Tariff and Tax Commission: Speech of Hon. John A. Kasson, of Iowa, in the House of Representatives, Saturday, May, 6, 1882 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Tariff and Tax Commission: Speech of Hon. John A. Kasson, of Iowa, in the House of Representatives, Saturday, May, 6, 1882

The House, having under consideration the bill (H. R. No. 2315) to provide for the appointment of a commission to investigate the question of the tariff and internal-revenue laws -

Mr. Kasson said:

Mr. Speaker: At this late hour of the day I shall be as brief as possible in concluding the debate [cries of "Vote!" "Vote!"] and come as promptly as possible to the consideration of the question.

Mr. Townshend, of Illinois. You are going to pass the bill.

Mr. Kasson. I think so myself, but I should like to give one or two reasons that will get your vote, my friend, and others on your side of the House for the bill.

There has been much said touching the character and the object of the bill, and particularly that it was a bill to delay the revision of the tariff; and that the Committee on Ways and Means should at once proceed with the entire work. To that first point I beg the attention of the House for a few moments.

This bill has been pressed from its first introduction with all the force that could be commanded in the attitude which the opponents of the bill presented. And it would have been a law before this time but for the opposition of those who are clamoring for a reform of the tariff.

I am one of those who earnestly believe that this bill will sooner more completely and more perfectly accomplish a revision and reform of the tariff than any bill for its revision which could now be reported from the Committee on Ways and Means. We have had so much experience upon this subject that I am justified in the statement that any bill for a revision of the tariff, if now pending before this House, could not possibly pass at this session of Congress. We have had continually complaints made of various features of the tariff which demand correction. But when bills have before been brought in from the Committee on Ways and Means, and an earnest effort has been made to pass them through the House, we have at all periods during the last six years met the same difficulty which we have encountered now, namely, that the imperfectness of the information possessed by members has induced them to indulge in wild debate, and to object alternately to every proposition, disputing facts, and lacking the light which a full knowledge of the facts would give them.

Mr. Atkins. Would it be an accommodation to the gentleman to move that the House now adjourn and allow him to conclude his speech on Tuesday next?

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