 are many items in the existing tariff laws upon 

 which duties have been placed that should be 

 removed, because prohibitory and destructive 

 of revenue, which tax the people heavily, put 

 nothing in the public Treasury, but enrich enor- 

 mously a few manufacturers. We want no in- 

 formation from any source as to the propriety 

 of putting an end to this spoliation of the great 

 body of the people for the benefit of a privi- 

 leged class. I believe that if the commission 

 is created as contemplated by the Eaton bill 

 there will be no action at the next session of 

 Congress upon such items as I speak of. There 

 will be no action at all on the subject until this 

 commission reports, and we will pass over the 

 next session of Congress, as we have passed by 

 this, without giving any such relief as is de- 

 manded by the interests of the country. 



" We find upon the files of the Senate a great 

 number of petitions ; I have not counted them, 

 but there is a very great number, praying for 

 the passage of the Eaton bill. Four fifths of 

 these petitions are sent by firms and parties 

 engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel 

 in the various shapes in which these metals are 

 manufactured. The remainder are gotten up 

 by persons and firms engaged in the manufac- 

 ture of wool. There may be a few engaged in 

 the manufacture of cottor., but manufacturers 

 of iron and steel and the manufacturers of wool 

 have inundated the files of the Senate with pe- 

 titions praying for the passage of the Eaton 

 bill." 



Mr. Eaton: "If my friend will permit me, 



as he said there might be some petitions with 

 regard to cotton, let me say that there is one 

 petition here representing men who consume 

 fifteen hundred thousand bales of cotton, oper- 

 ating ten million spindles, with $300,000,000 

 capital, employing one hundred thousand hands 

 and giving food to five hundred thousand souls, 

 and that on the one item, of cotton." 



Mr. Coke: "I stand corrected. I knew that 

 some of these petitions were from cotton man- 

 ufacturers; I did not know how many. When 

 I turn to the tariff I find one hundred and 

 sixty-two items upon which there is a duty of 

 more than 50 per cent., the duty running some- 

 times as high as 200 per cent. I find the vari- 

 ous products made of iron and steel, I find the 

 products made of wool, included in this list ot' 

 one hundred and sixty-two articles. Then this 

 case is presented : Here is a bill known as the 

 Eaton bill proposing a revision of the tariff; it 

 is advocated by a combination of manufacturers 

 who are the most heavily protected of all the 

 classes who are protected at all under the tariff. 

 I find these heavily protected manufacturers 

 evidently by concert between themselves com- 

 bined to produce an impression upon the Sen- 

 ate in order to effect the passage of the Eaton 

 bill. 



" The Eaton bill leaves to the President of 

 the United States the appointment of the com- 

 missioners by and with the advice and consent 

 of the Senate. Who is responsible for the ex- 

 isting tariff, a species of class legislation which 

 enriches a few at the expense of the great body 

 of the people ? Who is responsible for it ? The 

 Republican party. Who is the chief, the official 

 head of the Republican party? The President 

 of the United States. He is to be given the 

 appointment of commissioners to revise and 

 modify a tariff imposed upon the people of the 

 country by his own party, and here we are sur- 

 rounded by the chief beneficiaries of this most 

 odious class legislation vociferously demanding 

 that this power be granted to the President. 

 What do they expect? They expect him to 

 uphold the policy and action of his party evi- 

 dently. They expect beneficial results to them- 

 selves. As I remarked before, they expect to 

 control the commission, and will do it. Instead 

 of tariff reform, we can expect from such a 

 body of men nothing else than a report white- 

 washing the present tariff. 



" It is said that the Democratic Senate must 

 advise and consent to these nominations. It is 

 very well understood here that any set of com- 

 missioners the President will nominate will be 

 confirmed; nobody doubts that. The reasons 

 for it are not necessary to bs stated, but could 

 be given if it were necessary. The President's 

 nominees will be confirmed. What will be the 

 state of the case then, suppose the Eaton bill 

 passes? We will have nine commissioners ap- 

 pointed by the President in harmony with the 

 views of the party which created this tariff, 

 who are to sit and to collect testimony through- 

 out the country and present their views to- 



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