The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-09-22

/. 1ioosAliy y Asttssss futlb tttWhyS WITH an ms
telIigent proviso as TO the effect upon,
domestic production and The wages
Of our working people. We believe
It to be one of the worry objects of
tariff legislation to preserve the.
s American market for tie American
producers, and to maintain the
American scale of wages by adequate
disseminating duties upon foreign
connecting products. The eff6et of
sl9yer rates and larger importations
upon the pubiicrevenue iscontingent
and doubtful. but not SO upon Amer.
lean production and American wages.
Less work and lower wages must be
accepted as the inevitable result of
increased Offering Of foreign goods in,
our market. BY way of recon- pense
for.this reelection u bis was~es eeds
the loss of the American market, it
is suggested that the diminished
wages of the workingman will haye
an undiminished 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 question in their own hands.
They now obtain higher wages and
live more comfortable than those of
any other country. They will make
choice between the substantial ad-
vantages they have on hand and the
deceptive promises and forecasts of
these theOriZing reformers. They
will decide for themselves and for the
country whether the Protective sys-
tenn shall be continued or destroyed.
The fact of a Treasury surplus, the
amount of which IS yariously stated,
has directed public attention to a con-
sideratiOn Of the methods by which
the national income may best be re.
duced to the level of wise and me-
cessary expenditure. This condition
has been seized upon by those who
are hostile to Protective customs
duties as an advantageous base of
attack upon our tariff laws. They
have maguified and nursed the sur
plus, which they affect to deprecate,
seemingly for the purpose of eX-
aggerating the evil in order to recon
cile the people to the extreme remedy
they propose. A proper reduction of
the revenues does not necessitate and
should not suggest the abandonment
of the Protective system. The meth
ods suggested by our Convention will
not need to be exhausted in order to
effect the necessary reduction. We
are not likely to be called upon, l
think, to make a present choice be-
tween the surrender of the Protective
system and the entire repeal of the
Internal taxes. Such a contingency
in view of the present relation of eX-
penditures to revenues is remote.
The inspection and regulation of the
manufacture and sale of oIeOmargar-
inc is important, and the revenue de-
rived from it is not so great that the
repeal of the law need enter into any
plan of revenue reduction.
The surplus now in the Treasury
should be used in the purchase OF
bonds. The law authorizes this use
of it, and if it is not needed for cur
rent or deficiency appropriations the
people, and not the banks in which
it has been deposited should have the
advantage of its use by stopping in
terest upon the public debt. At least
those who needlessly hoard it should
not be allowed to use the fear of ;.
monetary stringency thus produced
to coerce public sentiment upon other
questions.
Closely connected with the subject
of the tariff is that Of the importa-
ton Of foreign laborers under con-
tracts of service to he performed here.
The law now in force prohibiting
such contracts received my cordial
support in the Senate and such
amendments as may be found ne
cessary effectively to deliver our
workingmen and women from this
most iniquitable form of competition
will have my sincere advocacy. Leg
islation prohibiting the importation
of labOrerS under contracts to serve
here will, however, afford very in
| adequate relief to our working peO-
pie if the system of Protective duties
is broken down, If the products OF
American shops must compete in the
American market without favoring
duties with the products of cheap
foreign labor, the effect will be diff
feIent, if at all, only in degree,
whether the cheap laborer is across
the street or over the sea. Such COM
petition will soon reduce wages here
to the level of those abroad, and
when that condition is reached we
shall not need any laws forbidding
the importation of labOrers under