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hrsSKL.!b, Editor and Prop’r IRSHAT. APRIL 27. 1882. Irmsof subscription. $2 00 . 1 00 India 75 nr 10 1,1 v in aJvxnce. kmSIKQ RATES AND RULES, •etnents inserted at $2 per square serlion, and $1 for each subse ts is ci|fht solid lines of this type, trail made with contract adverli- loticei of eight lines are 515 per •r $-'>0 per annum. Local notices ,n three months are subject to rates. fct advertisers who desire their ad- int. changed, must give us two lice, Jn; advertisements, unless other- listed in contract, will be changed i per square. j> sn 1 obituary notices, tributesof id other kindred notices, charged advertisements. ■senionts must take the run of the Iwe do not contract to keep them p-ticulnr place. cnientH for candidates are $10, if tie insertion i due upon the appearance of the tent, and the money will be col- heeded by the proprietor I adhere strictly to the above rules, irt from tbcui under nocircutn- fjJSS <(- UROFUSS/OSA L. MEDICAL CARD. M. J. Nicholson, moved to Twilight, Miller cotin- jr, a . Office in J. S. Cliiton’s feU.9,’82. MEDICAL CARD. E . J . Morgan moved his office io the drug store, occupied by Dr. Harrell. Resi- West street, south of Shotwell. Is at night will reach him. CHARLES C. BUSH, orney at Law COLQUITT, GA. attention piven to all business cn- o me. BY BEN. E. RUSSELL. BAINBRIDGE, GA, THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1882. YOL. 11.—NO. 28. Tariff and Tax Commission* DENTISTRY. Curry, D. D. S., found daily at his office on South rcet. up stairs, in E. Johnson’s where he is ready to attend to the the public at reasonable rates. dec-5-78 LI„ M. O’JIEAI. McGILL & O’NEAL, rneys at Law. BA1NBKIPGE, GA. sflicc will be found over the post of- 11.90®, BYRON B. BOWER. BOWER & DOKALSON. eysand Counsellers at Law. in the court house. Will practice ur and adjoining counties, and re by special contract. a-25 7 TOR M. L. BATTLE, - Dentist. over Iliads Store, West side >use. Has line dental engine, and e everything to make bis office is. Terms cash. Office hours 9 4 p. in. jan.!3tf JEFF D. TALBERT, orney at Law, Bainbridge, Georgia, practice in all the courts, and busi- trusted to bis care will be promptly d to. Office over store of M. E. & Son. feb.23,’82. DR. L. H. PEACOCK, tfully tenders his professional serv- tlie people of Bainbridge and vicini- over store of .T. T>. Harrell & Bro nee on West end of Broughton here he can be found at night. 6, 1881— H. F. SHARON, orney at Law. Office in Conrt House, practice in all the courts of the Circuit and Supreme Conrt of In the Circuit and Supreme of Florida, and elsewhere by special t. bridge, Ga.. April 23,1881—ly. 31ACON r ipeeial instruction in bookkeeping, •hip, business arithmetic, corres- e, bill heading, telegraphy and business routine. KAY, - - PRNICIPAL. erras, information’ as to boarding ply to the principal. P. O. box icon, Georgia. F. /AKER ASD JEWELER. L. M. Criffin's old stand, corner juth Broad and Troup streets, dge, - Ga. ng and repairing, watches, ewing-machines and all kinds of done with neatness and dispatch. r-Vil work warranted. idge, G*., August 4,1874.— SPEECH OF BON. n. G. TURNER, OF GEORGIA. In the House of I’.epresentatives, Thursday April l3tA 1882. The House, as in Committee of the Whole House on tbe state of the Union, having un der consideration tbe bill (H. R. No. 2315) to provide for the appointment ot a commission to investigate the question of the tariff and internal-revenue laws— M it. Turner, of Georgia. Mr. Chair man, I ask that the bill be read. The Clerk read as follows : lie it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a commission is hereby created to be called the tariff commission, to consist of nine members. Sec 2. That the President of the United States shall, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, ap point nine commissioners from civil life, one of whom, the first named, shall be the president of the commission. The commissioners shall receive, as a com pensation for their services, each at the rate of $10 per day when engaged in active duty, and actual traveling and other necessary expenses. The com mission shall have power to employ a stenographer aud a messenger; and the foregoing compensation and expenses to be audited and paid by the Sec retary of the Treasury oat of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. Sec 3. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners to take consideral tion and to thoroughly investigate al- the various questions relating to the agricultural, commercial, mercantile, manufacturing, mining and industrial interests of the United States, so far as the same may be necessary to the estab lishment of a judicious tariff, or a re vision of the existing tariff and the ex isting system of internal-revenue laws, upon a scale of justice to all interests ; and for the purpose of fully examining the matters which may come before it, said commission in the prosecution of Us inquiries is empowered to visit such different portions and sections of the country as it may deem advisable. Sec 4. That the commission shall report to Congress the results of their investigation, and the testimony taken in the course of the same form‘time to time, and make their finnl report not later than the first Monday in Janua ry, 1883. Mr Turner, of Georgia. The bill, Mr. Chairman, is a plain concession of the necessity for a revision of the tariff; and yet it is not a lit'le remarkable that all those who support the bill devote so much zeal to the defense of the tariff. A. Bystom confessedly bad has had most elaborate apologies from those who propose to amend it. Those of us, sir, who are opposed to the bill denounce its enormities, arraign its incongruities, and demand their immediate correction at the hands of Congress. Under the present necessities of the Government absolute free trade is im practicable. If we did not owe two thousand million of dollars ; if we had no pension-roll, I should be found among those who fight under the flag of an unrestricted commerce. Direct taxation is also undesirable, because under the constitution direct taxation is lequired to be apportioned among the States according to population, at)d the poor would have to pay as much as the rich. Such a system would be as op pressive as the tariff. 1 shall favor no revolutionary methods in the present exigencies which surrounded the coun try, nor shall I advooate any radical innovations. yVhat is the tariff? It is aside from my purpose to enter into any detailed examination ot elaborate discussion of the details of present tariff It is suf ficient for my present purpose to say that it is a system of taxation under which duties a?h laid upon several thousand articles of imported goods, in cluding the commonest necessaries of life. It is a tax levied upon all the articles which enter into general con sumption, and at an average rate 43i per cent. Last year there were import ed into this country of dutiable commo dities over $463,000,000. Upon that amount of imported goods this tariff im posed in round numbers a tax of one hundred and ninety-eight millions. The percentage is easily ascertained It requires no argument, no iilustraMon to show that this immense taxation falls at last upon those who consume the imported goods. This is tbe direct effect of the tariff. But there are other consequences of the tariff which are still more momentous. The cost of imported goods being augmented by this direct effect of the tariff, the American manufacturer can increase the price of bis goods without paying the tax. This is the indirect effect of the tariff and is commonly called protec tion. The present tariff, which was framed during a state of war, is relative ly higher now in a time of profound peace than it was at the time when war was flagrant in tbe country. The lapse of time, the mutations of trade, and other causes have reduced the price of dutiable commodities in all the countries of the world, and yet the tariff rates remained the same. A tax which may be reasonable at the time it is imposed became onerous and oppressive when the value of the property upon which it js levied has been greatly dimin- nished. New, let us with these preliminary statements pause to calculate tbe ag gregate burdens borne by the various industries of this country utfier the in cidental operation of the tariff. Asum- ing that there is an annual consumption of four thousand millions of domestic or American commodities, a very high authority estimated that one-fourth of that sum, or $1,000,000,000, represents the added or increased value due to the American tariff. Another authority, equally respecta ble, assuming that five times as much of American goods is consumed as of imported goods, reaches the saaic result, the two hundred millions of revenue derived from the tariff multiplied by that figure producing exactly the same result. Without intending in any wise to cast discredit, upon the accuracy of these estimates, but in order to be en tirely fair, let us throw off two-thirds ot the sum and make our calculations npon that basis. It results that the protected classes make for themselves by the operation of the tariff nearly 50 per cent, more than the Government itself does. Indeed, well may it be said, as was frankly stated by the gen tleman from Ohio [Mr. McKinley] the other day, that the tariff system has beoome a tariff for protection with incidental revenue. The doctrine has been avowed upon this floor for the first time within my knowledge. For one hundred years the tariff discussion has gone on in this country. Ten times the tariff question has been under crucial tests and under exhaust ive discussion both by the ifouse and Seuate. The question has been fought upon a thousand fields, in Congress, in the eourts,on the hustings, every where, by men great and small, by Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Benton ; and yet never before, as far as 1 am aware, has any man dared to declare that under our Constitution a tariff can be laid for protection only, and under which rev enue to the Government shall arise by mere accident. A tax not for revenue is as absurd as it is unconstitutional. Mr. Chairman, the doctrine that Congress can enact a tariff only for revenue, keeping in view its influence upon our own industries, has been too long settled to admit of reargument. With me. at least, it is res adjudicata. In order to exclude cheap European goods from onr markets and command high prices for American products we pay annually to our protected classes over $30(^,000,000 and to the Govern ment less than $200,000,000. By the operation of the tariff you give annual ly to the beneficiaries of the tariff six times as much as you paid last year to the widows and orphans and maimed victims of the war. It is a civil list un precedented in the annals of mankind. You give to the heroes who fought for the Union and escaped its casualties your thanks and nothing more. To the grim veterans of the tariff you give more than all, Government, Federal, State, county, and municipal through out this country costs the people. This aggregate bounty is greater than the vast and elaborate fabric of onr liberties itself cost us last year. If this sum had been collected by the Government it would have extinguished our public debt long ago - Now, let us add to this calculation the incidential revenue of $200,000,000 which the Government receives from the tariff, and we have the grand total of taxation upon the people, which no empire on earth, however rich or exten sive or despotic, ever dared to inflict upon its subjects either in peace or in war. Our surplus cotton brought us from Europe last year $220,000,000. Our surplus wheat, corn, and flour brought us $23,0,000,000, more. And yet the whole of this vast surplus, amounting to S450.000,000, would not pay the annual cost of the tariff to the American people. It costs us annually twice as much as all the property-of every kind in the State which I have tbe honor in part to represent. Our surplus revenue alone, if maintained at the rate of last year, would, accord ing to the estimate of the Picsident in his annual message, pay our entire debt in ten years. If we could add to that the principal cost of the tariff we could pay that debt in less than three years. I think, -sir, it is time to calculate tbe value of the tariff. Gentlemen say that the country has prospered not withstanding the tariff. I deny the statement so far as my constituents are concered. The protected classes have undoubtedly proposed. But admitting for the sake of the argument that the other classes have prospered also, would it not be fair to enqire how much more they would have prospered if these enormous burdens had been alleviated ? We are told that the tariff protects American labor. The pretension is an ingenious effort to enlist the victims of the tarilf in its support. It has been exposed and exploded many times hith- herlo in this bebate. But even if it were true that the tariff fosters American labor, it could not be claimed that its beneficence extends beyond the protect ed classes. You may make employ ment and wages for tailors, hatters, and shoemakers, but in order to do it you make all other laborers and other peo ple pay more for their clothes, hats, and shoes. In order to help one poor man you tax a hundred more, and the profits go into the packets of the manu facturer- The tariff duties, Mr. Chairman, are so high that imports are aetually pro hibited. By lowering the rates we can increase the imports, and thus increase the income of the tariff to the Govern ment. These propositions are self- evident. The statement of them is a sufficient demonstration of their truth. Such is the eternal fitness of things that by lessening the burdens of the people we can augment the public revenues. On account of the present prohibitory duties we have had to devise the odi ous system of internal taxation in order to supplement our customs. If we will but reduce the scale of tariff taxation we can secure ample rsvenue from that source alone and abolish the excise system. I commend this view to my colleague, [Mr. Speer,] who I believe supports this bill. Historical piecedents have been cited to justify this system of unju3t burdens. The gentlemen from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Kel ley,] in a recent issue of the International Review, gives us an inventory of nations ruined by free trade; and as if more au thority were needed, if 1 am not mistaken the gentleman from Iowa, [Mr Kasson] who reported this bill, adds tbe weight of hissanc'ion this list of “modern instances.” Turkey, Ireland and India are the coun tries said to have been desolated by free trade. From my limited study of history I had be -n led to believe that a succession of calamitous wars had devastated these countries. J’he armies of Eogland, for two or three centuries under Cromwell and othere, have marched up and down Ireland, destroying the'energies and resources and freedom of a proud and gallant people, leaving in their stead confiscation, poverty, and desDair. The loss of her ancient fab ric of liberty probably had some influence on the condition ol Ireland. And it is not to be forgotten that this same Ameri can tariffinflicts upon the linens and other products of that poor, miserable, desolated country a duty of 35 and 40 per cent. Let not the tariff charge its own sins upon free trade. I had thought that the brave Sobtes- ki, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and the Hungarian chiefs'had rescued Europe from the domination of the Turks and hurled them back, demoralized and improverished, toward the east whence they came. Isolated, surrounded by hostile foes who would not assimilate with them or trade with them, tyranny, taxation, and other Asiatic practices completed the decadence of Turkish power in Europe. You might as well say that free trade destroyed Tyre and Sidon. How the history of the world would have been changed if Babylon the great, Nineveh, and Carthage, and Rome could have had the geniu3 to invent a high protective and prohib itory fariff. If I had selected in the whole range of history a single country which afforded the most conspicuous evidence and the most obvious example of -a country ruined by the want of free trade, I should have gone at once to India. That country for over a cent ury was governed entirely by a trading company known as the East India Com pany ; a monopoly as remorseless and as withering as the American tariff. That country was despoiled by restrictions, by Warren Hastings, by Lord Clive, by war, famine, pestilence, tyranny, and taxation. Against this indictment of free trade I con prove an alibi. Gentlemen would have England enact against her own home industries tariffs in Ireland and in India, restric tions in some parts of the same empire agaiust the other parts The same gentlemen who complain of this feature of British statesmanship would hardly consent that each of the states which compose the American Union should protect its industries by a tariff of its own. I beg leave also to cite a little piece of history. It i9 none the less impres sive because it relates to New Englagd. The stamp tax had been repealed upon if this were true, the history of the matter would show that it is a grace by omission and not by commission. And I believe the gentleman hiself has a bill pending in this Hoose by which he propoeses to “re vise” away even this little estray of in advertent exemption from taxation. But the statement of the gentleman is not plausible enough to mislead or deceive. When the farmer takes his cotton to mar ket, inclosed in bagging autl bound in iron ties, he sells the bale in gross at so much per pound for conveuieuce. Now let us resolve the matter into rts elements. Let us suppose the farmer were to it eniize the transaction and sell the net cot ton and the bagging and ties on a bill of particulars. The cotton would bring a higher price and the bagging and ties would bring less than they cost or go to the rubbish heap. That would be the result if the cotton was specifically tared in every transaction. < I hope the gentleman will reconsider his purpose to inflict upon our people an aggra vation of this sacrafice. Why should we postpone to the next session or the next Gonrress tbe revision of the tariff? The gentleman from Pennsylvania. [Mr. Kel ley,] in tbe same article to which reference has already been made, says, evidently speaking of the protected industries: Are not our resources snperioror in ex tent, diversity, aud value to those of any other nation? Are not that aggregation of enterprising emigrants and their de- scendents, known as the American people as ingenious, industrious and thrifty as the people of any other country? I answer,yes. And I agree with him at least so far as the protected classes are concerned. The beneficiaries of the tariff, then, are no longer weak. They, are the most pros perous of all our people. They have all the advantages which marvelous inven tion have created. They have enslaved steam and educated it into a trained ar tisan ; and coal and iron are the swarthy the advice of Dr. Franklin, who | bondsmen of accumulated capital. They represented the province of Pen-' have the experience of the last half centu- nsylvania as a sort of ambassador to the mother country. He had also given hts opinion to Parliament that the col onies would cheerfully submit to the payment; of customs duties on imports ; and the first tariff for America was then enacted, imposing a tax on tea, glass, paper, and a few other articles. The people of Boston replied by compelling the first collector of customs in this country to seek safety on a British man* of-war; and when the first cargoes of tea taxed by that tariff arrived in Bos-* ton Harbor the people of Boston—mark it, sir—disguised as savages, went on board, overpowered the crews, and pitched the tea into the bay. That was the first kuklux operation ever recorded in American history. [Laugh ter.] To resist that tariff tbe thirteen colonies went to war and resorted to revolution. Would it be amiss for me to claim in the Faoe of those who denounce free trade and canonize the tariff that the spirit of free trade is akin to the love of freedom and that it struck the very fi.rst blow for American indepen dence ? I have been trying by a somewhat diligent study of this subject, to ascer tain how my constituents are benefited by a tariff ; for selfish considerations, I observe, are not entirely ignored in discussions of the tariff. The millions of men, white and black, who work not six months but twelve months of the year, who toil through the blazing heats of the southern summer and in winter still wipe the sweat from their face3. the men who make the material for the clothes of all mankind, material good enopgh for the prince and cheap enough for the peasant, how are they blessed by the tariff? Let me speak plainly. They barely make a living, while they pay bounties of 20, 30, and 40 per cent, to prosperous man ufacturers on every thing which necessity and decency compel them to bny. The very implements of tteir tireless industry, ay, sir, even cotton goods, the fibers of which their own hard hands have made, can be bought far cheaper in any other country on earth than in their own. It is well that tkis system of taxation is masked and disguised aud. like other pick-pockets, accomplishes ita ends by stealthy indirection. It was Btntus, sir, who said : “By Heaven! I would coin my heart for Jold and 1 would drop my blood for drachmas before I would- wriog from the hard hands of peasants their vile tra3h by any indirection. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. McKin ley] was kind enough the other day to al lege one instance in which the producers of cotton are generously treated under this system of taxation. If I did not misapprehend him he stated that cotton- growers can purchase their ties at 2 or 3 cents per pound, and sell them with their cotton at 11 or 12 cents per pound. Even ry, which, so far as the mechanical arts are concerned, i3 worth more to them, in comparably moro than all the experience of all other ages of the world. On the other baud tbo people nfe overtaxed, a3 I have shown, and the public revenues are redundant. Thre is more information on the subject .of the tariff within our grasp than ever be fore. There is still in the other branch of Congren3 the father ot the system whose name it bears; and here in this Hall is the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Kelley,] who has himself stated that he has just been rewarded with the ambi tion of his life, the distinction of presiding over the deliberations of the committee charged with the consideration of this sub ject. There are other gentlemen here, whom it would be invidious perhaps to mention in such company, who have not Studied this subject in vain. We bavo the the most elaborate census the country has ever had. Pressurers can be seen ; the di rection and force of currents can be noted at a glance. We cau, as with a map of our commerce out-spread before us, trace through our wide domains and throughout the world all the phenomena of our trade for last year yesterday, and to-day, and confidently calculate the probabilities of the future. This bill is a proclamation of the failure of repre3entatiue government after a cen tury of experience. The purpose, pluinly, stated, is to give to the lobby the imita tion of a great reform. Yy propose to transfer our duty to the representatives of the tariff. You might as well intimst tbe reformation ot Utah to the cotmcil of Latter Day Saints, or Mongolian immigra tion to the six Chinese companies. Protection is the sovereign power of taxation conferred on private individuals ; and this bill proposes to arm it with the still farther power of legislation. “Such greatness doth hedge a king!” Congress has been supposed to consist of Senate, House, and lobby; but if we look to the sources of polititial power hereafter we describe the constituent bodies as the peo ple and the tariff. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. McKin ley] ba3 candidly said that he would vote to confide this review of the tariff to tho.se who would be-“favorable to the American system.” And we must needs import, du ty free, from our enemies in England this tribunal of experts as a supplement to our statesmanship. In the land of its birth its membere once ha 1 the power to vote iu committies of Parliament. Let ns reha bilitate and enlarge this decaying institu tion. Let us construct an annex to the Capitol (I believe that word, too, is a for eign imoortation) and give the tariff a par liament of its own. I am in some doubt where to locale this new tribunal under our constitutional sys tem. I am not sure whether it is to be an upper chamber to Congress or whether it is to be the tail end of the Cabinet. If this is to be the result of sending our statesmen abroad, let ns hereafter pay a little more attention than we have don% to the consular and diplomatic bills. This is a scheme not merely to glide over the fall elections, but it is intended to perpet uate the tariff without incurring direct re 11 sponsibility for its outrageous and mon strous burdens. It is injected into the body of our polities. Tbe member chosen to report and defend the bill has been most fitly selected. Our statesmen one® preferred direct and manly methpda; mod ern ‘‘politicians'-’ seek their ends through a “circumlocution office.” We are not only asked to vacate ouf functions, but we are asked to confer on the Executive the selection of these new law givers of the tariff. If we should re-' luctantly conclude that better material® for a Ways aud Means Committee can be fonnd among tho people than the Speaker has been able to find on the roll of those whom the people have selected for this service, shall wo complete our humiliation by a surrender of our traditional and con-' stitutional power over the revenue to the appointees of the President and the Sen ate ? If we are not ourselves adequate to the task to which the people have appoint ed us, we ought at least to* reserve th® poor privilege of choosing our own coun j selors. But we are told by the gentleman from Iowa [Mr. Kasson] that Congress consist® of “politicians,” and therefore cannot be trusted to reconstrnct the tariff. How much better shall we escape th“ influence of politicians by this bill ? Is the White House quarantined against the politicians? I arraign no individual; I ipdict no man ; but 1 affirm that the very worst form of servility to party infects the executive department' ol this Goverpment. From the bench of the highest court on earth down to a village post-office, appointment® are made with unwavering subservience tor party. The inauguration of a President i» merely the curouation of a faction. In vested with tho external trappings of power, he is merely the executor of the will of those who made and can unmake . him. And wheffit comes to a question like this, un happily political considerations are reinforc ed, if reinforcement were needed, by other influences. ^ • Those who arc interested in. the perpet uation of the tariff have grown very- strong under its Operation*, while those who seek its modification have been im poverished by it- Sir, in all countries and in all ages of the world the poor have very little influence with power ; put aggrega tions of immense wealth in individuals, companies, associations monopolie, banks, [tools, and syndicates,' when they unite their confederated power, what interest of tbe poor and weak can they not domi nate ? Here in Congress we can, in tho face of the people, try conclusions at every stage cf a public question. We watch for the better reason. We are accustomed to look more at tho sources of political power. Here the minority have somet rights, and in the last resort can defeat iniquity by the ‘ potency of silence, [Laughter.], Here both sides of a great issue can be heard, and better than in any place under the Government, Con gress can if it will; the President cannot if he would. In his eloquent peroration the gentle" man from Iowa, [Mr. Kasson,] discount ing somewhat the music of the spheres, delighted nil who heard him with hi® tribute to the sweet strains of machinery 1 auu lqbor. Imitating one of the pret tiest legends of antiquity his speqph wa® no apotheosis of the tariff and his bill pro- vidcs the immortal nine who were to sing its praises, the “expert” muses of tbe tar iff. [Laughter.] And they are to be call" ed a “commission.” If the American people have not forgotten too much that word is enough. [Laughter. When it goes down to the grave of its ancestor® and is buried under the family name, let its epitaph be—verbum ‘sap. [Laughter*] Tbe wonderful multiplication of inven tions has been so rapid in this country, that we may well pause and contemplate the future of labor and capital in this country. The tide of immigration which now reaches our eastern shores, and swell ed by the young men of New England who fail to find profitable employment under the shadow of the tariff, spread® over the rich plains of the West, and from the wilderness rise great and pros* flerous States, like sudden apparitions. But when the area cf cultivable land is covered with our expanding population aud cheap homes for imigrants are no longer attainable, then our dependent chisse3 will multiply and our laborer® will have to compete with the machine® with which an undue development of mechanical genius has superseded Ameri can labor. Then we will require free ac» cess to all the world for the sals of our surplus products. It would be a wise statesmanship which shall anticipate that era not far distant and begin at once the preparation for a free commercial inter course with all the world. [Applanse.] Few steamboat disasters have been at tended with so great a loss of life as th® burning of the steamer “Golden City," at Memphis, on last Wednesday night. The fire broke out just as thp boat waa making land, and all would have been saved had the rope not burned in two before passengers could get to shore. Tbe corrected list of the missing shows twen ty-three deaths. The fire waa purely ac cidental and so far do blame has attach ed to any one, except tbe person whose duty it was to see that the lanterns on the boat were keft in proper trios. The fire was caused by the dropping out of the bottom of an engineer's lan» tern, which set fire to a heap of dry jute. The high water and swift cur rent prevented aid from being effectual in the saving of life.