St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-20
M,KINLEY,s MAKEsHIFr.

A careful examination Of the bill said
to be in process OF formation by the
MCKINLEY committee reveals the most
deceptive method of dealing with the
tariff that has yet been undertaken. 1t
is on the face keeping the word,y yet III the
letter and spirit breaking the honorable
pledge involved in tariff reduction. 1t is
even a more dishonorabIe trick than the
ALLISON bill of the last session, which
is now openly repudiated by its author,
and frankly admitted by its supporters
to have been an intentional fraud. The
MCKINLEY bill, as it is called, which is
as vet really no bill at all. but simply a
proposition thrown out as a feeler, pro-
poses to reduce the revenues $50, O0O,O 900
annually without removing the bur
then from the taxpayers. 1t does not
differ from the MILLS bill so much
IL the amount of reduction as it does in
the manner Of reduction, and it is just
in this latter particular that the in
tended fraud is to be practiced. 1t will
be observed that under the MCKINLEY
plan nothing of consequence is to be
transferred to the free list, while the re-
ductIon in revenues is to be made on
articles that are not claSSed among the
necessaries of life. Alcohol and tobacco
are the main benefciaries of the read
iusted schedule, while sugar alone is
selected from the articles in common
use to play the next important part in
reducing the revenues. 1t is IN regard
to the latter that the deceptive feature
of the MCKINLEY bill is most appar-
ent. 1t is not proposed, nor do
the Republicans intend, to put sugar on
the free list. The proposed reduction
will diminish the revenue materially.
for sugar is one of the few protected
articles that does yield revenue; yet
it will leave the sugar monopoly with
its monstrous privileges untouched. Ii
the MCKINLEY bill should be adopted
with so or 60 per cent reduction on
sugar, the consumers would not be bene
fitted, because the duty will still be high
enough to enable the sugar trust to
keep the prices up. MI. MCKINLEY'S
committee has gone over the ground
carefully, and has estimated just how
far sugar would bear a reduction with
out lowering the price of the article;
and lust to that extent, and no more,w
the reduction be made. And the same
is true of every other article on the re-
vised list. While making pretense
of revising the tariff and reducing the
taxes, the MCKINLEY plan proposes to
protect the monopolies in all the privi-
| leges they enjoy under the existing tar
| if. 1t is the same old net, and its
meshes are adorned with the same old
lime that the Republicans have been
spreading in the sight of the American
people during all the years of their SUI
premacy. Tariff reform, as interpreted
and expounded by the Republican
party, is one of those delightfully."- in
difnite things that deceive fools and
the unwary, but can hardly be ex-
pected to entangle the thoughtful and
enlightened class Of voters. And yet
in one sense the MCKINLEY bill is of no
consequence, for the Republicans are
not going to be able to reduce the reve-
nues at all. 1t is not logical that they
should. They will do as they did two
years ago with the ALLISON bill, block
out something that looks fairly well on
| its face, but rotten at the core, and hold
it up before the people as the Reppb-
lican idea of tariff reform until the fall
elections are over, and then let it drop
from sight.