The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-09-22

but act ss a protection 10 foreign manu-
facturers In our own and distant markets.
Even as late as last January, Clarkson, o
Iowa, said: sin tact the republican part.
ecen more than the democratic party is II
favor of reduction vt every possible poin
where prudence will allow" These mel
are all republicans; they advocated thu
principles the Mills bill embodies; thu
republican press made no objection-i
applauded their views; there was no how
of +" free trader" at them then, nor was tina
charge made 70 the republican tariff com
mission of 1882, when 1t reported of Its owl
work: "The average reduction
Is not less on the average than 20 per cent
In many cases from Az to Do pei
cent A substantial red uction OF
tariff duties is demanded, not by mere
indiscrlminate popular clamor, but by the
best conservative opinion of the country
including that which In former times has
been most strenuous for the preservation
of our national industrial defenses. Such
reduction the commission regarded moi
only as due recognition of pablo senti-
ment and measure of justice TO consum'
ers, but one conducive to the general In
dustrial prosperity The Minnesota re-
publican convention of last week, Indeed,
adopted tariff plank which is as nearly a
Z" free trade" utterance as any ever made
by the democrats. Are all these men free
traders9 The Republican, will not dare to
say so, and yet these words quoted are as
strongly free trade" as any 1t has at
tributed to democrats.
Suppose these quotations be continued a
little further: In December, 1887, Hugh
Mccullough, Grants Secretary of the
Treasury said: "Mr Cleveland has
marked out course which can safely be
followed" Morrill, of Vermont, 1870,
said 1t Is a mistake of the friends OF a
sound tariff to insist upon the extreme
rates imposed during the war" Senator
Dawes said; "If you levy 1t IdutyI on
the raw material, you discriminate against
American labor" w. ID, Kelly, 1886,
said: "Let raw material come in. Let us
make blankets that will drive out English
blankets" ingalls, himself said: "On
one side is capital, formidably entrenched
In privilege, arrogant from continued
triumph, conservative, tenacious to old
theories, demanding new concessions, en-
riched By domestic leoy and foreign com
merce, and struggling to ADJUST all values
to Its own standard. On the ether is labor,
asking for employment, striving to develop
domestic industries, battling with the
forces of nature, and subduing the wilder
ness; labor, starving and sullen In cities,
resolutely determined to overthrow system
under which the rich are growing richer
and the poor are growing poorer; system
which gives to Vanderbilt the possession
of wealth beyond the dreams OF avarice
and condemns the poor to poverty which
has no refuge from starvation but the prison
or the grave" James A. Garfield In 1868
said: 81 desire to say that, In my judg'
ment, II is not the best mode Of defending
q tariff to denounce every man who does
not pronounce the shibboleth after our
as an enemy of the tariff" Folger,
Arthurs Secretary Of the Treasury, said:
The Secretary earnestly recommends a
careful revision of the tariff, with view
of substantial reductions" John Sherman
In 1882 said: "Such excessive protection
not only ceases to diversity production, but
forces labor into protected employments.
II the present rates Of duty we're high
enough during and since the war, when
home industry was burdened with heavy
internal taxes-with stamp duties, income
taxes, and high rates on raw materials
then surely they are now too high when
all these taxes are removed"
Why have these men changed front?
Why do Clarkson, Mckinley, Blaine, (who
once voted for free coaD, ct a., now accuse
democrats of being free traders, who are
simply putting their opinions into the form
Of lawY Why Because (l) the republican
leaders have become the servants of tariff
enriched and projected monopolists who
are looking already toward higher duties
and more complete tariff robbery. The
consumer never enters Into their compute.
lions at all-he Is never considered, except
as prey. The party has become essen
TALLY a syndicate of rich men with
following of dupes who have become
persuaded that the prosperity of the
country is promoted by high taxes" And
also because (2) the democrats having
originated the policy of tariff reform, the
republicans, as an obstructing minority,
feel called upon to face about to the other
side to find reason for existence. They
were for tariff reform when they could ge'
the credit for the work now they are OPP
posed to II because II Is a democratic
measure. Its Intrinsic righteousness had
never been questioned by republican
leaders Of the better class until the demo
Gratis had crystallized republican as we'll as