The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-01-12
A GIGANTIC ROBBERY.
WHY Democratic Must Continue to Agi
tate tho Tariff Reform Queation.

| Inc campaign Oh loJZ opens Will
the discussion of the Allison bill in the
Senate.
No measure was ever introduced In
the Senate of the United States so full
of iniquity.
II reeks with the communistic spirit
of the rich. 1t is the boldest attempt
yet made by organized Plutocracy to
rob tho toiling millions of America.
There is not line in II devised for
tho benefit of the forgotten man, " the
| American consumer.
When the progress of invention and
the advance of mechanical science have
revolutionized an industry and have re-
| duced the cost OF production immense.
ly, as, for instance, in the manufacture
of steel, the Republicans make slight
| concession that costs them nothing and
benefits no one To reduce the tax on
steel rails from S17 to $15. 6S neither
lessons the revenue Of the Government
nor reduces taxation nor lessons the
| grip of Carnegie on the industries OF
America.
Building materials are not reduced;
| in many instances there is an advance.
Pig-iron is still to be taxed $6.72, in
order to protect rich capitalists who
have badly located furnaces where 1t
costs S15 to make iron that in properly
located furnaces can be made for So or
so.
Wool, now taxed ten cents, is to be
taxed eleven cents, simply as an ex-
cuse to advance the tax on every arti-
Gle into which wool enters.
The whole bill is bill of conspira-
tors leagued against the welfare of the
Republic.
Popular clamor made it necessary
to seem to yield something to the peo-
pie, but financial necessities required
some compact with the robber barons
of the North and East.
Fosters "fat frying" circular
brought few responses until Aiiison's
substitute for the Mills bill was intro
duced into the Senate.
That bill was heralded by such jour-
nails as the Chicago Tribune as a bill
to reduce taxes, but the manufacturers
and monopolists, the sugar trust and
the steel rail trust, knew better than
this They were tariff experts, and
understood the effect of every line of
the bill 1t was the bond by which
these highwaymen were to be author
lied to pillage the people under the
guise of protection for four years
longer, and when the Republican lead
ers finally committed themselves to
the bill, fiat" flowed freely.
These facts must be driven home to
the minds OF the people. 1t is "a mat
ter of profound Importance, which is
not to be estimated in dollars and cents.
Gigantic as the robbery is, the use to
which money is put in corrupting the
very sources OF government is a sub
ject of even more serious interest.
Money has silenced every advocate
of tariff reform in the Republican
party. Senator Allison has sold his
birthright for a mess of pottage, and
we are to be dragged at the wheels of
The triumphal chariots of the money
power. The work he is doing he has
been chosen to do, because once he
stood as the "Son of the Morning."
pleading for the rights of his people,
but, like Lucifer, he has fallen, never
to rise again.
Let the Democrats now organize to
carry on the work begun SO well dur
ing the past year.
1t will not Go to rest awhile and wait
for our foes to blunder upon defeat.
From this time on we must push the
fighting, learning from Beauregard at
Bull Run and Meade at Gettysburg,
and not give the enemy tiAe for rest
and recuperation.
The people are with us, our popular
majority being 100000, but to do the
work to which we have set our hands
we need to overwhelm the friends OF
Plutocracy at every point.
In the debate in the House, tremen-
dous effect was produced on the public
mind, which was widened and deep
ened as the campaign proceeded.
That effect must not grow dim. Dem
ocrats should organize in every school
district in America, and this organlza-
tion should be carried down even to
blocks of five.
While the Republicans are quarrel
ing over the distribution of offices, let
Democrats set themselves to the work
of education, and before the next year
clos es let them put in the hands of
every voter documents exposing the
infamous character Of the war tariff.
The National Association of Demo-
cratic clubs, or, to use the old Jeffer-
son phrase. Democratic societies,
should be perfected and extended.
Chauncey F. Black, York, Pa, is
the president OF the National organi-
zation. and societies in all sections of |
the country should place themselves |
in communication with him. There |
was never a more propitious time for
q movement all along the line. If
Democrats who believe in the princi-
pies of the party will enter on the
now: If in every State and |
every district Democratic societies are
at once; If the distinction
between the principles and practices
Of the two parties are made plain as
every public measure comes under
discussion. the complexion of the next
House can be determined before the
new COn0ress meets and the results |