The Portland daily press., 1888-09-11
The PRESIDENTS Let, err Of Acceptanoe.


Mr.. Cleyeland's letter of acceptance has at
last appeared, more than two months after
the st. Louis convention. 1t must. certainly
be regarded as a remarkable document, and
it is not surprising that it took the President
so long. Mr.. Cleveland has again argued
the free trade position" as the English
papers describe the performance, and has
again at the end Of the document declared
that he means protection. In doing this he
has drawn the document out to considerable
length, perhaps with the hope that the
country may forget the free trade beginning
as it is reading the protection ending. 81
suppose" says Mr.. Cleveland as he starts
out, Sit is needless to explain that all these
1.-THE protective tariff duties and assessments
are added to the price of the articles upon
which they are levied, and thus become a tax
upon all those who buy these articles for use
and consumption; Il suppose, too, it is well un-
derstood that the effect Of the tariff taxation
is not limited to the consumers of imported
articles, but that the duties imposed upon
such articles permit corresponding increase
in price to be laid upon domestic productions
of the same kind, which increase paid by all
our people as consumers of home productions
and entering every American home, consti-
tutes form of taxation as certain and as in.
eyitable as though the amount was annually
paid into the hands of the tax gatherer."
1t is certainly needless for Mr.. Cleveland or
any other free trader to attempt to explain
that the tariff is a tax of the sort described
In this paragraph. 1t has been again and
again demonstrated that the tariff does not
increase the cost of protected article by the
amount of the duty or anything near it;
aid the free traders have never been able
to show any fallacy in this demonstration.
They meet it by bare assertions, as does the
President. Again says Mr.. Cleveland: 1.-THE
absolute duty Of limiting the rate Of tariff
charges to the necessities of right and eco
nomical administration Of the government.
seems to be perfectly plain" and with this
statement should be taken also his other
statement that "the cost of the government,
must continue to be met by tariff duties col
lected at our custom houses upon imported
goods and by internal revenue taxes as
sessed upon spirituous and malt liquors, TO-
bacco and oleomargarine. This means that
to the theory Of free trade which he enun-
ciated in the paragraph first quoted, Mr..
Cleveland now adds the directions for the
practical steps. Keep up. he says. all the
internal revenue taxes and let them pour all
their millions into the treasury; then cut
: down the tariff duties SO that the revenue
derived frsmI them, will when added to the
internal revenue taxes, be just enough to
run the government. And what does this
mean? 1t means tariff so low that it will
cease to be in any sense protective tariff.
Mr. Cleveland knows, too, that it means
this; but he puts on the cloak of an ardent
protectionist and goes about proclaiming that
black is white, and that, therefore, no one
need be frightened. Yet the plain and I'M
adorned truth is this: Cleveland means, by
hook or by crook, to smash the tariff sys-
TEN.