St. Paul daily globe., 1888-05-05
MACDONALD TO FARMERS.
The Position of Minnesota's Third
District Congressman.
PARTISAN PREvARICATIoN.
Mr.. Macdonald Talks On the Tariff
The Selfishness of Some
Wool-Growers.

one OF the papers of Minnesota, and (aS
indicateO is creditedsto the Willmar
Argus:
The farmers alliance of this county sent a
SET OF resolutions to our congressman, Mac
Da9old, asking him to cooperate with them
IN ooWnlng trusts and reduction of the tariff
on articles used by the agriculturists. In the
words OF lgnatius Donnelly, he answered:
Dogs, VINO is your master?n Don't dictate
TO me, our representative in congress. The
farmers alliance will no doubt ask for his re-
nomination q on general prlnciples.-Will-
mar Argus
Ordinary partisan Misrepresentation l
pay very little attention to, but when,
as in this case, am charged with treat
ing any organized body of my constit-
uents with disrespect, when they
address me, as is stated in the above
item, do not propose to remain silent.
Ihe charge made in the above article is
simply baSely false-and low scurri-
lous SANDER, without excuse or pretext
for its utterance. | did receive set of
resolutions from the Farmers aIli-
ance" of Kandiyohi county, and to show
to What meanness and falSehood some
persons are willing to descend, summit
the following copy of my answer to
those resolutions:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27.-Henry Feig,
Esq, Secretary Kandiyohi County ALI
ance-My Dear Sir: am in receipt of
your favor of the 18th inst. transmitting
to me a copy of certain resolutions
adopted by the Kandiyohi county alli-
ance, held at Willmar on the 7th and
oth days of the present month. After
considering these resolutions, relating
to what should be the action of con-
gress upon the subjects therein referred
to, am pleased to say that they meet
with my hearty approval and indorse-
me MT. As to the most of them, l have
already declared myself in accordance
with their spirit and letter, and as to the
others they are in accord with my views
with the possible exception of that
one relating to the telegraph system
creation by the government of
postal telegraph system. AS to this, I
am in favor of doing something to put an
end to the monopoly that has grown up
in this system, but am not clear in my
own mind that it would be wise for the
government of the United States to en-
gage in the building of telegraph lines
until it is demonstrated that the tele-
graph lines of the country could not be
controlled in the interest of the people,
and to prevent unjust discrimination
and monopoly by law similar to that
of the interstate commerce law, or by
PietSlliSo IllC llllCO VI bllC COuu-
try under the supervision and control of
our interstate commerce commission.
The proposition for the government to
construct, or purchase and to maintain,
telegraph lines all over the country so
as to reach all points of Importance, is a
very grave one, for it is proposition
that the government shall embark in
scheme which is certain to involve
expenditure of many millions of
dollars, which must of necessity
come from the people. Yet this may
become necessary. But it seems to me,
at present, that before having the gov
ernment embarked in such a stupen-
dous enterprise as this must necessarily
be, we ought to make an effort to bring
these telegraph lines under control and
supervision of the government, either
through the instrumentality of our in
terState commerce laws, or one of that
character. If [ believed that we could
not succeed in remedying the evils that
the people now complain of, in cOnnec-
ton with the present telegraph system
of the country, should not hesitate to
advocate having the government pro-
ceed at once to establish a telegraph
system, which your alliance has de-
clared itself in favor of. L, however,
am but a representative of the people,
and shall be influenced in my action by
what shall ascertain to be the opinions
and views of a majority of the people of
my district and whom have the honor
to here represent. Very truly yours,
J. l.. MACDONALD.
Subsequently, under date of March s,
1888, l received from John Feig, of At
water, in that county, what purported
to be series of resolutions passed by
the Harrison Farmers alliance, (which
ha cold % N ctr tn fnr ay-J 10
me, with request that l express my
opinion thereon. These resolutions
were criticism of what had been pro-
posed by the Democratic members of
the ways and means committee as bill
to reform the present tariff tax laws of
the country. My answer to that COM
muuication of John Felg will indicate
the character of the resolutions, and
Chat my maligner may not claim that he
was mistaken in mentioning my an
swer to the county" alliance, and in
tended to refer to this one) l herewith
submit copy of it to the candid conSid-
Grafton of your readers, and the confu-
sion of the individual who coined the
above lie, published in the Willmar
Argus. 1t is as follows:
WASHINGTON, March 12.-John Feig,
ESQ.,, Secretary Harrison Farmers AL
lance, AtWater, Mimi: Dear Sir:
Your esteemed favor of the 9th inst,
with copy of resolutions of your ali
ance, upon the draft of what is proposed,
by the Democratic members of the COM
mittee on ways and means to the full
committee thereof, as the bill for revis-
ing the tariff laws of the United States,
has been received. You request my
opinion concerning these resolutions.
| regret that L cannot crafty you by
any extended comments upon them, for
several reasons. The first is that have
not the time to do so, if this was the
proper occasion, and equally important
is the fact, that what is proposed to the
committee on ways and means may not
be the bill which that committee will
report to the house. | will say, how
ever, that it is very clear to
me that the person who drew these reso-
lutions does not require to furnish any
other or better evidence of the fact that
he is Republican, and strongly i'm
bued with partisan prejudice. [ say
this in all kindness, but l must be frank
and speak to the point in the brief time
that can devote to this subject. l will
say this to you, and the members of
your alliance, that if they can induce
the Republican members of congress
''to work in the interest of harmony in
the contemplated revision of the tariff
and to adopt the motto, 1.-THE greatest
good to the greatest NUMBER" can as
sure them that our committee OH ways
and means will report bill that will
satisfy them in all respects. The rea-
son that the proposed bill does not go to
the extent that your alliance wishes
with the exception OF wooD is that
we LOOK over to the other
he Inll nE 4l,n