CONGRESS. (REVEKFE REFOBM.) 



203 



would dare to extort such a tribute from its 

 subjects in excess of the proper requirements 

 of the public service ; and the question which 

 Congress is now* compelled to determine is 

 whether such a policy can be longer continued 

 here in this country, where the people are sup- 

 posed to govern in their own right and in their 

 own interest." 



In reference to the efforts made by the Treas- 

 ury Department to employ the surplus on hand, 

 Mr. Carlisle said: "On the 17th day of last 

 month the Secretary of the Treasury, in pursu- 

 ance of authority conferred upon him by the 

 law of March, 1881, as interpreted by the two 

 Houses of Congress, issued a circular inviting 

 proposals for the sale of bonds to the Govern- 

 ment. The first purchase was made under this 

 invitation on the 18th day of April, and between 

 that date and the close of business yesterday, a 

 period of one month, he has purchased on ac- 

 count of the Government four-per'-cent. bonds 

 to the amount of $13,4:56,500, upon which in- 

 terest had accrued at the date of the pur- 

 chase to the amount of $53,172.07. For these 

 bonds he was compelled to pay the sum of 

 $17,046,136.06, which was $3.536.464 more 

 than the principal and accrued interest, or a 

 premium of 26J per cent. During the same 

 time and under the same authority he pur- 

 chased 4^-per-cent. bonds to the amount of 

 $12.404,450, upon which interest had accrued 

 to the amount of $108,086.55. For these 

 bonds he paid the sum of $13,379,188.37, 

 which was $866,652.37 in excess of the prin- 

 cipal and interest. The premium paid upon 

 this class of bonds was nearly seven per cent. 



" This is the situation into which the Govern- 

 ment has been forced by the failure of Con- 

 gress in past years to make provision for a 

 reduction of taxation. Millions of dollars 

 which ought to have remained in the hands 

 of the people who earned the money by their 

 labor and by their skill in the prosecution of 

 business have been taken away from them by 

 law to be paid out to the bondholders in ex- 

 cess of their legal demands against the Gov- 

 ernment. And, sir. if the present Congress 

 shall adjourn without applying a remedy, 

 this unjust process must go on for an in- 

 definite length of time. In the presence of 

 such a situation we can not afford to quar- 

 rel about trivial details. A reduction of the 

 revenue not by increasing taxation, as some 

 propose, but by diminishing taxation in such 

 manner as will afford the largest measure of 

 relief to the people and their industries 

 should be the great and controlling object to 

 which everything else should be subordinated. 

 I do not mean that every interest, however 

 small and insignificant, should not be care- 

 fully considered in a friendly spirit, but I do 

 mean that the general interests of the many 

 should not be subordinated to the special in- 

 terests of the few." 



In reference to the theoretical question under- 

 lying the issue of tariff reduction, Mr. Carlisle 



said : " Although the question now presented is 

 purely a practical one, it necessarily inv 

 to some extent, a discussion of the conflicting 

 theories of taxation which have divided the 

 people of this country ever since the organiza- 

 tion of the Government. There is a funda- 

 mental and irreconcilable difference of opinion 

 between those who believe that the power of 

 taxation should be used for public pur 

 only, and that the burdens of taxation should 

 be equally distributed among all the people 

 according to their ability to bear them, and 

 those who believe that it is the right and duty 

 of the Government to promote certain private- 

 enterprises and increase the profits of those 

 engaged in them by the imposition of higher 

 rates than are necessary to raise revenue for 

 the proper administration of public affairs ; 

 and so long as this difference exists, or at least 

 so long as the policy of the Government is not 

 permanently settled and acquiesced in, these 

 conflicting opinions will continue to embarrass 

 the representatives of the people in their ef- 

 forts either to increase or reduce taxation. 



' While no man in public life would venture 

 to advocate excessive taxation merely for the 

 purpose of raising excessive revenue, many 

 will advocate it, or at least excuse it, when 

 the rates are so adjusted or the objects of 

 taxation are so selected as to secure advan- 

 tages, or supposed advantages, to some parts 

 of the country or to some classes of industries 

 over other parts and other classes ; and this, 

 Mr. Chairman, is the sole cause of the diffi- 

 culties we are now encountering in our efforts 

 to relieve the peple and reduce the surplus. 

 It is the sole cause of the unfortunate delay 

 that has already occurred in the revision of 

 our revenue laws, and if the pending bill shall 

 be defeated and disaster in any form shall 

 come upon the country by reason of overtaxa- 

 tion and an accumulation of money in the 

 Treasury, this unjust feature in our present 

 system will be responsible for it. 



"Whenever an attempt is made to emanci- 

 pate labor from the servitude which an un- 

 equal system of taxation imposes upon it, 

 whenever it is proposed to secure as far as 

 possible to each individual citizen the full 

 fruits of his own earnings, subject only to the 

 actual necessities of the Government, and 

 whenever a measure is presented for the re- 

 moval of unnecessary restrictions from do- 

 mestic industries and international commerce, 

 so as to permit freer production and freer ex- 

 changes, the alarm is sounded and all the co- 

 horts of monopoly are assembled to hear their 

 heralds proclaim the immediate and irretriev- 

 able ruin of the country.'' 



Mr. Carlisle cited eases in which business 

 prosperity had followed tariff reduction ; and 

 conceding that a general movement toward 

 higher wages and lower prices for manufact- 

 ures had prevailed for years here and elsewhere, 

 he held that the result was due to other causes 

 than protection in cases where it accompanied 



