170 



CONGRESS. (THE TARIFF BILL.) 



be a reduction in present tariff charges upon the 

 necessaries of life. The benefits of such a reduction 

 would be palpable and substantial, seen and felt by 

 thousands who would be better fed and better clothed 

 and better sheltered. These gifts should be the will- 

 inw benefactions of a government whose highest func- 

 ti.m is the promotion of the welfare of the people. 



Not less closely related to our people's prosperity 

 and well-being is the removal of restrictions upon 

 the importation of the raw materials necessary to our 

 manufactures. The world should be open to our 

 national ingenuity and enterprise. This can not be 

 while Federal legislation, through the imposition ot a 

 \i\ch tariff, forbids to American manufacturers as 

 chT-ap materials as those used by their competitors. 

 It is quite obvious that the enhancement of the price 

 of our manufactured products resulting from this 

 policy not only confines the market for these prod- 

 ucts within our own borders to the direct disadvan- 

 tage of our manufacturers, but also increases their 

 cost to our citizens. 



The interests of labr are certainly, though indi- 

 rectly, involved in the future of our tariff' system. 

 The 'sharp competition and active struggle among 

 our manufacturers to supply the limited demand for 

 their goods soon fill the narrow market to which they 

 are confined. Then follows a suspension of work in 

 mills and factories, a discharge of employees, and dis- 

 tress in the homes of our workingmen. Even if the 

 often disproved assertion could be made good, that a 

 lower rate of wages would result from free raw mate- 

 rials and low tariff duties, the intelligence of our 

 workingmen leads them quickly to discover that their 

 steady employment, permitted by free raw materials, 

 is the most important factor in their relation to tariff 

 legislation. 



A measure has been prepared by the appropriate 

 congressional committee, embodying tariff' reform on 

 the "lines herein suggested, which will be promptly 

 submitted for legislative action. It is the result of 

 much patriotic and unselfish work, and I believe it 

 deals with its subject consistently and as thoroughly 

 as existing conditions permit. I am satisfied that the 

 reduced tariff duties provided for in the proposed 

 legislation, added to existing internal-revenue taxa- 

 tion, will in the near future, though perhaps not im- 

 mediately, produce sufficient revenue to meet the 

 needs of the Government. 



The committee, after full consideration, and to pro- 

 vide against a temporary deficiency which may exist 

 before the business of the country adjusts itself to 

 the new tariff' schedules, have wisely embraced in 

 their plan a few additional internal-revenue taxes, 

 including small incomes derived from certain corpo- 

 rate investments. These new assessments are not 

 only absolutely just and easily borne, but they have 

 the further merit of being such as can be remitted 

 without unfavorable business disturbance whenever 

 the necessity of their imposition no longer exists. 



In my great desire for the success of this measure, I 

 can not restrain the suggestion that its success can 

 only be attained by means of unselfish counsel on 

 the part of the friends of tariff reform, and as a result 

 of their willingness to subordinate personal desires 

 iind aniliition> to the general good. The local inter- 

 csts affected by the proposed reform are so numerous 

 and so varied, that, if all are insisted upon, the legis- 

 lation embodying the reform must inevitably fail. 



In conclusion, my intense feeling of responsibility 

 impels me to invoke for the manifold interests of a 

 generous and confiding people the most scrupulous 

 care, and to pled ire, my willing support to every legis- 

 lative effort for the advancement oi the greatness and 

 prosperity of our beloved country. 



QBOTEB CLEVELAND. 



Executive Mansion, Washington, Dec. I>, 1893. 



The Tariff Bill. The most important work 

 of the session was the formulation and passage 

 of " An Act to reduce taxation, to provide rev- 

 enue for the Government, and for other pur- 



poses." The measure was reported by Mr. Wil- 

 son, of West Virginia, Dec. 19, 1893, from the 

 Committee on Ways and Means. It provided for 

 free raw sugar, free wool, free coal, free lumber, 

 and free iron ore, and reduced the duties on 

 many articles. 



On Jan. 24, 1894, a measure providing for an 

 income tax was presented in the House, and sub- 

 sequently that and certain internal-revenue fea- 

 tures were incorporated in the Wilson bill. 



In presenting the measure, Jan. 8 and 9, Mr. 

 Wilson said : 



" Tariff reform has been fought out as no other 

 economic issue ever was fought out before the 

 American people. 



" For seven Congresses it has b'een the chief 

 subject of political debate in this House and in 

 the^Senate. For years it has been the chief sub- 

 ject of political controversy in every congres- 

 sional district, in the press of the country, on the 

 hustings, at the schoolhouse, and at the country 

 store. After such discussion of our tariff system, 

 both as to its general principles and its seen and 

 actual operation, it was inevitable that the Amer- 

 ican people should reach a fixed and intelligent 

 judgment upon it. We are here with their com- 

 mission to carry out that judgment and to put 

 into law the reforms they have ordained at the 

 polls. 



" Of all our Federal system this House alone 

 derives its authority directly from the people, 

 and this House must originate every measure 

 that imposes taxes upon the people. 



" I am not called upon, in opening the debate 

 upon this bill, to discuss at length the principles 

 of tariff taxation, still less to anticipate the con- 

 sideration of its items and schedules. 



" The majority members of the Committee of 

 Ways and Means who have prepared this bill do 

 not present it under any illusion as to its true 

 character. They have had to deal with a system 

 that has grown up through thirty years of pro- 

 gressive legislation. They do not profess that 

 they have been able, at one stroke of reform, to 

 free it from injustice, or to prepare a bill directly 

 responsive to the command of the people. They 

 have dealt as intelligently and as fairly as they 

 could with existing conditions. Even in their 

 desire and purpose to do this they have been 

 hampered by the usual difficulties of reform, and 

 by some very unusual difficulties. We knew and 

 expected that some friends would fall away from 

 us whenever we presented any definite measure 

 of legislation. We knew from all experience of 

 the past that not all who march bravely in the 

 parade are found in line when the musketry be- 

 gins to rattle. 



" This is always the case. Reform is beauti- 

 ful upon the mountain top or in the clouds, but 

 ofttimes very unwelcome as it approaches our 

 own threshold. 



" But in addition to this usual and expected 

 embarrassment we are called upon to take up 

 this work in the shadow and depression of ;i 

 great commercial crisis. I shall pursue no in- 

 quiry into the causes of our present stricken in- 

 dustries and paralyzed trade. There seems t o be 

 some recurring cycle in modern times about such 

 depressions. But, sir, from whatever causes 

 originated, whether produced and fostered, or 

 merely aggravated and intensified by bad legisla- 





