Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-02-13
SUBSIDIES AND BLAINE.
Despite His Astuteness the PIumed KniGl
Has Over. RAachad Himsel1

Despite His Astuteness the Plumed knight
Has Over-Reached Himself.
Every reader of Mr.. James G. Blaine's
published writings. more especially of
his chef G9ucre, the Mulligan letters,
knows that astuteness is his most char
acteristic quality, but there is further
evidence OF it in the way he attaches
himself to Mr.. Gladstone, in what is
ostensibly an argument for high pro-
tective tariff, but is really an appeal for
MONEY as subsidies, for favorite corpora
tions-''pet" corporations, if we may
borrow phrase that was favorite with
Mr.. Blaine in the last campaign. Every
one of these pets has an anchor to be
cast to the windward, and certainly no
man in this country can do that work so
delicately and skillfully as the one who
talked of suicide to Mulligan and after
wards rose in the House of Representa-
tives to take the country into his conf
dence.
But, with all his astuteness, he over
reaches and defeats himself. What is
this appeal for subsidy-for the purchase
of trade by tax money, except confess
sion that high tariff taxation has failed
on the vital point of producing trade?
Mr.. Blaine admitted as much in the last
Campaign when he argued that ''the
home market was the only market for
Americans.
Now we are told that if we will spend
as much in bounties for ocean trade as
we have spent for railroads in the
''home market" we can have some other
market besides the home market. 1t is
the cry of the horse 1eech's daughter:
''Give! give! !"-more and higher taxa
ton to do what high taxes have undone.
At an immense expense of public and
private money we have built system of
railroads in the home market to move to
the seaboard the products the home
market will not consume. Eighty per
cont. of these are agricultural, and so the
farmer pays railroad tariff calculated
to yield good interest return on an al
most incredible railroad capitalization
The Federal, State and county subsidies
to these railroads-and such subsidies
reach in gross an inconceivable amount
do not in the least tighten the railroad
tariff which is uniformly calculated on
the capitalization.
This is statement of fact not pro-
test. The evils of the railroad tariffs
will cure themselves, as they are unSup-
ported by law.
But what is now proposed is that bear
Ing this burden and the added burden of
ocean tariff both ways, paying a heavy
custom-house tariff tax on all purchases
the agricultural producers, who are al
most the only exporters, shall proceed
to pay export freight on manufactures in
order to enable the protected manufact-
urer to send abroad what would break
down prices if it were thrown on the
''home market"
No assurance, however brazen, short
Of that which enabl ed Mr.. Blaine to read
in the House the damning proof of his
own corruption, would have been ade-
quate for proposing this scheme of plum
der to people so robbed as the people
of the United States already are.
We have no export trade of manu-
featured goods worth mentioning, be-
cause the tariff restricts trade in man
ufactures to the home market When
this is conclusively demonstrated the
answer of these experts in public plum
der is that more money must be paid to
the favored class. We must pay freight
for the manufacturer by giving public
money to steamship companies, so that
they can afford to carry to foreign
markets American manufactures, which
er than they are sold at home-as they
must be as long as our market is closed
and foreign markets open to free COM
petition.
This effrontery is SO great that it
makes Mr.. Blaine almost admirabl He
is man of many sides in anchor cast
ing. 1t is hard to believe that a person
of such assurance is the same man who
cringed to Fisher, almost went down
on his knees to Fishers clerk, and
writhed in the anguish of the humilia-
tion of the first exposure that he was an
ordinary jobber and vulgar corruption
ist. What other man in the country
could carry SO well the load that this
man carries-that he constantly in
creases? Who else than James G..
Blaine could take the world into his
confidence and argue that where govern
ment is ''a matter of favoritism," cast
ing anchors to the windward is the high
est craftsmanship and public jobbery
the chief among political virtues.-St.
Tx.uis RoDuhlic