St. Paul daily globe., 1891-05-10
POLITICAL GOSSIP.

II there is truth in the descriptions given
OF the luxurious equipment of the coaches
which are carrying the president and his
party across the continent Mr. Harrison is
following out the logic of his doctrine that
cheapness is bad thing. He said in his
March, 1888. speech at Chicago that "a cheap
coat means cheap man under it'' He now
evidently believes thata 'cheap coach means
cheap man in it,, and he does not propose
TO commit the offense of cheapness
Forty thousand dollars the sun thinks is
moderate estimate of the cost of this trip,
and 1t asks. who pays it? 1t assumes
charity which has the ring of base metal
when Ii hopes that the president pays the
bill himself. This, of course, is pure ''Sar-
kasum," as A. Ward spelled it. The Office
cat must have rubbed its nose and winked at
Dana as it read the jeer. Benny isn't
Quilt of that sterner stuff which re-
fuses or returns gifts while holding Office.
"hen Gresham was made postmaster gen
eral 1t was the three days topic of the
papers that he paid his fare and took the
common coach of the populace to assume
his duties at Washington. 1t only revealed
how far under Republican rule the official
conscience and sense of what is proper had
become dulled when so honest an action
caused so widespread remark. Cleveland
promptly met the gift-bearers with a court
eous but emphatic rebuff that checked them
at the start. He would not have his per
torrance of duty hampered by entangling
obligations for gratuities accepted. But Har-
rlson is not Gresham or Cleveland, and
the disagreeble incident of the Cape May
cottage, with its twisting contradictions and
evasions, adds point to the sarcasm of the
Suns hope that the president is paying his
own way across the continent now.
Democratic papers are unhappy says any
Eastern organ of the American idea of the
greatest good for the least number, because,
though the Mckinley bill has been in opera
ton six months, prices have not advanced
and some have lessened. Well. then. from
Mckinley's own standpoint, his bill is a fail
ure. From the manufacturers standpoint it
IS then, fizzle. Mckinley thought that the
good people of this country were being de-
based by the cheapness of things and de-
vised his bill as specific for the evil; he
purposely set to work to make things more
costly. If things cost no less or less. then the
humanitarian designs of Mr. Mckinley have
not been furthered by his measure. The
manufacturers naturally wanted everything
| they made to bring higher price, and if it
| be true that the bill has not done that they
| must feel as if they had made bad invest
| ment in contributing 10 the campaign funds
| of Mr.. Mckinley's party. But if all the cum
| ming and genius of the Republican party is
not sufficient to draft a bill which will do
| what they want done, isn't it time for them
| to cease trying?
| An evening paper copies, doubtless with.
| out much study, from the New York organ
| of the protectionists its comparison of wages
| in different trades here and in England To
bring its demonstration within the compre-
hension of those simple enough to accept its
| statements, it uses turned rules of lengths
supposed to be proportionate to the wage
| differences. It's not happy, however. in its
| choice of trades on which to make the com
| parisons. and base its evident deduction in
| favor of protection as a wage increasing
| policy. 1t should confne its illustrations to
those workmen engaged in the industries
that are protected, as the steel, iron. cotton,
woolen and SO on. 1t has always been the
claim of the free traders that wages
| in this country in the unprotected
occupations were higher than in
the protected trades, and our cotemporary un-
consciously supports this claim in showing
that painters in England get but S1.20 day,
while the same craftsmen here get So. Paint
ers like carpenters, masOns and blackSmiths,
are not and cannot be tariff protected. AS
suming that the statement of wages paid is
true. it only proves that high wages here are
entirely independent of the tariff. But tariff
organs should give their undivided attention
to palmng off such sophistries on the farm
ing class; the wage earners in the trades have
got past being fooled by them. Cut your
rules to show, for instance the price of pro.
tected wool last October and now