The President appointed men who stood high in the
commercial world and who were strongly attached to the protective
system. They applied themselves to their task with such energy
that by December 4, 1882, they had produced a voluminous report
with suggested amendments to customs laws.
But the advocates of high protection in the House were not
satisfied; they opposed the recommendations of the report and
urged that the best and quickest way to reduce taxation was by
abolishing or reducing items on the internal revenue list. This
policy not only commanded support on the Republican side, but
also received the aid of a Democratic faction which avowed
protectionist principles and claimed party sanction for them.
These political elements in the House were strong enough to
prevent action on the customs tariff, but a bill was passed
reducing some of the internal revenue taxes. This action seemed
likely to prevent tariff revision at least during that session.
Formidable obstacles, both constitutional and parliamentary,
stood in the way of action, but they were surmounted by ingenious
management.
The Constitution provides that all revenue bills shall originate
in the House of Representatives, but the Senate has the right to
propose amendments. Under cover of this clause the Senate
originated a voluminous tariff bill and tacked it to the House
bill as an amendment. When the bill, as thus amended, came back
to the House, a two-thirds vote would have been required by the
existing rules to take it up for consideration, but this obstacle
was overcome by adopting a new rule by which a bare majority of
the House could forthwith take up a bill amended by the Senate,
for the purpose of non-concurrence but not for concurrence.
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