Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-09-21
HARRISON ACCEPTS.
His Formal Letter to the Noti-
ficatiOn Committee
The Republican Nominee Or the
Presidency Gives His Views.


by saying:
1NDIANAPOLIs, Ind, Sept. II, 1855.
'HOn. II. VI. EStee and others, COn7nitEee.
GENTLEMEN: When your committee
visited me on the Fourth of July last and
presented the official announcement of nv
nomination for the Presidency of the
United States by the Republican Convention,
Ipromised as soon as practicable to commu-
nicate to you formal acceptance of the
nomination. Since that time the work of re-
ceIvIHg 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 70 use this letter as medium of com
munlcatlng 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 &C
cept the nomination with feeling of graft
tude and a full sense of the RESPONSIBILITIES
which accompany it.
in regard TO the tariff question he says:
line issue cannot now be Obscured. 1t is
not contest between schedules, but between
petItOrs OF our market have, with quick
instinct, seen how one issue of this
contest may bring them advantage,
ana our own people 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 assalled as unconstitutional in law,
as vicious in principle, and those who
hold such views sincerely cannot stop short
of absolute elimination from our tariff
laws Of the principle of protection.
The Mills bill is only step, but it is toward
an object that the leaders of Democratic
thought and legislation have clearly in mind
II he importantquestiOni is not 50 much the
length of the step as the direction of it.
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
lish sense. The legend upon the banner
may not be ''free traden-it may
be the more obscure motto, tariff
refOrm'-but neither the banner nor
the inscription is conclusive. or, indeed, very
IMPORTANT The assault itself, it is the i'm
pOrtant fact.
II hose 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 the imported
articie-that every million of dollars collected
for customs represents many millions more
which do not reach the Treasury, but are
paid by citizens the increased cost of
domestic productions resulting from the
tariff !aws-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"
Continuing he observes: The Republican
party holds that a protective tariff is cOnsti-
not offer fixed schedule but a principle
We will revise the schedule, modify rates,
but always with an Intelligent provision as
to the effect upon domestic production and
the wages of our working people. We
believe it to be one of the worthy OBJ
jects of tariff legislation to preserve the
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 A1nerl-
can production and American wages.
LESS work and lower wages must be &C
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-
ton in his wages and the loss o. the American
market it is suggested that the diminished
wages Of the wOrkingman will have an I'M
diminished purchasing power, and that ne Will
be able to make up for the loss of the home
market by an enlarged foreign market Our
wOrkinCmen have the settlement of the queS
ton i'll their own hands They now obtain
higher wages and live more comfortably than
those of any other country. 1hey VIII make
choice between the substantial advantages
they have in hand and the deceptive prom
Uses and forecasts of those theOriZing reform
erS They will decide for themselves and for
the country whether the protective system
shall be continued or destroyed
The fact Of a Treasury surplus, the
amount of which is variouSly stated, has di-
rooted Dublic attention to cons. Iteration of
tie methods by which tie national in
come may best be reduced to the level of
a 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 magnifiei and nursed the
surplus which they affect to deprecate,
seemingly for the purpose of exaggerating
the evil in order to renOncile the people to
the extreme RENE ~ they propose.
Re on no ~
are as follows: 1--WE are not likely to be
called upon, [ think, to make present
choice between the surrender OF our pro.
+ective system and the entire repeal OF
the internal taxes. Such a 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 1t
is not so great that the repeal of the law
need enter into any plan of revenue reduc-
ton The surplus now III the Treasury
should be used in the purchase Of
bonds The law authorizes this use of 1t, and
if it is not needed for current or deficiency
appropriations the people AMI 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, lis 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 De
found necessary effectively to deliver our
working men and women from this most