him. Adam Smith stuck pins in the protective tariff in Great Britain till it was dead, and the common shoolhouse and the schoolmaster in this country are sticking pins in it now, and will continue to stick pins in it until it is as dead in this country as it is in Great Britain. It would have required 58 persons, working one week, each making 12,000 eight-penny nails to make 704,000, now made by 1, and the wages of the 58, at $6 each, was They are now made by one hand, at $5 per day, six days Reduction $348 30 318 Mr. President, it is not taxing that reduces the price of a thing. Adding to the cost never reduces the price. That cannot be done. Adding to the cost of a thing increases the price of a thing, or mathematics is a lie. It is taking from the cost of a thing that reduces the price of it. That is what machinery does, what a revenue tariff does, and that is what free trade does still better. There can be no justification on earth, either in politics or common justice, to tax the products of human labor except to support the administration of government. When this Government was first founded, a hundred years ago, our old fathers advocated moderate protection, for what? Because they were involved in war all the time. They began in war; they continued in war, and for a generation and more they were struggling with the powers of all the world, it seemed. During Jefferson's administration the question was whether we would fall into the arms of Great Britain and the allied powers of the continent of Europe or France. Finally, we became involved in war with Great Britain. We needed manufactured products; we needed them every hour and every day, but the honest men of those days said they were in favor of protective duties to build up the infants. They never claimed that it was a permanent policy. They claimed that it was for the purpose of building up infant industries in this country which would eventually come to maturity. One of the most distinguished leaders of the Republican party, Gen. Garfield, twenty-five years ago or less, in voicing the sentiment of the modern protectionist of that day in his own party said that he was in favor of that kind of protection that led to free trade. That was the kind of protection that clay advocated; that was the kind that was contended for by the early protectionists. It was not changed until about the time of George M. Dallas, when standing where you are sitting now, Mr. President, he gave the casting vote in 1846 for the Walker tariff. He said then that the infant had its growth; it must now stand upon its own feet; it must depend upon itself. The policy after that time was not infant manufactures, but it changed them to protection of American workmen against the pauper labor of Europe. * * * We must take the tax off those materials that are wrought into manufactures. We must do that as far as we can. We must start in the good work, whether we can accomplish it all now or not. We must start, not protecting our manufactures and making them so high that our people cannot consume them, but making them low enough so that their consumption will be universal and to the largest possible To do that we will have to reduce the revenues we are taking from manufactured goods and take something from the accumulated wealth of the nation. extent. Appropriations and Expenditures.—Reductions and Reforms. Expenses Reduced $28,835,989.70. No Contrats Authorized to Burden Future Congresses. REMARKS OF HON. JOSEPH D. SAYERS, OF TEXAS, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Thursday, August 16, 1894. On the subject of appropriations. Mr. SAYERS said: Mr. SPEAKER: The appropriations made during the extraordinary session and the first regular session of the present Congress, including permanent appropriations, show a reduction of $28,835,989.70 under the appropriations made at the last session of the last Congress; and, deducting the amount of the river and harbor bill, $11,473,180, which should be done for the purpose of comparison, inasmuch as no river and harbor bill was passed by the last Congress at its last session, the reduction is $40,309, 169. 70. A tabular history of the appropriation bills, showing also the estimates submitted to this Congress and the appropriations made at the last session of the last Congress, will be found in Table A, which I shall submit as a part of my remarks. The thirteen regular annual appropriation bills, including the river and harbor bill, are grouped in the table so as to show the aggregates of the whole in the several stages through which they passed in the processes of legislation, from the estimates submitted until their final enactment. The table shows (1) That the bills, including deficiencies, as passed by the House, made a reduction under the estimates submitted to Congress of $32,571,188.62. (2) That they were increased, as reported from committee to the Senate, $13,372,977.34. (3) That they were increased, as passed by the Senate, $16,225,997.62; and (4) That as they became laws, including miscellaneous, they appropriated less than the estimates, $29,994,471.20; more than as they passed the House, $9,370, 140.89; less than as they passed the Senate, $6,855,856.73; and less than the laws for 1894, including permanent appropriations, $28,835,989.70. As compared with the laws passed at the last session of the last Congress, the following reductions are shown in the table: By the army bill....... By the legislative, etc., bill, which carries, in the main the great salary list of the Government.. By the Military Academy bill... $101,476.94 632,755.10 557,507.02 26,033.04 By the pension appropriation bill....... By the sundry civil bill..... On account of deficiencies 14,949, 780.00 7,506,535.10 10,456,440.60 On account of permanent appropriations (including $11,000,000 for sugar bounty, which is abolished, and $450,000 expenses under election laws that are repealed).. Total reduction...... 14,393,593.92 The bills showing increases over the last laws are as follows: The diplomatic and consular bill....... The Indian bill............................. .................. ............................................................................................................ ...................... $6,473.76 131,369.66 216,949.00 The river and harbor bill (total).............. ................. Total increase........... ..... ......... $19,788,232.02 Net reduction by all of the bills, including deficiencies and permanent appropriations, $28,835,989.70. The reconstruction of the Navy was begun a little more than eleven years ago. During the period since March 3, 1883, fifty modern vessels of all classes, now built or being built, have been authorized by acts of Congress. Toward their construction, equipment, and armament there has been appropriated, including $9,955,025 in the naval bill at this session, the sum of $88,981,188.80. To finally complete, equip, and arm them it is estimated that there will yet have to be appropriated the further sum of $23,080,974.84, making a total of $112,062,163.64, which the new Navy, as now authorized, will cost. Of these fifty new naval vessels, only three were authorized by the present Congress, and the their total cost is limited to $450,000. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. The Fifty-first Congress authorized the construction of sixty-nine new public buildings, including three United States prisons, and extended the limit of cost of twenty-three buildings previously authorized to be constructed. The expense of these new buildings was fixed at $16,946,639.54. Of this sum the Fifty-first Congress appropriated only $8,886,639.54, leaving $8,060,000 to be provided by subsequent Congresses. The present Congress and the last Congress authorized the construction of no new public buildings. COMPARISON OF APPROPRIATIONS. The appropriations made at the present and extraordinary session of Congress, as shown in the statement marked "Table B," and which I shall submit as part of my remarks, are: Less than the appropriations made at the last session of the last $28,835,989.70 Less than the appropriations made at the first session of the last 16,931,819.20 Less than the appropriations made at the last session of the Fiftyfirst Congress by.. 50,555,491.78 Less than the appropriations made at the first session of the Fiftyfirst Congress by..... And less than the estimates submitted by.... 3,787,879.14 29,994,471.20 The table referred to is compiled from the official records, including therein, for the Fifty-first Congress, expenditures under indefinite appropriations made by that Congress and under permanent appropriations authorized by said Congress after the estimates for permanent appropriations were submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury, all of which are fuily explained in foot notes to the table. APPROPRIATIONS ENTAILED BY THE FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS. In the statement marked "Table C" and submitted here with there are shown appropriations made at this session and also by the Ffty-second Congress and by the Fifty-first Congress, pursuant to laws enacted during the Fifty-first Congress: This statement shows that of the appropriation made at this session, $65,723,441.92 were required under laws passed during the Fifty-first Congress; that only $34,574,191.01 were appropriated by the first session of the Fifty-first Congress under those laws; that of the appropriations ma le during the two sessions of the last Congress $175,736,618.79 were the result of those laws, and that only $127,309,111.68 were appropriated at both sessions of the Fifty-first Congress under those laws which it passed entailing such enormous obligations upon its successors. OFFICES ABOLISHED-SALARIES REDUCED. During the present session of Congress the salaried list of the Government has been reduced by more than 600 in number and over $700,000 in annual cost, and more salaries have been reduced than increased. The Fifty-first Congress specifically added, net, to the salaried list of the Government 1,705 new offices, at a total annual cost of $2,048,350.82, and specifically increased, net, 1,214 salaries, at a total annual cost of $247,724.82. The Fifty-second Congress, exclusive of the authority to increase the enlistment of apprentice boys in the Navy by 750, added, net, to the salaried list of the Government, 158 new officers, at a total annual cost of $134,790. The latter Congress, exclusive of the nominal increase which it authorized in the monthly pay of the station-keepers and surfmen of the Life-Saving Service, and of the sergeants in the Army, reduced, net, 177 salaries, at an annual saving of $36, 105. DIMINISHING REVENUES. The revenue of the Government from all sources, exclusive of postal receipts, which are dedicated solely to the postal service, have been, since and including the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, as follows: The net ordinary expenditures of the Government, including interest on the public debt, and exclusive of requirements of the sinking fund for the fiscal years 1886, 1887, and 1888, they constituting the three full years of Mr. Cleveland's former administration, were as follows: And for the fiscal years 1890, 1891, and 1892, they being the three full years of Mr. Harrison's administration, such expenditures were as follows: This vast difference in the increase of expenditures of the three years last named over those first given can only be attributed to a recklessness of appropriation and expenditure by the then dominant party. It is true that the regular annual appropriations at the first session of the Fifty-first Congress for the fiscal year 1891 amounted to but $363,132,116.95, but when the amount of the permanent annual appropriations at the first session of that Congress, $131,324,131.70, being $32,448,224.41 greater than for the year 1890, is considered, it may be readily seen in what the appropriations were made and the expenditures swollen by the Republican administration. From a constantly increasing expenditure and continual decreasing revenues unquestionably resulted the serious and embarrassing condition of thə public Treasury when the present administration assumed control of the Govern ment. |