New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-20
n1ScUTSFS OF FREE TRADE.

Freo trade takes two DISCUSSES, and gets mad
whenever. in spite of any disguise, IL is cailed
by its right name. One disguise Is surplus
rcduct;on.n President Cleveland put this dia-
rbonous mantle over his free-trade message by
declaring that Congress had to deal Win con-
dition. not with a theory that 1t must reduce
the revenue in order to prevent commercla
disaster. and could not reduce the revenue
properly except by reducing protective duties
Tho Intentional fraud here is in the latter
clause II it be granted that reduction OF rev.
enue is an imperative duty, Mr.. Cleveland still
knows that all the Republicans, ana many Oh
his own party in the aggregate more thah
majority in either house, would vote on the
instant. If permitted by Speaker CARLISLE 10
cut down the internal revenue. The entire
surplus or any desired part of it, can be taken
off by repeating taxes on tobacco ana leaVlng
the States TO collect the whole or any part OF the
taxes on liquors. The pretence that any tar
if reduction is necessary in order to meet the
condition that confronts u.s. is conscious ana
deliberate Justification.
The second disguise Of free trade is tariff
reduction.o or tariff REFORM" or " freer trade
NOT free tradeD Here the false pretence is
that existing duties are far too high, and can
be greatly reduced without at all impairng rea-
sonable protection of home industry. The
pretended tariff reformer in Congress soiemhly
argues that an excessive duty on steel rails
makes domestic rails too high though he knows
perfectly well that large quantities OF rails are
actually imported under the present duty, and
vet that the present price compels large num-
Der of the lal mills in this country to stop
work. He knows that lower duty would only
close more of the home manufactures, and adj
NIT instead a greater proportion of foreign
rails, and he is guilty of deliberate Justification
when he pretends that the reduction would not
impair the protection of home industry. lie
knows that the duty on tin plates is not excess
sive, but is simply ineffective because too low,
and that in this case higher duty would cut
off large revenue that is not needed, and at
the same time encourage an industry which
would be worth millions to this country.
But behind the conscious fraud there is
great deal of unconscious blending of free-trade
theories with honest opposition to supposed
excess of duties. Many man really thinks,
as Mr. Cleveland argues in his message that
the lower duty would benefit home industry by
giving it cheaper raw materials and larger
market for products Thus he is governed by
the theory Of extreme free traders though he
may not know it. Ignorance is his excuse, but
it does not change the fact that his reasoning
and his practical measure are those OF free
trade, and can be defended on no other ground.
In his stupidity, he calls people liars who tell
him what his proposal actually means. They
have the sense to know, and he has not.
AT a meeting at Paterson, the Democratic
orator from California shouted that the platform
and the party were not for free trade, and those
were liars who said So The context made it
evident that the man was classifying. He knew
perfectly well that it was the breaking down
Of protection that he and his party really sought.
But the leather-unged speaker only uttered with
intent to deceive the same untruth which manv
others utter ignorantly. Because they cannot
comprehend the distinction between free-trade
principles and the principles of protection,
they posture before the public as tariff re-
formers, when in fact they are only Free
Traders, too ignorant to know what they are
or what they intend