CONGRESS. (REVENUE REFORM.) 



In his opening speech. Mr. Mills urged a re- 

 duction of the revenue on the ground that it 

 Is the needs of the Government, and is 

 produced by a system of taxation adopted to 

 meet the emergencies of the civil war : " Mr. 

 Chairman, during our late civil war the ex- 

 penditures required by an enormous military 

 establishment made it necessary that the bur- 

 dens of taxation should be laid heavily in all 

 directions authorized by the Constitution. The 

 internal-revenue and direct taxes were called 

 into requisition to supplement the revenues 

 arising from customs, to aid the Treasury to 

 respond to the heavy demands which were 

 being daily made upon it. The duties on im- 

 ports were raised from an average on dutiable 

 goods of 18'8-i per cent, in 1861 to an average 

 of 40-29 per cent, on dutiable goods during the 

 five years from 1862 to 1866, inclusive. This 

 was recognized at the time as an exceptionally 

 heavy burden. It was stated by the distin- 

 guished gentleman who then presented to the 

 House the bill so largely increasing the duties, 

 and which to-day bears his honored name, that 

 it was demanded by the exigencies of war, and 

 must cease on the return of peace. In his own 

 words, he said : ' This is intended as a war 

 measure, a temporary measure, and we must 

 as such give it our support.' More than twenty 

 years have elapsed since the war ended. A 

 generation has passed away and a new genera- 

 tion has appeared on the stage since peace has 

 returned to bless our common country ; but 

 these war taxes still remain ; and they are 

 heavier to-day than they were on an average 

 during the five years of the existence of hos- 

 tilities. The average rate of duty during the 

 last five years, from 1883 to 1887, inclusive, on 

 dutiable goods amounts to 44-51 per cent., and 

 during the last year the average is -iT'lO per 

 cent. Instead of the rate of taxation being 

 reduced to meet the wants of an efficient ad- 

 ministration of government in time of peace, it 

 continues to grow and till the coffers of the 

 Government with money not required for public 

 purposes, and which rightfully should remain 

 in the pockets of the people." 



But. in the opinion of Mr. Mills, excessive 

 taxation is not the greatest evil of the existing 

 tariff : " The greatest evil that is inflicted by 

 it is in the destruction of the values of our ex- 

 ports. Remember that the great body of our 

 exports are agricultural products. It has been 

 so through our whole history. From 75 to 

 over 80 per cent, of the exports of this coun- 

 try year by year are agricultural products. 

 Cotton is first, then bread-stuffs, pork, beef, 

 butter, cheese, lard. These are the things that 

 keep up our foreign trade, and when you put 

 on or keep on such duties as \ve have now 

 war duties which were regarded as so enor- 

 mous even in the very midst of hostilities that 

 they were declared to be temporary when 

 you put on or retain those duties, they limit 

 and prohibit importation and that limits or 

 prohibits exportation. It takes two to make 



a trade. All the commerce of all the countries 

 of the world is carried on by an exchange of 

 commodities commodities going from the 

 country where they are produced at th< 

 cost to seek a market in those countries win-re 

 they can either not be produced at all or where 

 they can be produced onlv at the highest cost 

 of production. "We are the great agricultural 

 country of the world, and we have been feed- 

 ing the people of Europe, and the people of 

 Europe have got to give us in exchange the 

 products of their labor in their shops; and 

 when we put on excessive duties for the pur- 

 pose of prohibiting the importations of their 

 goods, as a necessary result we put an e 

 i\e duty upon the exportation of our own ag- 

 ricultural products. And what does that do? 

 It throws our surplus products upon our own 

 markets at home, which become glutted and 

 oversupplied, and prices go down. So it is 

 with the people of Europe who are manufact- 

 uring and producing things that we can not 

 produce, but which we want. Their products 

 are thrown upon their home markets, which 

 are glutted and oversupplied. and their prices 

 likewise go down. And whenever, from any 

 cause, prices start up in Europe, our tariff 

 being levied mainly by specific duties upon 

 quantity, not upon value, the tariff goes down, 

 and then we see large importation and, as a 

 result, large exportation. Then we see a rise 

 in agricultural products; then we see the cir- 

 culation of money all through the whole of 

 our industrial system ; we see our people going 

 to work, our manufactories starting up, and 

 prosperity in every part of the land." 



Mr. Mills also argued that the protective 

 tern, while of advantage to particular manufact- 

 urers, tends to cripple our production: "We 

 are the greatest agricultural people in the 

 world. We exceed all others in the products 

 of manufacture, but we export next to nothing 

 of our product. Why should we not export 

 the three hundred and seventy-five millions of 

 cotton goods which England is now exporting? 

 She buys her cotton from us. pays the cost of 

 transportation to her factories, makes the 

 goods, and sends them all over the world. 

 That trade, at least the most of it, is ours 

 whenever we get ready to take it. Why 

 should we not make and send out the hundred 

 millions of woolen goods which she is annually 

 exporting? We have the advantage of her in 

 almost everything except cost of materials. 

 Why should we not make and export the hun- 

 dred millions of iron and steel which she is 

 making and sending away annually? There is 

 no reason except that high tariffs and trusts 

 and combinations are in our way, and they 

 muster all their forces to prevent us from tak- 

 ing the place which our advantages entitle us 

 to take. We are the greatest people in the 

 world. We have the highest standard of civili- 

 zation; we have the highest and best diffu- 

 sion of knowledge among our people. We 

 utilize the power of machinery more than any 



