St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-11
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
THE FOREMOST ISSUE.

We are surprised that a paper of so
much political Shrewdness, and usually
possessed of such keen perceptlve fac
ulties as the Chicago Tribune, should
take issue with the GLOBE on the prop
oSition that the recent elections were
expressions of a popular desire for a
reduction of the war taxes. We admit
that there were local issues that had
their weight in several of the states, but
it is equally apparent that in all of them
the issue of tariff reform was upper
mOstin the public mind. In not one of
the eight states which voted last Tues
day did the Republican campaign man
ayers and the Republican stump orators
fail to impress upon the voters the ne
ceSsity for rallying to the support of the
administration, and sustaining the pol
icy of the dominant party in respect to
all issues before the country. If our
Chicago contemporary had carefully
read the Republican papers published
in Ohio and Iowa, and had followed the
discussions during the progress of the
campaigns in those states, it would have
perceived that the policy of the Repub-
lican leaders was to whip the voters
into line on distinctly party issues.
If the Chicago Tribune had as care
fully followed the line of campaign
marked out by the Democrats in these
states, it would have observed that in no
instance did they attempt to avoid the
tariff issue; but, ON the contrary, they
planted themselves squarely on the
CLEVELAND platform and made an ag-
gressiye fight in advocacy of the tariff
reform principle.
The same was done in New York, In
Massachusetts, in Pennsylvania, in New
Jersey and in Nebraska. And, while
national issues were not prominent in
the Virginia campaign, they were, nev-
erthelesS, discussed and kept before the
voters.
In the face of all these facts. is any
one in position to deny that tariff reform
was an important factor in the result of
last Tuesdays elections?
In Iowa, particularly, the Republican
method of reforming the tariff was on
trial. 1t was Senator ALLIsoN's state,
and Senator ALLISON is the author of
the senate bill which is accepted as the
best Interpretation of Republican tariff
reform views. Iowa was a Republican
state whose RepublicaniSm was almost
as ancient as the sun and as rOck-ribbed
as the Grampian hills. Senator ALI
son and his bill were injected as lead
Ing isSueSinto the state campaign.Owing
to the fact that legislature was to be
elected which will choose successor to
MIR. ALLISON in the senate. ALLIsoN's
candidacy for reelection made the tariff
question necessity in the Iowa state
canvass. And yet what are the results?
These are nuts that our Chicago con-
temporary can crack at its leisure; and
the time spent in cracking uAem will be
prof1tably spent.
The GLOBE made no mistake when it
said that the voters in the states in
which elections occurred last Tuesday
served notice on the administration and
on the Republican majority in the next
congress that the war taxes must be
abolished.
They furthermore served notice that
1t was the substance of tariff reform
they wanted, and not the sckly shadow
embodied in the ALLISON bill.
II the administration and the Repub-
Gcan congress are pig-headed enough
to disregard the service of this notice,
they will get another one in 1893 that
will count for something.
1t is a mistaken idea these advocates
of high tariff have. that the people
can forever be wheedled into support
ing measures cOncOcted by the m0nOpo-
list for rohbing the masses.
Prohibition and Sunday laws played
their part in the Iowa and Ohio cleo
tons. yet they did not entirely obscure
the tariff issue. 1t is an issue that has
come to stay; and, as long as the Dem
ocrats keep up their educational cam
paign, it is bound to be growing issue
one that imprasSes itself upon the
mind of the voter every time he pays out
a dollar for some article that is taxed
for the exclusive benefit of the favored
manufacturer.
Tariff reform is not only living issue,
but it is burning one, and there is no
way to keep it from being the foremost
issue in any and every sort OF an cleo
ton until it is fairly settled as the
masses want it.