Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1888-09-13

measure rendered it unnecessary for me
to use this letter as q medium of com
municating to the public my views of
the questions involved in the campaign.
HARMONY WITH THE PARTY.
I appreciate very highly the confidence
and respect manifested by the conven-
ton, and accept the nomination with a
feeling OF gratitude and q full sense of
the responsibilities which accompany it.
1t is q matter OF congratulation that
the declarations of the Chicago conven-
ton upon the questions that now attract
the interests of our people, are so Clear
and emphatic, There is further cause
for congratulation in the fact that the
convention utterances of the Democratic
party, il in amy degree uncertain or con-
Trajectory, can now be judged and in
terpreted By executive acts and messages
and by definite propositions in legisla-
tion. This is especially true of what is
popularity known as
THE TARIFF QUESTION.
The issue cannot now be obscured. It
lie not q contest between schedules, but
between wide apart principles. The
foreign competitors for our markets,
with quick instinct have seen how n
issue of this contest may bring them ad-
vantage, and our own people are not SO
u as to miss or neglect the graYest in
terests that are involved for them. The
assault upon u protective system is
open and defiant. Protection is assailed
rs unconstitutional in law, or as vicious
in principle, and those who hold such
z views sincerely, cannot stop short of an
absolute elimination from our tariff laws
of thep principle of protection, The Mills
bill is only a step, but is toward an OBJ
ject that the leaders of Democratic
thought and legislation have clearly In
mind. The important question is not so
much the length of the step as the direc-
tion of it, judged by tho executive mes
sage 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 law upon a purely revenue
basis. This is practical free trade-freS
trade in the English sense. The legend
upon the banner may not be t'free
tradeo-it may be the more obscure
motto, tariff reform" but neither the
banner nor the inscription is conclusive.
or, In the end, very important. The as
sauIt itself is the very important fact.
Those who teach that the import duty
upon foreign goods sold in our market
liz paid by the consumer, and that the
price OF the domestic competing article
is enhanced to the amount of the duty
on the imported articles; that every
million of dollars collected for
customs duties represents many millions
more which do not reach the treasury,
but are paid by our citizens in the in.
creased COST OF domestic productions re-
sulting from the tariff laws, may not in
tend to diseredit in the minds Of others
our system Of levying duties on compet-
ing foreign products, but it is clearly al
ready discredited in their own. We can
not doubt, without i%mpugning their in
tegrity, that ii free to act upon their
convictions they would so revise our
laws as to lay the burden of the customs
revenue upon articles that are not pro-
duced in this country, and place upon
the free list all competing foreign prod
ucts. ! do not stop to refute this theory
az to he effect of our tariff duties.
Those who advance it are students of
maxims and not of the markets. They
may safely be allowed to call their pro-
ject tariff REFORM if the people un-
derstand that in the end the argument
compels free trade in all competing prod
ucts. This n may not be reached alb
ruptly, and its approach may be accom-
YshAStl ~ chA SCARlCSSlOn VI Sy ulpdtQY
Tor u protected industries and our
working people, but 1t will certainly
come, il these early steps do not arouse
the people to effective resistance. The
Republican party holds that a protective
tariff is constitutional wholesome and
necessary. We do not offer a liked
schednle, but a principle. We will re-
wise the schedule, modify rates, but al.
ways with an intelligent provision as to
the effect upon domestic produce
tion and the wages of working peo-
pie. We believe it to be one OF the
worthy objects of tariff legislation to
preserve the American market for Amer
lean producers, and to maintain the
American scale of wages, by adequate
discriminating duties upon foreign corr
peiing products. The effect OF lower
rates and larger importations upon the
public revenue is contingent and doubt
full, bat no effect upon American produc.
tioa and American wages. Less work
and lower wages must be accepted as
Ntlle inevitable result OF the increased Of,
farings Of foreign goods iii our market.
sBy way of recoiapense for this reduction
in his wages and thelloss Of the Amer
lean market, 1t is suggested that the
diminishing wages OF the w~orkingnian
Will have an n~hdiminished purchasing
power, and that he will be able to make
up for the loss of the home% markets
by an enlarged foreign market. Our
workingmen have the settlement of the
question in their own hands. They now
OBTAIN higher wages and live elore com
fortabL b those of any other country.