Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-19
The Republican Party and the Sur
plus.

1t is worthy Of notice that the Blaine
orators and organs haven't a word to say
about what shall be done with the surplus
of revenue that now amounts to more
than SIOO. OOO,O 900 a year. The reason is
that the Republican party hasn't any pol
icy with regard TO il. The party does not
favor a reduction Of tariff taxes, and
without such a reduction the surplus
must continue to accumulate. Every
Blaine paper and every Blaine stump
speaker insists upon maintaining a high
protective tariff. Is it not about time
that they should be required to tell the
people what the Republican party pro-
poses to do with the surplus revenue?
Z 1t is true that Blaine has proposed that
the surplus shall be divided among the
States in proportion to their population,
but what right has the government TO col
lect taxes for no other purpose than to
distribute money among the statesf II
Blaine's plan were adopted how long
would it be before the government at
Washington would absorb whatever rights
and powers which still remain to the
States! Was there ever before conceived
so shrewd a scheme as this Blaine plan
for centraIizing power in the General
Government!
Senator Bayard, in his speech in Brook
lyn on Monday night, said that political
morality and political economy were in
separable. With $1OO,OOO,O 600 more reye-
nue. annually than is needed for the &C
tuaI expenses of the government how long
will it be before there Will cease to be any
pretense Of administering the government
economically; Corrupt schemes Of all
kinds will be proposed, and thousand
hands will seek unlawful entrance into
the Treasury where one seeks entrance
there now. The anxiety to share in the
public plumber will rob public men Of
their integrity and destroy whatever there
is Of virtue in political parties. The star
route frauds will sink into insignifcance
in comparison with the schemes that viii
be inaugurated to rob the government.
BIaine,s plan of solving the surplus pro-
bIem would bring about an era of cOrrup-
ton that would threaten the existence OF
the republic.
But if the Republican party does not
propose to adopt the Blaine plan, what
plan does It propose to adopt? 1t would
be interesting to have this question
answered now when extraordinary efforts
are being made to make the country
believe that its entire prosperity is due
to the present high protective tariff.
But is the prosperity which the country
has enjOYed in past years due to pro-
tective tariff. If it is, why is it that
mills and factories all over the country
are closing, and that thousands of work
ingmen in every partOf the country are
out of employment? Is it not be-
cause our protective system shuts
us up to home market and
that the production is greater than the
| home market can absorb? Last year our
exports amounted to $500, OOo,0 900, and OF
this amount less than S1OO,0OO,OOO repre-
scented the products Of American manu.
| features. Does rot this showing tell the
story why our mills and factories are
closed and our wOrkingmen idle? We are,
by our tariff system, prevented from dis
tributlng our manufactured products in
foreign markets.
The Blaine organs alarm the working
men by telling them that a reduction OF
the tariff means lower wages for them,
but they do not tell them that the protee-
tive system threatens to deprive them Of
any wages whatever. They do not tell
them that while they are idle their scanty
savings are being drawn upon to help
make up the S1OO,OOO,OOOa year for which
the government has no use. Let the
Blaine stump speakers tell these facts TO
the people.