Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-20
GEN. HARRIS0N'S LETTER.
He Communicates to the Public His Views on
Questions Involved in the Campaign.

GEN. HARRISGN'S LETTER.
He Communicates to the Public His Views on
Questions Involved in the Campaign.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 21.-The following
Is Gen. HarrisOn's letter of acceptance:
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. IL, 1883.
Hon. NJ. Nj. Estee and others, members OF
the committee:
GENTLEMEN - When your committee
visited me on the Fourth of July last and
| presented the official announcement of
my nomination for the presid sncy of the
! United States by the republican national
convention, [ promised, as soon as
| practicable, to communicate to you a
more formal acceptance of the nomina-
| Uion. Since that time the work of re-
ceiving and addressing, almost daily,
large delegations of my fellow citizens
has not only occE pied all of my time but
/ has IN some measure rendered il unneces-
sary for me to use this letter as medium
of communicating TO the public my vie US
upon the questions involved in the cam
paign. appreciate very highly the con-
| hdence and respect manifested by the
convention and accept the nomination
with a feeling of gratitude and full
sense OF the responsibilities which &C
| company it.
| It is matter OF congratulation that
the declarations Of the Chicago conven-
ton upon the questions that now attract
the interest of our people are SO clear
and emphatic; there is further cause of
cOngratulation in the fact that the
| convention in utteraace of the demo
cratic party, if i. any degree uncertain
| n fra no
inter preted by executive acts and mes
sages, and by definite propositions in
legislation. This is especially true of
what is popularity known as
| THE TAHITI QUESTION.
The issue cannot now be obscured. It is
not contest between schedules, but
/ between wide apart principles. The for
| eign com petitor5 of our market have
with quick instinct, seen how one issue
of this canvass may bring them advan-
tage, and our own people are not so
dull as TO miss Or neglect the great in
tereets that are involved for them. The
| assault upon cur protective system is
open and defiant. Protection is assaiLed
as unconstitutional in the law, or as
vicious in principle, and those who hold
such views sincerely cannot stop short
of
ABSOLUTE ELIMInA-ION
from our tariff laws of The princip.o of
protection. The Mills bill is only step,
but it is toward an object that the leaders
of democratic thought and legislation
| have clearly in mind. The important
question is not so much the length of the
step as the direction of it. judged by the
| executive message of Dozen. Der last. by
the Mills bill, by the debates in congress,
and by the St. Louis platform, the
democratic pArty will, if supported by
the country, place the tariff laws upon
purely revenue basis. Is this practical
free tra6e-fgee trade Ii the English
sense? The legend upon the ssnner
may not be "free trade" it may be the
more obscure motto, "tarif REFORM" but
neither tho banner NOR the inscription is
conclusive, or indeed, very important.
The assault itself is the important fact.
Those who teach that the import duty
upon foreign goods sold in our market is
PAID BIZ THE CONSUMER,
and that the price Of the domestic CON-
peting article is EXCHANGED to the amount
of the duty on mported articles, that
every million of dollars collected for Gus
toms duties, represents as many millions
more which do not reach the treasury, but
are paid By our citizens as the increased
cost of domestic productions, resulting
from the tariff laws, may not intend to
dscradit in the minds of others our sys-
tenn OF levying duties on competing for
eign products, but it is clearly already
discredited III their own. We cannot
doubt without impugning their integrity
that if free to act upon their convictions,
they would so revise our laws as to lay the
burden of the custom revenue upon ar
ticles that are not produced in this cOun-
try and to place upon the free list all
com peting foreign products. l do not
stop to refute this theory as to the effect
of our tariff duties. Those who advance
it are students of maxims and not of
the markets. They may be safely
allowed to call their project Tariff Re-
FORM" if the people understand that in
the end the argument compels free trade
in all mpetiug products. This end
may not be reached abruptly, and its ap-
proach may be accompanied with some
expressions of sympathy for our pro
tected industries and our working people,
but it will certainly come, if these early
steps do not arouse the people 80 effec-
tive resistance. The republican party
holds that
PROTECTIVE TARIFF is CONSTITUTIONAL,
WHOLESOME AND NECESSARY.
We do not offer g fixed schedule, but
principle. We will revise the schedule,
modify rates, but always with an intelli-
gent provision as TO the effect upon the
domestic production and the wages of
onr working people. We believe IL TO be
one of the worthy objects of tariff
legislation to preserve the Ameri-|
can market for American producers, and
to maintain the American scale of wages
by adequate discriminating duties upon
foreign competing products. The effect
of lower rates and larger importations
upon the public revenue is contigent
and doubtful, but not so the effect upon
American production and American
wages. Less work and lower wages must
be accepted as the inevitable result OF
the increased offering of foreign goods
in our market. By recompeDse for this
reduction in his wages, and the loss of
the American u arket, 1t is suggested that
the diminished wages Of the workingman
will have an undlminished purchasing
power, and that he will be able TO make
up for the loss of the home market By an
enlarged foreign market. Our working
men have the settle ment OF this question
IN their own hancs. They now obtain
higher wages and live more comfortably
than those of any other country. They
will make choice between the substan-
tial advantages they have and the deep
tive promises and forecasts Of those
theorizing reformers. They will decid e
for themselves and for the country
whether the protection system shall be
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