Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-09-22
JsD1.s,po11s. September IL.

INDIANAPOLIS, September IL.
Hon M. NJ Estee and Others, Committee, etc.
GESTLEMEN;-"When your committee VS.
tied me on the 4th Of july last and presented
the official announ cement of my nomIna-
ton for the presidency of the United States
by the republican convention, promised as
soon as practicable 20 communicate to you
more formal acceptance of the nomina-
ton. Since that time the work Of receiving
and addressing, almost daily, large Ge.ega-
Hous of ny fellow items. has not only &C.
cupied al of my time, but has in some
measure rendered il unnecessary for
me to use this letter as medium
of communicating to the public my
views upon the questions involved
in the campaign l appreciate very highly
the confidence and respect manifested by
the convention, and accept the nomination
with feeling of gratitude and full sense
of the responsibility which accompany it.
II is matter of congratulation that the dec
larations Of the chicago convention upon
the questions that now attract the interest
of our people are go clear AID emphatic.
There are further causes of congratuiatlcn
In the fact that the convention utterelces
OF the democratic party, if IN any degree
uncertain or contradictory. can now be
judged and interpreted by executive acts and
messages, and by definite propositions in
legislation. This Is especially true of what
Is popularity known as TIE tariff question.
The issue canno: now be obScQred. 1t Is not
a contest between schedules. but between
vide apart principles. The 70 eign COM
petitors for our market have, with quick in
stinct, seen how one issue Of this contest
may bring them advantage, and our own
people are not so dull as 70 miss or neglect
the grave interests that are involved for
them, fox assault upon our private system
is open and defiant. Protection is assailed
as unconstitutional In law, or as vicious IN
principles, and those who hold such views
sincerely cannot stop short CT an absolute
elimination from our tariff laws of the prin-
cipie Of protection. The Mills bill is only
step, but it is toward an object that the lead
ers Of democratic thought and legislation
have clearly in mind. Tie important ques-
ton Is not so much the length as the direc-
ton of il, judged By the executive message
o. December 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. This is
practical free trade-free trade in the Eng
l!sh sense. The legend upon the
banner may not be free trade"-it may be
the more obscure motto, tariff REFORM"
but neither the banner nor the inscription
is conclusive, or indeed very important
The assault. itself is the important fact.
Those who teach that the important duty
upon foreign goods sold in our market is
paid by the consumer, and thct the price of
the domestic competing article Is enhenced
by the amount of duty on the imported az
tic.c, that every million of dollars collected
lions more, which do not reach the treas
ury, bet are paid by our citizens as
the increased cost of domestic
productions resulting from the tariff laws,
may not intend to discredi. in the minds of
others our systems OF leyying duties on COM
peting foreign Pr oducts, but it is clearly al
ready discredited in their OWL. We cannot
doubt, without impugning their integrity,
that if free to &C. upon their convictions,
they would so revise our laws IS to lay the
burden OF the customs revenue upon articles
that are not produced In this country, and
10 place upon tie free list all competing
foreign products. / do not stop TO refute
this theory Is the effect of our tariff duties.
Those who advance are stu5ents of maxims
and not Of the markets. They may be safely
allowed TO call their pro- ect tariff reform"
if the people understand that in the end the
Argument ccmpeils free trade IN all compel
ing psuSucss. ais end may not be reached
abruptly. and its approach may be accom-
panied by some expressions OF sympathy
fuc our unprotected industries and our
working people, bat 1t will certainly come
if these early steps do not arouse the peo-
pie to effective resistance. The
republican party holds that a protec-
tive tariff Is constitutional, wholesome
and necessary. We do not offer a fixed
schedule. but principle. We will revise
tbs schedule, modify rates, but always with
an intelligent provision as to the efec. upon
domestic production and the wages OF our
working people. We believe it to be one of
tie worthy offsets of tariff legislation to
preserve the American market for American
producers, end 20 maintain the American
scale OF wages. by adequate discriminating
duties upon foreign competing products.
The effect of lower rates and larger inporta.
tons upon the public revenue is contingent
and doubtful, but not SO the effect upon
American production and American wages.
Less work and lower wares must be accepted
as the inevitable result Of the increased Of
ferlng of foreign goods in our market. By
way of recompense for this reduction in
your wages, and the loss OF the American
market, il Is suggested that tie diminished
wages of the workingman will have an cndi-
mInlshed purchasing power, and that'he
viii be able to mhk, Up for the loss
OF the market By an enlarged
foreign market. Oar vorkiugmen have
the settlement of the question n their oxu
hands. They now obtain higher wages and
Try. They will mske choice between the
substantial advantages they have IN hand
and the deceptive promises and forecasts of
those theorizIng reformers. They viii de-
eide for themselves and for the country
whether the protective system shall be con-
tinued or destroyed
The fsct of treasury surplus, the amount
of which Is vario1sly stated, has directed
public attention to a consideration of the
meth ds by which the national income NAV
best be reduced to the level OF a wise and
necessary expenditure. This condition has
been seized upon By those Who are hostile
to protection custom duties n an advanta-
Reous base of attack upon our tariff Lara
They have magnifed and nursed the surplus
which they affect to depreciate, seeminoiy
for the purpose Of exaggerating the evil In
order to reconcile the people to the extreme