Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-11
The Real Issue-The People who
Flop.


There is not even Republican of pro-
nounced intelligence who will not admit
that the only hope of the success Of Har-
rison and Morton lies in his belief that
there is not time in which to fully discuss
the issues arising from the war tariff and
the expanding surplus. In this he is
mistaken; the time is ample and the
masses are instructed far beyond the
knowledge Of the hackneyed politician.
The Democratic House of Representa-
tives put in months fabricating a re-
formed tariff bill which, while protecting
American manufactures, shall give the
people the necessaries of life at the
lowest cost. The Republican Senate,
instead of accepting the just and
conservative Mills bill, has started
in to formulate a measure of its own,
with view to campaign capital, and
with the absolute knowledge that by its
action it makes any relief from war tax
alton, and from steadily expanding sur
plus impossible at this session of Con-
gress. 1t is a sharp trick but Brum-
magem one, based on a belief, held by
the Republican leaders, that the masses
have no sense.
But the masses are alive to their own
interests. They want cheaper clothing,
cheaper fuel, cheaper stoves, knives,
forks, bedding, lumber, railway iron, and
so on through an endless list which EN-.
braces the tin can in which the Southern
Californian puts his fruits and vegetables.
The modest wants of the housekeeper
reach up from the tariff-enhanced price of
pepper castor to the cooking range,
while the enterprising house,
holder, who is man of affairs and a
protector of enterprises, wants the means
of carrying out schemes cleapened, from
the horseshoe nails which are driven
into the hoofs of the horses and mules
which draw the dump loads OF dirt which
even up his grades, to the railway iron
which is laid upon the track when built.
1t is the old cry of the consumer against
the producer; of the masses against the
classes" to use Gladstone's happy re.
mark in crucial phase in English poll
tics.
The New York World, of the 4th inst,
has happily conceived article entitled,
"Flopping Through Interest,"" which we
take pleasure in reproducing. It tells
the story of occasional Democratic defeo-
tions neatly and well. We quote:
Free lumber, free soap and cheaper
iron pipe, "are three unanswerable ar
guments against the Mills bill" and are
responsible for the "revolt from Democ-
racy" in Buffalo, according to war-tariff
organ.
The lumber lords, the soap-bubble
millionaires and the other beneiciaries
of the excessive tariff bounties are nat
urally "fopping to Harrison" if they
were not previously Republicans.
Pierce Kane, the knit-goods manufac-
turer OF Rensselaer, county, spoke for his
class in saying:
1 know what my own interests are and will
do my best to protect them am uotiug for
KANE. am on the side of those who are on
the side of protection to my business.
Almost without exception the changes
OF prominent Democrats" to Harrison
are of those who are "voting for Kane"-
that is, for themselves. They desire to
be protected in their privilege of taxing
the great body of consumers to make or
keep themselves millionaires.
But "fopping through interest" is not
to be confined to one side, and in this
fact lies the hope of Democratic success.
The men who want cheaper lumber out
number the men who have become mil
lionaires from lumber lands. The peo-
pie who want cheaper soap are thousand
times more numerous than the men who
have grown rich by increasing the cost
OF cleanliness. An 80 on through the
list: the taxpayers are more than the
taxeaters-the masses outweigh the
classes.
The silent changes will decide the
election.
Mr.. Kane has brother who joins him
on the same ground, in the person of Mr..