Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-05-31
The TRUE ISSUE.
fhs One Substantial Question Now Be-
fore the American People.

fhs One Substantial Question Now Be-
fore the American People.
There is every indication that the
Republican party intends. if possible.
to avoid the issue of battle rendered
by the President in his message. or at
least to so obscure it in a cloud of nom
essential issues as to make it a subsid-
nary question. Every authoritative
declaration either in convention or by
party orators is in that direction One
of the declarations of the Ohio plat
form has for its burden the alleged
suppressed vote in the South. General
Harrison. in his Chicago speech. dwelt
strongly on the subject, and while he
could point out no remedy for the sup
posed existing state of affairs in regard
to the negro vote in the South. he new
ertheless declared that somehow. and
in some way. it should be made an is
sue. So other orators and certain Re-
publican newspapers take up the same
burden and hammer away at it. hop
ing by mere vociferation to make the
people believe there is something in it.
AS has been pointed out time and time
again when this same matter has been
mooted, if the Republicans. when they
had the power, could do nothing, what
could they do now if they were again
restored to power? Simply nothing.
Why. then. should they tender such
an issue? Because they dishonesty
wish to draw away the public mind
from the real vital question of the day.
and that is, how shall the ever-increas-
ing surplus in the Treasury be reduced
and the people be relieved from taxa
ton?
The Democrats say, reduce the tariff
duties; abolish the war taxation; make
the income of the Government only
sufficient for its leeds. and leave all
other money in the pockets of the peO-
pie. Such is the tenor of the Presi-
dents message. and for that reason it
is the wisest and most statesmanlike
declaration made to the Nation for
many years. The Republicans say in
convention and through their orators,
let the money pile up in the Treasury,
and let us spend it. Pension every
soldier that ever went to the war; pay
back to the States the direct taxes paid
by them during the war; let the Gov
eminent spend the money in vast pub
lie improvements; and if taxation must
still be reduced take it off those neces-
saries of life, whisky and tobacco. but
retain it to the last cent on those luxu-
ries of the poor. food, fuel and cloth
ing. Absolutely and truly this party
of great moral ideas" through such
of its opponents as Pig-iron Kelley,
Foraker, Foster and Mckinley, avows
that it would be better to have free or
cheap coal, or cheap iron. What a
shameless avowal. and how that party
has fallen from its great estate
But it is so that men, after long
course of battening on the people, get
so pulled up in their spider-like lusts.
get SO bloated and depraved with what
they have fed on, that they can see
nothing but their own web, which they
think is the world. These iron, cotton
and wooden barons, these trust mo-
nopolies will not give up easily what
they have so long held to be their own.
They do not care how much the faces
of the poor are ground, if SO they can
only pile up more riches.
Let not the working man. let not
the people be deceived by the false
fraudulent cry of "free trade" No
party in this country desires free trade
or ever has. Tariff taxation has been
familiar to the people since the days
of Washington. Our habits are adj
justed to it. and no one desires its
adjustment What we do desire,
what the Democratic party contends
for, is reduction of that taxation to
the actual requirements of the Gov
eminent. This is the one true. sub
stantial issue of the coming contest
Chicago Herald.