The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-09-22
Receiving Visiting Delegations Pre-
vented Earlier PRONUNCIATION.
He Reviews the Tariff Question After
the Republican Method.
A Protective Tariff constitutional
Wholesome and Necessary.
Trusts, Pensions, Civil Service and
Fisheries Questions Considered.
GEN HARRISON'S LETTER.

He Communicates to the Public His Views on
Questions Involved In the Campaign.
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1.-THE following
10 Gen. Harrison's letter of acceptance:
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. IL, 1888.
hon. II. NJ. Estee and others, members of
the com mmittee:
GEsrLxxRS-When your committee q
visited me on the Fourth OF July last and
presented the official announcement of
my nomination for the presidency of the
United States by tie republican national
convention, / promised, as soon ns
practicable, to communicate to You q
murs formal acceptance of the noAina-
tion. Sinoe that time the work of re.
| oaiving and addressing, almost daily,
large delegations of my fellow citizens
has not only occupied all of my time bat
has in some measure rendered 1t unpeces-
sary for me to use this letter ~ Medium
of communicating to the public my views
upon the questions involved in the cam-
paign. / appreciate very highly the con-
ndenoe and respect manifested by the
convention and accept the nomination
With feeling OF gratitude and full
sense of the responsibilities which ac-
company it.
Ii is q ma after OF congratulation thai
she declarations OF the Chicago conven.
tion upon the questisns tina: now attrac.
the interest of our people are so clear
and emphatic; there is further cause of
oongratulation in the fact that the
convention III utteraLce of the demo
cratic party, If in any degree uncertain
or contradictory can now be judged and
interpreted by executive acts and mes.
sages, and by definite propositions In
legislation. This io especially true OF
~hat is populany known as
THE TARIFF QUESTION.
Tho issue cannot now be obscured. Il is
not q contest between sched ules, bat be.
tween wide apart principles. The for
eisn com mpetiiors of our market have,
with quick instinct, seen how one iasne
of this canvass may bring them advan
tsge, and our osn people are not so
iull as TO miss or neglect the great in
terests that are involved for thsm. The
assault upon our protective system Ia
opsn and defiant. Protection is asssiied
as unconstitutional in the Law, or 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,
bct it is toward an objest that the leaders
% democratic thought aud Legislation
have clearly in mind. The important
question Is not 40 much the leng tn OF the
step as the direction of il. Judge d by the
executive message of December last, by
the Mills bill, By the debates III congress-,
and by the st. Louis platform, the
democratic party will, If supported
by the country, place the
tariff laws upon purely revenue basis.
Is this practical free trade-free trade in
the English senses The legend upon
the banper many not be Stree trade" it
may be the more obscure motto, tariff
REFORM" but neither the banner nor the
,nscri ption Is conclusive, or, indeed, very
I'M portant. The assault itself is the i'm
portsnt fact. Those who teach that the
import duty upon foreign goods scld in
our market is
PAID BY TIE cossUMKn,
and that the price of the domestic com
peting article is enhanced to the amount.
of the duty on imported articles, that
every million of dollars collected for GUS
toms duties, represents as many millions
more which do not reach the treasury bat
are paid by our citizens as the increased
cost of domestic productions resulting
from the ta.if laws, may not intend to
discredit in the minds of others our sys-
lem Of levyiug duties on competing for
eign products, but it is clearly already
ciscredited in their own. We cannot
doubt without impugning their integrity
that If free to act upon their convictions,
,hey would 80 revise our laws as 10 lay the
burden OF the customs revenue upon ar
ticles that are not produced in this coIn-
try and 10 place upon the free list all
CON peting foreign products. / do not
stor TO reiute this theory rs 10 the effect
of our tariff duties. Those who advance
il are students Of maxims aud not of
the markets. They may be safely
allowed to call their project Tariff Re-
FORM" IL the people understand that in
the end the argument compels free trade
in all competing products. This end
may not be reached abruptly, and it's APP
proach may be accompanied with some
expressions of sympathy for our pro
tected industries and our working people,
but 1t will certainly come, If these early
steps do not aronse tha people to effec.
tive resistance. The republican party
holds that
PROTECTIVE TARIFP Is CONSTITUTIONAL,
WHOLESOME AND NECESSARY.
We do not offer a fixed schedule, but a
principle. We will revise the schedule,
modify rates, but always with an intelli-
gent provision as To the eff. ct upon the
domestic production and the wages of
our working people. We believe il TO be
one of the worthy objects of tariff
legislation TO preserve the Ameri-
can market for American producers, and
to maintain the American scale of wages
by adequate discriminating duties upon
reign competing products. The effect
of lower rates and larger importations
upon the public 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 inevitable
result of the increased Offering
OF foreign goods IN our market.
By reeompense for this reduction in his
wages, and the loss of the American mar
ket, it is suggested that the diminished
wages of the workingman viii have an un-