had nothing to do with internal
taxes. The internal revenue sections were in the House bill of
last session, and were then amended by the Senate. That bill gave
the Senate jurisdiction of the subject. It was only under cover
of amendment to that bill that the Senate could pass a tariff. At
the beginning of this session, the finance committee of the Senate
had before it the tariff commission report, which was an admirable
and harmonious plan for a complete law fixing the rates of duty on
all kinds of imported merchandise, and, what was better, an admirable
revision of the laws for the collection of duties and for the trial
of customs cases. If the committee had adopted this report, and
even had reduced the rates of duty proposed by the commission, but
preserved the harmony and symmetry of the plan, we would have had
a better tariff law than has existed in this country. But, instead
of this, the committee unduly reduced the duties on iron and steel,
and raised the duties on cotton and woolen manufactures, in some
cases higher than the old tariff. The committee restored nearly
all the inequalities and incongruities of the old tariff, and
yielded to local demands and local interests to an extent that
destroyed all symmetry or harmony. But still the bill reported to
the Senate was a passable tariff except as to iron and wool; but
it was not in any respect an improvement on the tariff commission
report."

Senator Morrill, in a long letter to the New York "Tribune" of the
date of April 28, 1883, made a reply to my objections to the tariff
amendment, but it did not change my opinion, and now, after the
lapse of many years, I am still of the same opinion. The tariff
act of 1883 laid the foundation for all the tariff complications
since that time.

During this session a bill to regulate and improve the civil service
of the United States was reported by my colleague, Mr. Pendleton,
and was made the subject of an interesting debate in the Senate,
which continued most of the month of December, 1882. It was referred
to the committee on reform in the civil service in the House of
Representatives, was promptly reported, and, after a brief debate,
passed that body and was approved by the President. This important
measure provided for a nonpartisan civil service commission composed
of three persons, and defined their duties. It withdrew from party
politics the great body of the employees of the government. Though
not alw