The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-09-04
GETTING LIGHT.

hnu lie disappointment Is 0ILen equal 10
the establishment. Sometimes. however, it
happens that It is JOY which takes the place
of disappointment, as for instance. when
one has a nightmare in which he is logged
by some foul fiend or horrible monster,
which ever as one flies still pursues him
until By some mystic power one is bound
hand and foot unable TO move, and lies
helpless in the power OF the fend or mon
ster; but just as the crisis 10 reached, and
destruction seems inevitable, one awakes
with a start, and with Joy unspeekable
thar ks Con it was only dream and that
the fearful monsters were something less
than shadows.
Whether it is Joy or disappointment
which agitatss the breasts of our Repub-
lican friends now that they have discovered
that the MCKINLEY tariff law turns out to
be different in its operations and results
than they expected, ia little difficult
to determine. But sure it is, il one may
believe some of their greatest political
speakers -Senator ALDR1cu of Rhode
Island, for instance--it produces results
altogether at variance with those il was
created TO produce Mr.. MCKINLEY, in
presenting the bill which now bears his
name to the House Of Representatives.
said:
Your committee have not sought by the pro-
posed legislation to further cut down prices at
the expense OF our own prosperity. but to- pro-
VIDE with certainty against that increasing
competition from other countries whose condi
tons our people are unwilling to adopt We
have not believed that our people, already SUI
fering from low prices, can or will be satisfied
with legislation which viii result in lower
prices.
Major MCKINLEY above ali other men
ought to know the intent of his own legis-
lation; and clearly the above makes it
plain that the author OF what is now
known as the MCKINLEY tariff law did not
intend that it should cheaper goods. In
deed, he thought the American people were
already suffering from cbeapness Of goods!
Let US pause long enough tc say, paren-
thetically. what an awful malady that must
be- suffering from low pricesl" Goods
the American people. We imagine each
man looking at his neighbor to see il he has
been complaining OF the cheapness OF
goods. Think of the American farmer
complaining of the low prices of plows.
wagons. threshers, rakes, harness and the
hundred and one other things he buys for
use on his farm Think of the poor and
even the well-to-do with large families COM
planning at the low prices of shoes and hats.
woolens and calicoes, dress goods and suits
of clothing; of sugar and coffee, tea aud
spices; of food and medicines Who on
earth could have complained of low prices
to Major MckINLEYs Surely not the mil
lions Of American consumers; it may have
been few score of manufacturers in
whose interest the major drafted his tariff
law. The few. not the many.
but TO our tale" The MoKIN-
LEY law was. not intended to
pressly says SO. And yet, strange to re-
late. that is what Republican speakers now
claim for It'll Senator ALDRIoH late in the
last session of Congress made speech on
the floor Of the Senate based mainly on the
idea mat the MCKINLEY law cheapsned
goods, and on that ground sought to Justify
the law. Senator CARLISLE replied to that
speech, taking issue with the senator from
Rhode Island, and proved in one of the
abIest speeches recently made on the tariff
question, that the MCKINLEY law arrested
the natural tendency in the Industrial
world, viz the tendency to cheaper pro-
ducts and increase the price of labor. This
is what is now going on in all the great in
duslrisl and commercial countries of the
world" said Senator CARLISLE, where the
people have been allowed to avail them
selves OF the benefits resulting from the
use of modern improvements in production
and distribution, except in those cases to
which have alluded, where governments
consider themselves wiser than their peo-
pie. and adopt policies and enact laws
which interfere with the free production
and distribution OF commodities
1t is not our purpose, however. to inquire
whether the MCKINLEY law has really
cheapened commodities and increased the
that Senator ALpRIcH and other Republi-
cans claim that to be it's result; a claim
with which such giants in debate ss Sena-
tor CARLISLE and other Democrats take
issue, and demonstrate pretty clearly that
such is not the result of the MCKINLEY
law. All we wish to do in this writing is
to ask why there Is such radical change
in the position of Republicans in respect to
this law. At its enactment it was coz
tended that its object was to raise the price
of products, and redeem the American peo-
pie from their suffering because of low
prices. Now. however, 1t is contended that
the chief virtue of this pet measure of the
Republican party is that it has cheapened
commoditiesl How comes it that that
which it was intended not to do. is
now sought to be made its chief
glory and the justification of it's existencea
Can it be that the Democratic campaig
Of education in 1890. by which the Repub-
hcan majority was swept ruthlessly from
the House. has affected the whole Republi-
can parfya and that it no longer dare argue
before the American people the absurd
proposition that high prices are a good
thing, what the country wants. and Is
necessary to its prosperityg Ii would seem
SO; and we rejoice 10 It, But we do not
intend to lett be forgotten that the Re-
publicans enacted the MCKINLEY law with
lne we" enat ~ "'uio ours our people
already suffering from low prices;' and
that the chief apostle of protection said
that he did not believe that tour people,
slrekdy suffering from low prices, can or
win be satisfied with legislation which viii
result in lower prices."
II it could be demonstrated, as Reuub-
licaDs now attempt to demonstrate, that
the Mckinney law has cheapened COM
modities, when it has had just the opposite
effect on the commercial and industrial
world that it was intended to have: and If