The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-06-18
Promise and Performance.

Macoetn, In learning the utter falsehoo'
u the promises made by the weird sisters
snat ne bore charmed life and that n
uarm should come to him from any one o
woman born, uttered this despairing cry
and be these juggling fiends no more believed
L 1nal paiter with us in a double sense;
mat keep the word OF promise TO our ear,
AND break IL TO our hope
HOW true is this of the promise made b,
mat modern witch-the protective tariff
winch slured, deluded and deceived th'
american people in 1855. F'alser even thai
the promises to Macbeth We're those Of thu
more modern bag. for even the word o.
fpromise to the ear has not been kept Ii
1880 the kepu blicans assured the working
men that wages depended on the tariff, ant
that even If so moderate a reduction as
that proposed by the Mills bill should bt
made, the country would go hi bent II
obstruction, and workingmen's wages
would be cut down TO the ''pauper" level
The wage workers were promised good
wages il they elected ''Grandfather's Hat
and Saloon Keeper Morton, and they were
told that if they reelected Cleveland they
would surely lind low wages and harder
times. Under the fear and hope caused by
such threats and promises they elected
Harrison.
What is the retrospect and prospect! The
tariff law is unchanged-save for the worse
or, for the better, as the Republicans say.
AT ali events, 1t remains practically as II
has been for years-the severest war tariff
ana most grasping and inequitable system
that ever afflicted tax-ridden people. Il
pours more money into the treasury than
the government should need, and pours i've
million dollars into private purses Tor every
million collected for public use. 1t accumu-
lates surplus in the treasury which 10th
ing bu. Republican extravaganza and Re-
publican rascality and thieving can get out.
They are getting Ii out. too, and there is no
complaint from any one on that score.
How have the promises to the working
men been kept! Have wages been raised 2
Have they been kept high as in the past!
Have the Republicans redeemed their
promises and made good their word? Is it
not true that serious troubles have occur
red in nearly all the protected industries
The great iron works CT Carnegie & Co. re-
duced their wages, fixed the schedule told
the men they could accept or quit, and. of
course, they accepted. The cotton workers
in Massachusetts mills asked for an
Increase in wages, IN accordance with
protection promises. Did they get the
Increases No-but they had their wages
cut down. The protected manufacturers
buy their labor on a free trade market:
they did not have to increase wages: they
were IN position to cut wages down-and
they did il, and the workingmen, for whose
special benefit the high tariff is levied, had
TO resume work or starve. And so it was
in hundreds Of protected factories. The
toilers were promised good wages; they
voted against reduction of the tariff and
incurred as their reward a reduction of
wages. And complaint is made everywhere
OF the numbers of idle men who want work
and cannot find it. Business is depressed,
taxes are heavy and the good times pro-
missed as the result of the triumph of pro-
lection at the polls have not materialized,
and yet the same protection" that has ex-
listed Tor years-only more of it-has con-
tinued right along.
Suppose Cleveland had been elected and
all this had occurred How the Repub bill
cans would have howled.
b Suppose, in addition, the Mills bill had
passed, and the same things had taken
place-the same reduction of wages, the
vsame strikes, lockouts, the same distress
the same hard times What tears the Re
pubicans would have shed, How they
would have denounced the Democrats as
the enemies OF labor
But the Republicans have had every
thing their own way-all branches of the
government; they raised the war tariff to
suit themselves; they looted the treasury
at their own sweet will; they did as they
pleased. Now let them accept the results:
let them face the bankruptcy, poverty aud
distress that follows in the wake of this
legislation. Let them explain to the voters
the condition Of today in this country.