The removal of Mr. Wells from his office was accepted as an affront both to tariff reform and to civil service reform. The urgency of the demand for relief from tariff burdens was shown by a letter from a Republican observer in Washington, printed in the Tribune in March, 1871, advocating “a carefully revised tariff bill” so wisely drawn “that it will permit the party to escape a split on this question in the coming presidential campaign.” Hubbard, of New Hampshire, on March 27, 1871, moved in the House that the tariff should be so reformed as to be “a tax for revenue only, and not for the protection of class interests at the general expense.” A motion to table this resolution was defeated by a vote of 2 yeas to 154 nays, and it was referred to the Ways and Means Committee. The House, at this session, passed a bill placing salt and coal on the free list, and to these, at the instance of the Pennsylvanians, added tea and coffee; but these measures did not pass the Senate.
Thus it will be seen that the tariff declaration of the Missouri Liberal Republicans appealed
