The Helena independent., 1891-09-17
SCORING THE OPTIMATES
Senator Vest, at q Barbecue, Punc-
lures the Claims Of the
McKinleyites.
The Tallacy ofthe Arguments Used
by the Blaine Mon to Boom
Reciprocity.
The Optimates Now More Afraid Of tho
WOel Question Than OF Bengal
Tigcr-The silver Question.

The Optimates Now More Afraid Of the
Wool Question Than OF . Bengal
Tixor-The Silver Question.
There was big barbecue at Liberty. No..
last week. at which there was an immense
outpouring of Clay county democrats. The
orators were Senators Vest and Cockrell,
Congressman Dooksry, Ex-ConRressman
w. Stone and Col. Bledsoe. Senator
Vest only spoke for about half an hour, but
his speech was telling one. He began BY
saying that the senatorial or patrician
party in Rome which divided
out the provinces among its members and
systematically plundersd the people, called
themselves the optimates. They claimed to
represent the statesmanship culture, intel
lect and refinement Of the empire. and de-
nounced their adversaries a. fit only to be
artisans and laborers. They claimed that
all public prosperity came from them and
the laws they enacted, while at the same
time they amassed for themselves enormous
fortunes. He continued:
Tho republicans are the optimates Of this
country.
1IovA00AOO Aub O4ObuOu W. WAsA 0A oAAOA0
NOUS crop and at the same time has out
short the crops Of Europe, and Hessrs. Mo
Kinlsy and Sherman claim that the legisla-
tion Of the republican party, which taxes
all imported goods M Fer cent. and pro-
vides for reciprocity or limited free trade
with South America, has enhanced the
market price of our agricultural products.
They committed the transparent fraud of
increasing tho tariff duties on whsst, rye.
corn and cattle to protect the farmers when
they knew that We exported largely Of all
these products and imported virtually
none.
And now when we are daily exporting a
million bushels of wheat to England and
continental Europe. whose manufactures
are excluded from our shores by the No
Kinley tariff, they are shouting: Behold
the results of reciprocity with Cuba and
South America"
Every man qualified to vote knows that
the market for our farm products Ia in
Great Britain and not in South America.
For the year ending June 80, 1891, We sx-
ported to Great Britain $40, 767, ,491 worth of
cattle, and to all South America and the
West Indies $l59,9sO. During the same
period We shipped to Great Britain $23, 1885,
737 worth Of corn, and to South America
$l69, ,408. OF wheat, during the same year,
we sold to Great Britain $31. .470 318, and to
South America $2,437,227. OF whsxt -four
for the same time We sold to Great Britain
e53.
One of the optimates, e1-Speaker Reed,
has recently punctursd the reciprocity
balloon with single question: How are
we to compete in the free markets Of South
America with British goods when our man
ufacturers say 1T requires a protective duty
of 4716 per cent. to enable them to compete
with the same goods here?'
For years the optimates have denied that
the thrift duty was ultimately paid by the
consumer, but this pretense is abandoned.
The Mckinley bill reduced the duty on i'm
ported sugar to one-half cent pound,
which yet gives to the refners on the s.
100000, 900 pounds imported protection OF
$15.0o0000 annually. The optimates claim
that this reduction savea to the American
consumer at least $50, 900, 600 year. While
making this reduction, however, on an arti-
Gle which yielded more revenue with less
class protection than any other, the duty
on wooden goods, cotton goods, hardware,
tin plate and other articles were in
creased to an aggregate Of $1,000, GOO an
nually, at the expense of the consumer
At the same time, to recompense the sugar
E,owers of this country, a bounty is given
them Of two cents pound. amounting to
$10,b00,000 for the present year, thirteen
sugar planters in Texas receiving of this
amount 100000.
In one respect a great change has come to
the optimates. Their chief matter in the
last presidential canvass for daily discus
sion was wool, but now the optimete cam
pnignes would rather face a Bengal tiger
than the innocent, harmless sheep. Thou
sands of votes werc obtained for Harrison,
aud some from tho democratic party, by
the promise of high prices for wool if Cleve-
land could be dsfeated. Wool is now SELL
ing for less than in many years past, but
the tariff tax on imported wooden cloths is
no lower. 1t takes four pounds of common
grease wool to make pound of cloth, and
the farmer il. protected by tariff tax on
his wool of IL cents a pound. By the same
law the manufacturer is protected by a
tariff tax on the cloth of "a opnts pound,
A. cents for what he pays tho farmer as
the increased nrice of the wool and 20
cents to pay higher wages to his workmen.
The farmer is certainly not getting his
share, and the workmen are constantly
striking on account of reduced wages, but
the manufacturers protective duty con-
tinuss with his contribution to the cam
paicn fund of the optimate party. In the
meantime the imports Of shoddy increase
annually, and the poorer class of consum-
ers are forced to risk health and lite by
wearing fabrics almost IGuitless of WOOL
MIR. Mckinley is now silent as to wool,
bat wo .derfully sloqusnt as to reciprocity
He is screaming like the cuckoo over an
e2g in another birds nest. He fought the
reciprocity clause in the Mckinley bill
waen proposed by MIR. Blaine and defeated
it in the house. but it was put in by
the senate and forced upon Mckinley in
conference at the point of the parliament
arY bayonat.
Senator Sherman, another leader of, the
optimates, h.s lately delivered an address
on silver which contains some remarkable
statements. He is indignant that he or his
pa; ty should be sus ected Of being opposed
to b.-mssallsm. but if he is not it would be
interesting to know whom and for what ren-
son he has changed his opinion. In 1867
Mr.. Sherman wrote letter to Mr.. Ruggles
rep esenting this country in the intermone-
tary conference at Paris, in which he ad-
visrd Mr.. Ruggles to support the single gold
standard, and declared that the United
States was ready for tho change. senator
Sherman then introduced a bill at the next
session of the senate providing for the ex-
elusive gold standard in the United States,
and had it referred to the finance committee
OF which he was chairman. In short time
he brought it from the committee with a
carefully prepared report urging its passage
md giving many reasons why we must
nbaa don silver and adopt the single gold
standard,