Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1891-04-17
A GOOD RECORD.
THE ACHIEVEMENTS or THE
FiFTY-FtRST CONoREoo.

Prosperity Of Western Fsr,msss-Doussy
IN Maple Sugar - 1Ios "OssA Old
Days"-T The Fsrmsr's come
Tari1 PSctsrsA
Tho achievements OF this Flfty-irst
Congress In actual leis'sti0n fell much
below III expectations Of it, friends;
put they were memorable among the
hrsk Tho Houses great failure was to
pass the Senate bill for the promotion by
subsidies Of American shipbuild.ng and
FarQuhar's part to report . substitute
tho Senate. IL was . mIstako on the
part Of 8 score Of Republican members
TO yield to tho pressure and blandjsh-
ments Of tho lobby Of capitalists and
other agents In voting that bill down.
The postal subsidy bill which was adopted
may effect something, but IL IL liable to
Oh easy handicap from our rivals In this
very field. The Postmaster General is
strictly limited as TO the amount he may
pay American ships for CARRYING the
mails Our rivals need only increase
their postal subsidies beyond this po.nt,
aud they will nuIlify our action by en-
abling their steamship lines "a furnish
transportation still cheaper than we can.
And 1t hardly Is to be hoped that the
Fffty-second Congress will correct this
mistake BY repeating the restriction. A
more unbusincSs-like arrangemcnt than
this OF limiting ths extent to which VIC
will try to countcract unfair competition
Is hardly conceivable.
The West will be the worst sufferer
from this failure to put our shipping on
q satisfactory footing. The breadstuffs
and meats a-e the products which most
need the outlet which o wiser policy
won have offered. 1t is they who
most would have thrivcn by tho extern
sion OF reciprocity with our Southern
ncighbors under the now tariff law.
The great and the lasting achievement
OF the session was tho protective lcgisla-
ton, VIII CHI embraces three measures:
the tariff administration biz, the tariff
bill and the copyright bill. I would aid
rs q fourth the postal subsidies bill II I
were sure that It Is going to do its work.
II Is this legislation, and especially the
reciprocity clause Of the new tariff bill,
by which the Fifty-first Congress has
made its lasting mark on our history.
Its enemies proclaim hat it Is already as
good as repealed, since the adverse cleo
lions OF last November have changed
the majority In the House and weakened
the majority for protection In the SEN
ate. But this is not true.
/. SO for as the tar.f question entered
into the elections OF 1890, it did SO
trough shameless and systematic mis-.
statements as to the character and
effects Of . law which had not been
testej. Every month since that time
has weakened what popular feeling there
was against the bill by furnishing fresh
practical rcfutations of the falsehoods
with which 1t was assaulted. / have re-
spect enough for many OF Its loudest as
sai.ants to believe that they wouid not
dare to repeat what they kept saying in
the four weeks before the election: and
that for the sake of their own character
In this world and their prospects in the
next they wish they had said much 10 -
and had stuck closer to the facts. They
certainly are not now saying what they
did tn the concluding weeks Of that cam.
paign, and some OF them are making
wry faces over the facts as to mckinley
prices" and wages which protectionist
newspapers ask them to publish. The
force Of the "~roorbacks" Of 1890 Is badly
spent already. They never will elect an
other Congress, and the veto Of BENJAMIN
Harrison stands between SNAP judy
ment Congress" and free trade.
2. The issues raised by the Farmers
Alliance, which led them t vote the
Democrats into power, indicate no con-
version OF the Northwest to free-trade
doctrines The Western farmer Is not
going 70 vote away his best market by
adopting that policy, and when that issue
comes before him he will vote as he did
In 1883. He will d. II all the more
promptly because their show Of victory
has led the f~ree-traders to throw of the
%"revenue reform" mask and to declare
for tho complete and prompt abandon
ment Of the pQlicKaQfasnroteCtian.x~Since