Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-07-14
TIE PRESIDENT HIS OWN PLAT.
FORM.


in 'S4. 1t gets down to bed rock in this:
"Mr. CLEVELAND has one great advan-
tage in this canvass, and that is that upon
the question which his opponents declare
to be the paramount issue he is his own
platform. He stands for reducing the sur
plus by tightening the taxes on necessaries,
leaving them upon luxuries. He proposes
frser clothing; his opponents propose freer
whisky. The Republican cry against him
is free trade. II ii could be shown that he
has proposed free trade or contemplated
free trade, so sudden = subversion of the
long, settled policy of raising the rev enue
by customs duties would be startling. But
the President foressw the effort that
would be made TO raise false issue,
and to secure the benefit Of q scare and
be quietly bsfflsd it in advance. The Gus
toms revenue, he says, must be extensive
ly continued as the source of the govern
ment's income, and n q readj ustment Of
our tariff the interests of American labor
engaged in manufacturers should be care
fully considered, Is well as the preserva-
ton Of our manufacturer and he adds,
the question of free trade is absolutely IT.
relevant, and the persistent claim inside in
certain quarters that all efforts to relieve
the people from unjust and unnecessary
taxation are schemes of so-called free
traders, is mischieyous, and far removed
from any consideration for the public good.
''The tariff must be resdjusted in order
to reduce the surplus. A hundred million
of dollars which are not wanted by the
government are paid every year in taxes
by the people. 1t is so much necessary
money withdrawn from circulation. The
surplus must be reduced, because it is q
constant threat to business and constant
temptation to demoralizing extravaganza
Last September q very serious panic was
ayerted by the prompt action of the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of the Treasury.
Bat the stability of business should not
be dependent upon them. The csnsss
that threaten panic should be removed,
and as the wages of labor are menaced by
panic, every man who lives by wages is
interested in q wise reduction of the
surplus. The President is in another sense
his own platform, because his course has
shown every business and labor interest
in the country that he is safe, sound, and
conservative man. Nobody can feel that
his continuance in Office and at the head
of administration will disturb business
during the next four years, as it has, moi
been disturbed during the four that are
ending. If he were q wholly untried man,
the cry that he means a total change Of
the tariff system might be alarming. But
his course and his recommendation show
nothing of the kind. He proposes to ap.
ply q simple and reasonable remedy to
q dangerous situation.
The Republican party acknowledged in
1884 that something should be done. 1t
declared in it's platform Of that year:
1.-THE Democratic party has failed completely
to relieve the people Of the burden OF unneces-
sary taxation by a wise reduction OF the surplus
The Republican party pledges itself to correct
the inequalities Of the tariff, and to reduce the
surplus"
at now proposes to take off the tax on
whisky rather than to surrender any part
OF our protective system. Yet the Repub-
liean Tariff Commission recommended an
average reduction of the tariff of 20 to 25
per cent. The bill prepared in Pursuance
Of President CLEyELAND's recommends
tions, and now pending in the House, pro
yides an average reduction of very much
less. The Chicago Tribune, q Republican
journal, which is opposed to the chief
plank of the platform upon which the Re-
publican candidate stands, asked, last
December:
Isl tariff of 6S11S per cent on clothiog a pro-
tective tariff while 60 per cent or 50 per cent is
free trade? Is 40 per cent on cotton protection
and 81 per cent free trader Shall we stultify
the intelligence Of thepsrty by declaring that IS
per cent on iron and steel is protection and 81,
or any lower per eentage, free trade? What furi-
Gus Misrepresentation is thisl 1t cannot be sup
posed by wise party men that for a whole year
the American people can be blinded by such
shallow sophistry and unadorned falsehood as
this"
This expresses strong Republican
sentiment in the Northwest. The Mime
sofa State Convention last year favored 8
revision of the tariff, with simplifica.
ton and reduction of customs duties u
The Iowa platform said, 1--WE believe tie
tariff should be revised and reduced %
The Nebraska platform said that "the
business Of the country now demands q
revision Of the tariff" Many Republican
journals Of similar convictions warmly
approved the Presidents recommends.
tons. Mr.. McCULLoCH, President Ar
THURS Secretary of the Treasury, says Of
the present war tariff, sit is anti-republi.
can in its character and its Influences, il
fosters monopolies, and it enriches the few
at the expense Of the many" He holds
it to be imperative that the tariff should
be made "a tarff for revenue with inciden-
tai protection, tariff by which the high.
est duties consistent with revenue will be
imposed upon the articles that come into
competition with our own manufactures "
He thinks that the present tariff is uncon-
stitutional 90 far as it imposes duties for
protection and not for revenue"
Haper's Weekly might have heightened
out its list of eminent Republican states-
men who now strongly favor, or are on
record as strongly favoring. tariff reform,
and among them are HARRISON and NOR
TON to begin with, then JOHN SHERMAN,
who as late rs week ago made speech
TO Cincinnati business men favoring the
Presidents policy. and GRANT, GARFIELD,
ARTHUR and ALLISON, not to mention