The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-09-20

Gen. Harrison's Letter of Formal
acceptance.

The following is Gen. Harrison 8 lette
accepting the Republican Presidentis
J nomination.:
INDIANAPOLIS. Ind, Sept II Hon. M
, VI. Estee and others. committee lie
men: When your committee visited me
on the fourth of July last, and presente,
: the official announcement OF my nOmIna
tlon Tor the Presidency OF the Unitet
States by the Republican convention,
promised as soon as practicable to com
nuncate to you more formal acceptanc,
OF the nomination. Since that time thu
work of receiving and addressing almos
daily large delegations of my fellow citi-
zens has not only occupied all of my time
but has in some measure rendered it un
necessary for me to use this letter as
medium of municating to the public
my views upon the questions involved ir
the campaign. l appreciate very highly
the confidence and respect manifested by
the convention, and accept the nomination
with feeling of gratitude and full sense
Of the responsibilities which accompany it.
1t is matter OF cOngratulation that the
declarations of the Convention upon the
questions that now attract the interest of
our people are so clear and emphatic.
There is further cause of congratulation
in the fact that the convention utterances
of the Democratic party. if in any degree
uncertain or contradictory. can now be
judged and interpreted by Executive acts
and messages, and by definite propositions
in legislation.
This is especially true of what Is popu-
larly known as the tariff question. 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
peO lie 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. Protection 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 it is to-
ward an object that the leaders of demo
cratic thought and legislation have clearly
in mind. The important question is not
so much the length of the step as the di-
rection of it. 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 pra0ticai free trade-free
trade in the English sense. The legend
upon the banner may not be Free
Trade - 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 is the important fact. Those who
teach that the import duty upon foreign
goods sold in our market is paid by the
consumer, and that the price of the domes
tic competing article is enhanced to the
amount of the duty on the imported arti
cle-~that every million of dollars collected
for customs duties represents many mil
lions more which do not reach the treas
ury, 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
dscredied in their own. We cannot
doubt without impugning their integrity
that if free to act upon their convictions
they would so revise our laws as to lay the
burden of the customs revenue upon arti
Giles that are not produced N this country
and to place upon the free list all oompet-
ing foreign products. | do not stop to
refute this theory as to the effect of our
| UdTlI
students of maxims and not of the mar
kets. They NAV be safe.y allowed to call
! their project tariff REFORM if the people
understand that in the end the argument
compels free trade IN all competing pro
ducts. This end may not be reached
abruptly. and its approach may be accom-
panied with some expressions of sympathy
for our protected industries and our work
ing people, but it will certainly come if
those early steps do not arouse the people
to effective resistance.
The Republican party holds that pro-
tectiva tariff is constitutional wholesome
and necessary. We do not offer a fixed
schedule Int a princjple. We will revise
the schedule and modify rates. but ALWAYS
with an intelligent provision as to the eff
| fact mon domestic nroduct1on and the
wages of our working people. We believe
it to be one OF the worthy objects of tariff
legislation to preserve the American mar
ket for American producers, and to main
tain the American scale OF wages by ade-
quate discriminating duties upon foreign
competing products. The effect OF lower
rates and larger Importation upon the pub
lie revenue is contingent and doubtful. but
not so the effect upon American production
and American wages. Less work and
lower wages must be accepted as the lnev-
ludUlO ieoulo VI oiIC lnol OesoOo VII VI
foreign goods in our market. by way OF
recompense for this reduction in his
wages and the loss OF the American mar
ket, it is suggested that the diminished
wages of the workingman will have an
undiminlshed purchasing power. and that
he will be able to make up for the loss OF
the home market by an enlarged foreign
market. Our Worklngmen have the settle
ment OF the question IN their own hands.
They now obtain higher wages and live
more comfortably than those OF any other
country. They VIII make choice between
the substantial advantages they nave Id
hand and the deceptive promises and fore
casts OF those theorizing retormers. They
Will decide tor themselves and Tor the
country whether the protectlye system
snail De continued or destroyed.
The fact of treasury surplus, the
amount of which is variously stated, has
directed public attention to conslcera.
ton OF the methods by which the national
income may best be reduced TO the level OF
a wise and necessary expenditure. rms
condition has been seized upon by those
who are hostile to protective customs du-
ties as an advantageous oase OF attack
upon our tariff laws. Ihey nave magn
had aud nursed the surplus, when they
Affect 10 deprecate' seemingly Tor Ihe puI-
POSE vi eAdgSeIdGluS IHt tVll III oluel "