The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-10-03
HARRISON ACCEPTS.
His Formal Letter to the NOti-
ficatiOn Committee,
The Republican Nominee for the
Presidency Gives His Views.

The letter of General Benjamin Harrison,
accepting the Republican nomination for
President has been made public He begins
hy saying:
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, Sept II, 1855.
'Hon. II. MI. EStee and others, Committee:
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 Convention,
1promised as soon as practicable to commu
nicate to you formal acceptance Of the
nomination. Since that time the work Of re-
ceiving and addressing almost daily large
delegations of my fellow citizens has not only
occupied all of my time, but has in
some measure rendered it unnecessary for
me to use this letter as a medium Of COM
municating to the public my views upon the
questions involved in the campaign. / ap.
preciate very highly the confidence and re-
spect manifested by the Convention and ac-
cept the nomination with feeling OF graft
tude and full sense of the responsibilities
which accompany it.
1.-THE issue cannot now be obscured. 1t is
not a contest between schedules, but between
wide apart principles. The foreign COM
petitors Of our market have, with quick
instinct, seen how one issue Of this
contest may bring them advantage,
and our own peop,e 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. Pro-
lection is assailed 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 tits toward
an object that the leaders of Democratic
thought and legislation have clearly in mind.
81 he important question is not so much the
Judged by the Executive message 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 purely revenue basis. This is
practical free trade-free trade in the Eng
ish sense The legend upon the banner
may not be Gree trade"-it may
be the more ne3bs obscure Tho motto tariff
the inscription is conclusive. or. indeed very
important The assault itself, it is the i'm
portant fact.
! 'Those who teach that the import duty upon
foreign goods sold in our markets is paid by
the consumer, and that the price Of the
domestic competing article IS enhanced to
the amount Of the duty on the imported
srticle-that every million of dollars collected
for customs represents many millions more
which do not reach the Treasury, but are
paid by our citizens as the increased cost OF
domestic productions resulting from the
tariff laws-may not intend to discredit in
the minds Of others our system Of levying
duties on competing foreign products, but it
is clearly already discredited in their own"
ho nbc Tha
party holds that protective tariff is consti-
tutional, wholesome and necessary. We do
not offer q fixed schedule but principle.
We will revise the schedule, modify rates,
but always with an intelligent provision as
10 the effect upon domestic production and
che wages OF our working people. We
believe it to be one OF the worthy OBJ
American market for American producers,
and to maintain the American scale
Of wages by ADEQUATE discriminating
duties upon foreign competing products The
effect of lower rates and larger importations
upon the public revenue is contingent and
doubtful, but not so the effect upon Ameri-
can production and American wages.
LESS work and lower wages must be ac-
cepted as the inevitable result Of the in.
creased offering Of foreign goods in our mar
ket By the way Of recompense for this reduc-
tion in his wages and the loss O. the American
market it is suggested that the diminished
wages of the workingman will have an un-
dimishcd purchasing power. and that he will
be able to make up for the loss of the home
market by an enlarged foreign market. Our
workingmen have the settlement of the ques-
1dou W their own hands They now obtain
higher ages and live more comfortably than
those Of any other country. They VIII make
choice between the substantial advantages
they have in hand and the deceptive prom
ises and forecasts of those theorizing reform
srs. They will decide for themselves and for
the country whether tie protective system
shall be continued or destroyed.
"The fact of q Treasury surplus, the
amount of which is variously stated, has di-
rected public attention to consideration Of
the methods by which the national in
come may best be reduced to the level OF
q wise and necessary expenditure. This
condition has been seized upon by those who
are hostile to protective custom duties as an
advantageous base of attack upon our tariff
laws They have magnifed and nursed the
surplus, which they affect to deprecate.
seemingly for the purpose OF exaggeratlng
the evil in order to renoncile the people to
the extreme remedy they propose"
His sentiments on the use Of the surplus
sre as follows: 1--WE are not likely to be
called upon, I think, to make present
clOlc0 DeGWeeu tQe SuTTeuUeI VI Jul piO-
tective system and the entire repeal OF
the internal taxes. Such contingen y,
in view Of the present relation
of expenditures to revenues is re.
mote. The inspection and regulation Of the
manufacture and sale of oleomargarine is
important and the revenue derived from it
is not so great that the repeal Of the law
need enter into any plan of revenue reduc-
tion. The surplus now in the Treasury
ho in ha nf
bonds. The law authorizes this use of it, and
if it is not needed for current or deficiency
appropriations the people and not the banks
in which it has been deposited should have
the advantage Of its use by stopping interest
upon the public debt"
CLOSELY connected with the subject of the
tariff" declares Mr.. Harrison, ''is that of the
importation of foreign laborers under con-
tracts Of service to be performed here.
The law now in force prohibiting such
contracts received my cordial support in the
Senate, and such amendments as may be
found necessary effectively to deliver our
working men and women from this most
inequitabe form Of competition will have my
sincere advocacy. Legislation prohibiting
to serve here will, however. afford very
inadequate relief to our working peop:e
if the system of protective duties is
broken down. II the product of
American shops must compete in the Amer
lean market without favoring duties with
the products Of cheap foreign labor, the ef-
feet will be different, if at all, only in dagree
whether the cheap laborer is across the
street or over the sea- Such competition
of those abroad, and when that condition is
reached we will not need any laws foroid-
ding the importation Of laborers under con.
tract. lhey will have no inducement to