The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-13
BENJAMIN HARRISON ACCEPTS



dalton of all the PIAnKs in the Pla
form.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1t.-Following i
General HarTison's letter accepting thu
Republican presidential nominations:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Sept IL, 1888.
Hon. NJ N. Estey and Others:-GENTLE
MEN-Wben your committee visited me
on the fourth of July last and presented
the official announcement of my nomi'
nation for the Presidency Of the United
States by the Republican Convention,
promised as soon as practicable to COM
munnicate 10 you a more formal accept
ance of the nomination. Since that time
the work Of receiving and addressing al
most daily, large delegations OF my fel
low-citizens, not only occupied all my
time, but has in some measure rendered
it unnecessary for me to use this letter
as a medium of communicating to the
public my views upon the questions IN
volved in this campaign.
l appreciate very highly the conf
dence and respect manifested by the con-
vention and accept the nomination with
affecting of gratitude and full sense oil
the responsibilities which accompany It.
1t is a matter of congralulation 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 utterances Of the Democrat
ic party heretofore, il in any degree I'M
certain or contradictory, can now be
judged and interpreted by executive
acts and messages, and by definite prop
ositions in legisl ton. This is especially
true Of what is popularity known as the
tariff question. The issue cannot now
be obscured. II is
NOT CONTEST BETWEEN SCHEDULES.
but between wide-apart principles. The
foreign competitors of our market have
with quick instinct seen how one issue
Of this contest may bring them advan-
tage; and our own people are not so dull
as to miss or neglect the grave int rests
that are involved for them.
The assault upon our protective sys-
tenn is open and defiant, Protection Is
assailed as unconstitutional in law, or as
vicious in principle; and those who hold
such views cannot stop short OF an alb
solute elimination from our tariff laws
OF the principle of protection.
The Mills bill is only a step, but 1t is
toward an object that the leaders OF
Democratic thought and leg 'slatIon have
IN mind. The important question is not
so much the length OF the step as the d.
rection of it.
Judged by the executive message Of
December last, by the Mills bill, by the
debates in Congress and by the 81. Louis
platform, the Democratic party will, II
supported by the county, pace the tar
Iff laws upon purely revenue basis.
This is practical free trade in the Eng
lish 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 inscrip-
ton is conclusive, or, indeed, very i'm
portant, The assault i self 10 the i'm
pUrtant fact. Those who teach that the
import duty upon foreign goods sold in
our market is paid by the consumer and
that the price Of the domestic compel
ing article Is enhanced to the amount OF
the duty on imported articles, that every
million of dollars collected for customs
duties represents 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 dIscred-
it in the minds of others our system OF
levyiug duties on competing foreign
products; but it is clearly already die
credited in their own. We cannot doubt
without impugniDg their integrity, that,
il free to act upon their convictions they
would 30 revise our laws as to lay the
burden Of the customs revenue upon ar
ticles that are not produced IN this coun-
try, and to place upon the free list all
competing foreign products.
do not stop to reflte 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 safe
ly allowed to call their project tariff
reform" il the people understand that,
in the end, the argument compels free
trade in all competing products. This
end may be not reached abruptly and its
approach may be accompanied with some
expression of
SYMPATHY FOR OUR PROTECTED INDUS.
TRIES
and our working people; but it will GER
tainly come, il these early steps do not
arouse the people t. effective resistance.
The Republican party holds that a pro-
tective tariff is constitutional, wholesome
and necessary.
We do not offer fixed schedule, but a
principle. We will revise the schedule
and modify rates, but slways with an
intelligent provision as to the effect upon
domestic production and the wages Of
our working people.
We believe il to be one OF the worthy
objects OF tariff legislation to preserve
the American market for American p o !;
80. L..
scale of wages, by adequate diacriminat-
ing duties upon foreign competing pro
ducts.
The effect of lower rates and larger
impOrtations upon the public revenue IL
contingest and doubtful; but not SO
the effect upon American productions
and American wages. Less work and
lower wages must be accepted as the in
evitahle result Of the increased offering
Of 70, eign goods in our market.
BY way Of recompense for this reduc
ton in his wages and the loss Of of the
American market ii is suggested that the
diminished wages of the workiDgmen
will have an undiminished 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 settlement Of the question
in their own hands 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 in hand and
the
DECEPTIVE PROMISES AND FORECASTS
of those theorizing reformers. They will
decide for themselves and for the coun-
try whether the protective system shall
be continued or destroyed.
The fact OF treasury surplus, the
amount OF which is varIOusly stated has
directed public attention to considera-
ton of the methods by which the ma
tionai income may best be reduced to
the level of wise and necessary expendi-
lures. This condition has been seized
upon by those who are hostile to pro-
tective custom duties as an advantageous
base of attack upon our tariff laws.
They have magnified and nursed the sur
plus, which they affect to deprecAte,
seemingly for the purpose Of exaggerat.
ing the evil in order to reconcile the peo-
pie to the extreme remedy they propose.
A proper reduction Of the revenue does
not necessitate and should not suggest
the abandonment and impairment of the
protective system. The methods sug-
Rested by our convention will not need
to be exhausted in order TO effect the
necessary reduction.
We are not likely to be called upon,
think, to make present choice between
the surrender Of our protective system
and the entire repeal OF the internal
tares Snch a CONTINGENCY in view of