Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-10-08
The Mckinley Tariff.

This burdens,me tariff will be fixed up
on the people for years, as the Republican,
have majority in the Senate which can
not be changed for some years. This tariff
is not only burdensome, but sectional, as il
discriminates against the South in favor o.
the North.
In speaking of this tariff, the N. Y. Her.
atd says:-
'In its general features what do We see9
A new measure as stringent and sweeping
as was found necessary at the outbreak OF
the war. A consequence of that unhappy
strife was that the government needed vast
sums of money. Property was taken as
lives were taken-the public safety the su-
preme issue. It would be proftless to dis
cuss what was then done. History will in.
dubitably say that our finances were man
aged as miserably as the military affairs.
and that rapine in campaigns was followed
by rapine in the Treasury.
Financial rapine thrived upon what II
lived. When the war ceased it was hoped
that the war measures would end. This
was not to be. The special interests q hich
the war tariff had served-wool, iron,
ton, salt, oil and wine-were not disp
to surrender the vast revenues which an in.
iquitous impost brought them. The tax on
wool meant tax upon every blanket, shaw
or bit OF winter dIapery necessary to the
comfort OF the laborer. No matter, WOO.
must be protected. The tax on iron came
home to every farmer who owned plough,
to every laborer at the forge. No matter,
the Carnegies must have their unnecessary,
-felonious millions, that libraries may
be endowed in Scotland. Cotton goods,
the proceeds of the cotton plant, might be
free, and with that the commercial empire
of the Pacific. But no! The cotton manu-.
facturers of New England subscribed to the
success of the rep lblican party. and power.
ty must bear the burden.
Yes, poverty must bear the burden. The
time will come-and within the lives ol
many who read these lines-when this tar.
if will be studied as remnant of barba.
rism. To that happy result we shall come
after bitter experience. The United
States is too great country and its com.
mercial influence on the world too wide.
spread for such measure to be passed
without revulsion and reaction. Already
we hear from Germany, England, France
and Spain the rumble of resentment. One
industry is destroyed here and another
there. And there is i; & z soft chpskle of satis-
faction in some protection papers, as tnotfSgh ~
of victory woD, because some German town
has gone into starvation, CT some French
industry has fallen into blight and ruin.
There may be an amusing side to these
realities, but we cannot see it. American
labor means American manhood, aud Ame-
rican manhood would live by its own energy
and courage. To live at the expense of
fellow beings, fellow Christians in other
lands, was never intended In the economy
of cur institutions.
Nor will the policy implied in this Tariff
bill be without it's penalties. One hundred,
better perhaps two hundred, millions taxa
ton imposed every year upon American Ia
Dor, in order that Mr.. Carnegie may endow
libraries in Scotland, and thousand trusts,
combinations, leagues, pools, or whatever
name the nefarious mo1opolies may as
sumo, cannot last forever. The war is
over, so far as it means the Staying of men
and the destruction of property. The war
is not over as to its financial burdens. The
time will come when it will not be endur
ed, when it will bring panic, stress and
change. 1t would be well were wisdom to
look that way now. We have no such hope.
The tariff we accept with shame and sor-
row. 1t bodies no good to the nation. To
the people it means burdens that should
never exist. To those who profit by its i'm
mediate iniquity it means ultimate sorrow,
the consequences of which they should
Of Nth