St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-10-24
WHERE Is Tie WEALTH?

Iii SUBJECT until he saw his Minneapolis
speech picked to pieces by the press of
this state and by the Democratic and
Alliance campaign speakers, every one
OF whom has taken a whirl at it be-
cause they find it to be such splendid
material TO demonstrate the fallacy of
the protection argument. Senator DA-
Wis boasts of being an out-and-ont
protectionist, and yet the evidences are
that he is protectionist more from in
stlnct or prejudice than from any proc
ess of reasoning or from an Intelligent
study Of economic questions. There
isn't boy in the st. Paul high school
but could get up, and, in all Off-hand
way, give more correct statistical
statement than Senator DAVIS speech
contained,or one who would not display
a more familiar acquaintance with the
great question which is now engrosslng
public attention. The Minneapolis Trlb-
une makes lame effort to come to the
senator's relief by laying the blame for
the errors in figures on the stepogra-
piers. the c0mpositors and the proof read
erS, when, as matter of fact, tine Trb-
une knows the figures were printed
just as they appeared in the type
writer copy of the speech which was
furnished for publication.
But, independent of all errors in fig
urts. the senator was making a wide
stride in the dark when he stated that
the prosperity of this country was oW-
ing to the protection policy, and one
still wider of the mark when he stated
that the accommodations of wealth under
the tariff policy were blessing to the
whole country, and to the labor classes
especially. Mr.. WELLINGTON turned
the first point very nicely last night,
when he said the connection between
national prosperity and the tariff was
abou the same as between ths sunrise
and the cock growing. The cock crowed
at dawn, and then the sun came up.
But the rising of the bright orb of day
was in no wise dependent on the crow
ing of the ehanticlee-. The relations
of cause and effect were as clear in
ore case as in the other.
Blu how is it about the other statement
that the increase of wealth in this coun-
try under tariff operations was benefit
to the industrial classes?
Do the workingmen get the wealth.
Do the producers get it?
Not bit of it.
Does this vast accumulation Of wealth
contribute to the expenses of the gov-
eminent?
Not bit of it.
A few men make immense fortunes.
They are the privileged class who get
all and pay out nothing. OF the more
than 60,0OO.0O0 people who inhabit this
country, less than 10000 own the bulk
OF the property. There are twenty five
men in the city of New York alone, who
own one-fourth of the national wealth.
And yet these twenty-five men do not
contribute from their vast possessions
as much in the way of taxes to the sup
port of the government, and to the
building Of school houses, as any twen-
ty-fiye men who could be picked out at
random in either of the Twin Cities.
Semi-officlal statistics recently fur
niShed by the census bureau at Wash
ington place the national wealth for
the year 1890 at S65,000.000 900. The
same statistics show that less than Sl6,-
0O0,000,000 is listed for taxation. Here
we have nearly four-ffths of the wealth
of the nation absolutely exempted from
taxation. That four-fifths is in the
hands of the plut0cratS and the tariff
bar0ns, who are the direct beneficiaries
of the MCKINLEY bill. The other fifth
is in the hands of the Industrial classes,
the men of small possessions who can
not conceal their property from the eye
of the taX-gatherer. The result is that
the stream OF federal, state anu munich
pal expenditures flows from the sweat
of Labor'S brow, while the actual ben
eiiciaries of the protective tariff policy
go untaXed.
Is this the way that nation should
grow wealthy? 1t is the idea of national
prosperity as it is understood in Russia
and i'll other countries where all tribute
goes to the crown. But is it the idea
that should prevail in free republic,
where one man is as much a sovereign
as another? We submit this question
to Senator DAVIS deliberate Judgment,
to be answered by HIM when he is not
laboring under intense partisan excite
ment.
The GLOBE calls upon the people OF
Minnesota, of all parties and creeds. to
sift and weigh these statements. We
are aSsailing system, not individuals.
We are attacking the principles, and
not the men engaged in manufacturing.
If any page of the worlds financial his
tory has hitherto been blurred and
OF hx-0 0S
proportions as this MCKINLEY bill, our
eyes have failed to discover it and our
ears have not heard the damning story.
Nor has any living monarchy OF to-day,
in all the four quarters of the earth,
q rank of nobility, its haugh-
test and its Hottest, which so
wantonly preys upon the industrial
masses and so rayages their workshops,
their vineyards, and their cornfields, as
this privileged class who are benefited
by the MCKINLEY act. There is not a
dukedom in England whose grants from
the crown are so rich as the donation
made by the present American tariff
policy to the manufacturers. There is
not an earldom whose franchises are as
great as the American corporations and
monopoiies. The mobiles Of France.
under the late empire, did not acquire
their nnfounded fortunes from the
ruins off the BoURBoNs half SO easily
or suddenly as the favorites of Iegisla-
ton have here achieved by the oppres-
sion of laEor.
And yet this is the kind of national
prosperity Senator DAVIS boasts of, and
it is the way he rejoiees to see wealth
accumulated under the operations of the
Republican tariff policy.
GOV. HILLS SPEECHES.
Gov. HILL is receiving an ovation on
his campaigning tour through the Mid