The new North-west., 1888-09-21
HARR]S0N'S LETTER,
The Republican Nominee Gra+o.
fully Accepts the Honor
Accorded Him.
Ee declares Himself Fully in Accord
With the Plato orm Adopted
at Chicago.

" ASAA SA0 : A0tXVxm AUOUCeO
at Chicago.
lie Tariff Scheme May Be Altered, But
the Principle Of Protection Must
Be Maintained.
NDlANAPoL1s, IND, Sept. .2.-The fol-
loving is Gen. Harrison's letter Of &C.
ctptance:
Hon M. NJ Estee and others. committee
etc.:
GENTLEMEN = When your committee
visited me on the Fourth of July last and
presented the official announcement of
my nomination for the presidency of the
United States by the Republican conven-
t:on, promised as soon as practicable to
communicate to you a formal acceptance
TT the nomination. Since that time the
work OF receiving and addressing, al
most daily, large delegations Of my fell
low citizens. has not only occupied all of
my time, but has in some measure rem
dered it unnecessary for me to use this
letter as medium of communicating to
the public my views upon the questions
Involved in the campaign. appreciate
very highly the confidence and respect
manifested by the convention and accept
the nomination with a feeling of graft
tude and full sense of the responsible
tiles which accompany it.
1t Is matter Of congratulation that
the declarations of the Chicago conven-
tion upon the questions that now attract
u IY1fo nF II
and emphatic. There is further cause of
congratulation in the fact that the con-
vention utterances Of the Democratic
party, if in any degree uncertain and
contradictory, can now be judged and
interpreted by executive acts and mes
sages. and by definite propositions in
legislation. This is especially true of
what is popularly known as the tariff
question. The issue cannot now be OBJ
seured. 1t is not a contest between
schedules, but between wide apart prin-
ciples. The foreign competitors for our
market have, with quick instinct, seen
how one issue Of this contest may bring
them advantage, and our own people are
not so dull as to miss or neglect the grave
interests that are involved for them.
The assault upon our protective system
is open and defiant Protection is as
sailed as unconstitutional in law, or as
vicious in principle, and those who hold
such views sincerely cannot stop short of
an absolute elimination from our tariff
laws of the principle 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 direc-
tion of 1t. Judged by the executive mes
sage of 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 3 purely revenue
basis. This is practical free trade-free
trade in the English 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 import duty
upon foreign goods sold in our market is
paid by the consumer, and that the price
Of the domestic competing article is en-
hanced to the amount of the duty on the
imported article-that every million Of
dollars collected for customs duties rep
resents many millions more which do
not reach the treasury, but are paid by
our citizens as the increased cost Of do
mestic productions resulting from the
tariff laws-may not intend to discredit
in the minds of others our system Of
levyine duties on competing foreign pro-
ducts, but it is clearly already discredited
in their own. We cannot doubt, with
out impugning their integrity, that, il
free to act upon their convictions, they
would SO revise our laws as to lay the
burden of the customs revenue upon
articles that are not produced in this
country, and to place upon the free list
all competing foreign products. 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 REFORM" II
the people understand that in the end
the argument compels free trade in all
competing products. This end may not
be reached abruptly, and its approach
may be accompanied with some express
sions of sympathy for our protected in
dustries and our working people, but it
will certainly come, If these early steps
do not arouse the people to effective re-
sistance.
The Republican party holds that pro-
tective tariff is constitutional, wholesome
and necessary. We do not offer fixed
schedule, but principle. We will re-
wise the schedule, modify rates, but al
ways with an intelligent provision as to
the effect upon domestic production and
the wages Of our working people. We
believe it to be one of the worthy objects
of tariff legislation topreserve the Amer
lean market for the American producers,
and to maintain the American scale of |
wages, by adequate discriminating duties |
upon foreign competing products. The ef-
feet of lower rates and larger importations !
upon the public revenue is contingent |
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 the way of recon-
pense for this reduction in his wages,
and the loss of the American market, it
is suggested that the diminished wages
Of the workingman will have the un-
diminished purchasing power, and that
he will be able to nal ke up for the loss
of the home market by an enlarged for
eign market. Our workingmen 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 substantial
advantages they have in hand and the
deceptive promises and forecasts OF
these theorizing reformers. They Will
decide for themselves and Tor tnelr
country whether the protective system
shall be continued or destroyed.
Tho fact of q treasury SURPLUS tne
amout Of which is variously stated, has
directed public attention to a consideIa-
tion of the methods by which the
national income may best be reduced 10
the level of wise and necessary ex-
nenditure. This condition has Deen
seized upon by those who are hostile 10
nrotective customs duties as an advan-
taeeous base of attack upon our talI
Las They have magnifled and nursea
the surplus, which they affect to depre-
cate. seemingly for the purpose OF e1ag
corotinp the evil in order to reconclie
the neonle to the extreme remedy tney
propose. A proper reduction ed Of 'ns shon'd nSG
ennes does not necessitate, and snou!o
not SUGGEST. the abandonment OF impair. Pn
,nent me-, Of the protective system. Inc
nethods suggested by our conventlon
LIN .T not need to be exhausted in order 70
sffect the necessary reduction. I'VE we a ~
not likely to be called upon. l tnink, ~
make a present choice between tne s4s'