The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1883-12-19
MR.. CARLIsLE's TARIFF VIEWS.

Some Of the Eastern manufacturers are
endeavoring to get up scare on the tar
i'll issue since the election of Mr.. Carlisle
to the Speakership of the House, but the
thing don't work worth cent. There
is nothing in Mr.. Carlisle's position on
the tariff question that can be construed
as anti-American. In speech delivered
in the last Congress, before he was
thought of as a candidate for Speaker.
Mr. Carlisle, in speaking Of the tariff,
said: Il am one of those who believe
that the power of taxation can be legiti-
mately employed only for public pur-
poses, or, in other words, that the object
Of all taxation should be revenue-reve-
me only if you please; but If with this
primary object in view the taxes on
duties can be so adjusted as to aid our
industries without imposing any burdens
upon the people beyond what otherwise
would have been necessary, there is moth
ing in the policy advocated by those who
demand reform in the tariff to forbid
their encouragement or protection to that
extent, and think it can be demOnstrat-
ed, so far as facts and figures can demon
strate any proposition upon such sub
ject, that such policy would afford all
the protection that any legitimate and
well-conducted industry needs in this
country. / do not recognize principle
that would impose duty above the rev.
enue point merely for the purpose Of
giving what is called protection. If we
were called upon now for the first time
to declare principle or inaugurate a
policy upon the subject l should not
hesitate to announce my adherence to
that creed which demands the largest
liberty in trade; that doctrine which
opens the channels of commerce in all
parts of the world and invites the pro-
Queer and consumer to meet on equal
terms in free market for the exchange
Of their commodities; for l sincerely
believe that all commercial restrictions
are in the end injurious to the interests
Of the people" There is nothing in the
above extract that any farmer, mechanic
or laboring man can take exception to.
The Republican party is hopelessly at
sea on the tariff question and have raised
the cry that Mr.. Carlisle is an ultra free
trader in order to whip in their forces
and deceive the people as to the real
position of the Democratic party on the
tariff issue. The idea that the consuming
masses of the country are to be taxed to
death for the benefit of few monopolists,
will soon be numbered with the past.
The people of the United States are be-
ginning to understand the question. The
New York Times, the leading Republican
paper of the country, has this to say of
the tariff views entertained by Mr.. Car
Isle: as protection. then, fetch?
Does worship at its shrine deprive men
of all common sense and business fore
sight? Must community that has once
accepted it abandon all thought of change
and become forever incapacitated to &C.
commodatc itself to those laws, according
to which change is the inevitable condi-
ton ard the essential cause Of prosperi-
ty? 1t is sheer nonsense to talk Of Mr.. |
Carlisle as radical free-trader. 1t is as
silly and about as honest as it was to
present him as rabid Southerner be-
cause he lives in town just south of
Cincinnati He is not even an advocate
for tariff for revenue only. Judging by
his utterances and his votes-and they
are many and consistent-he simply
believes in the gradual return to a ratio
nal and normal rate of taxation on inn
ports; he believes that taxes levied
twenty years ago in the stress of war,
largely to offset internal taxes which
have been long since abolished, should
not be continued. Is this revolutionary"