Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-08-30
The Tariff and the Surplus,

The current number Of the North
American Review contains an interesting
article on Democracy at ST. Louis" in
which the writer shows that the free
trade wing Of the Democratic party has
captured President Cleveland and the
House of Representatives, and that 1t is
not, as would appear on the surface,
President Cleveland who has captured the
Democratic party and bent it to his will.
Whether the free trade wing of the Dem
ocratic party will follow up its victory
over the President and the House by the
capture of the national vote at the Presi.
dental election, depends the writer as
scrts, on a clear knowledge of the tariff
issue, and more especially of the Mills
tariff BILL how it was concocted and what
it really means. The birthplace Of the
bill is enveloped in mystery, as the writer
sarcastcally observes. ''even to this day,
the place where the present bill was
formed is as secret as the burial place of
Moses" he then goes on with his scath-
ing Indictment. He says: after it saw
daylight, not one single interest affected
was permitted to appear and defend its
position. Capital and labor, and even
their representatives. on the floor, were
alike shut out. Nothing but secret inter
views have been allowed, and what took
place at those interviews no protectionist
Democrat or Republican been al
lowed to know. The bill is thoroughly
and essentially geographical Where
Democracy has sway, the knife skins
lightly. Where the other side is repre-
scented, the knife goes to the hit Salt
is on the free list, rice is left with a
duty Of G8 to 100 per cent. A party
caucus has been held. and some of the
heaviest duties have been restored,
where Democratic representatives would
be DISCONNECTED. In other words, in.
dustries have been treated with favor or
disfavor on account of their politics.
What the Free Traders so frequently call
the privileged classes have been con-
tinued in their privileges" if Democrats
came from their districts, and refused il
they did not Briefly the Mills tariff
bill is machine to catch votes at the
Presidential election. Where Democrats
are concerned, the Free Trade knife is
firmly tied up; but where they are not
concerned, it is allowed full swing. In
short, the bill is a fragrant example of
principles sacrificed to the exigencies of
party. The writer then proceeds to es-
tablish what in fact is patent 10 every
one, that the present tariff is grief and
a veXation to no one. There have been
no public meetings throughout the coun-
try demanding a reduction on the tariff,
as it now stands. There has been no
popular outcry for lower duties on i'm
ported merchandise, and above all, no
petition to Congress demanding relief
from the oppression of the protective
system. On the contrary, the popular
feeling is so evidently the other way,
that every Democrat, from the President
downwards. IS careful to explain that the
Mills tariff bill is not free trade bill, and
that every protected American industry
will in no way be injured by the passage
of that bill. Neither, it must be con-
fessed-eXcept in n few partisan journals
is there any indication that there exists
in the country any profound dssatisfac-
ton on account Of the surplus in the
treasury. Indeed, there are not wanting
Amercans-and they are by no means
the least patriotic brethren-who are
proud Of the surplus as of something es-
sentiallv American, and which no other
nation the wide world over can boast Of
As rule people groan over deficit, and
not over full treasury. 1t is true that
in q languid sort of way there has arisen
feeling that it would be wiser to dis
pose of the surplus than to allow it to
accumulate in the treasury, and it is to
this feeling that the Mills tariff bill pre-
tends to address itself Experience, how
ever, has repeatedly shown that reduced
duties increase imports, and as con-
sequence, that the treasury receipts are
increased and not diminished by reduc-
ton of the duties; so that the Mills tariff
bill, so far as the surplus is concerned,
would rather increase than diminish it.
The only way, indeed, in which a tariff
bill could be made tC work so as to strike
down the surplus. would be by large adj
ditions to the free list but this would be
free trade with vengeance, and the
party in power, Notwithstanding its
secret proclivities, shriDks from such an
open declaration of its principles. Had
the aim of the Democracy been simply Il
reduction of the surplus and nothing else,
there was, as the writer in the North
American Review justly observes, mo
moment of time since the opening of the
session, when bill could have been de-
feated, which took $50, 0O0,0 900 from
tobacco, Sc, 600, 600 from alcohol used in
the arts, and either S12, 900, 900 or $25,
COO, 900 from sugar, had the majority
presented it. The Government, for the
last six months, might have taken at the
rate of $54 600. 900 less per year, than
now