The morning call., 1892-12-11
WILL NOT DOWN.
The Ogre of Protection in
England.
FARMERS NOW EMBRACE 1T.
Threatened Rapprochement Between
the Artisans and AgricuIturists.
BimetaIlism Not Possible.
special to THE MORNING CALL

NEW YORK, Dec. 10.-Smalley's cable
letter to the Tribune contains the following
The Ribot Cabinet in France is a sur
prise to everybody, including Ribot himself.
he was talked of last February, before
Csrnot discovered Loubett, but was not then
asked. He is able. but perhaps adventur-
Gus; nor is IL thought judicious that the
Foreign Minister should also be President
of the Council. The use of the President
of the Council is to keep the Ministers in
order-to moderate their zeal-sn apply two
minds instead Of one TO difficult questions
Ribot, moreover. is a hot partisan of the
Franco Russian alliance. 1t may be
doubted whether ST. Petersburg will receive
his appointment with enthusiasm. The aim
OF st. Petersburg is TO tame the friendship
of Paris, not to stimulate il. Nor is this
moment when Minister with a future, as
Ribot has, or had, need care to become
Prime Minister. There Is no sure promise
of stability for his or any other ministry.
The Chamber is completely out of hand.
Parties are split up. The various factions
of the Republicans are more irreconcilibly
hostile TO one another than TO the Royalists,
The Panama question must be faced. The
Radicals thought they were coming In by
help of the Panama scandal. and are not
pleased with the turn things are taking, nor
is Brisson. as politician. pleased. The
probabilities of elevating the Panama COM
nittee into a committee of public safety are
somewhat diminished.
President Harrison's message provoke. a
curious outburst of English spleen. What
the English papers say of IL is what the
Democratic press In America might be ex-
pected to say. The eomment Is ipurely par
tisan. The English hostility to Harrison Is
IS marked as the English friendship 10
Cleveland, and both are for the same
reason. They knew that Harrison and the
Republican party could be relied on TO pro-
teet American interests. They know that
under Clsveland's rule British lntetests are
once more ts be favorably considered. "
the generosity TO defeated opponent, there
10 DO trace In these British remarks.
The proceedings of the national agrlcul-
tural conference held In London Wednes-
day and Thursday may be summed up in
two words, protection and bimetsllsm"
Protection will not down. Just as Anne RIGA
is supposed TO have given this hated princi.
pie a final blow 1t lifts Its horrid form in ST.
James Hall in London, and an out-and-oui
protectionist resolution Is carried unnni-
mously. or almost unanimously, amid thun-
deriDg cheers.
Who are the men who carried It? Admit
tedly the conference Is the representative
and most powerful and important assembly
OF farmers ia Great Britain. 1t is CON-
posed of delegates from more than 2IO
associations in England, Scotland and Ire
land. Both farmers and laborers were del
egates, though the laborers seem 10 have
been very few. The whole numbe OF DEL
egates present exceeded 1000. An ex-CabI-
net Minister presided and another Cabinet
Minister was chief speaker.
The press reports IL at great length, and
discusses with something like true sense
the gravity OF the occasion. The agricul-
tural interest Is still. as one Of them says
almost sorrowfully, the greatest, as 1t is
the Oldest, of British Industries. II Is suf-
ferlng, and has long been suffering, from
extreme depression, and now with one voice
1t declares thar there is no remedy for its
misfortunes aud no escape from ruin other
than protection.
When Salisbury pronounced this word at
Hastings his party revolted, or at any rate
the party organs and fanatics OF free trade
said it revoIted. He was rebuked in lam
guage OF the utmost solemnity. He was
thought TO have contributed something TO
the defeat OF his party. which followed
fast upon his Hastings speech. aud 10. here
Is half OF England eehoing the cry Of the
late Prime Minister.
Half Of England is rhetorical express
sion, but II you consider what the landed
interest in this country means and repre-
tents II is hardly an extravagsut express
sion. There Is, at any rate, no question OF
party or party polite. Ia this present move
ment. 1t is too serious for politics. 1t Is
an effort of half-ruined and baf-despcrate
men who have long appealed for help TO
others and are now trying to help them
selves.
Their real difficulty Is far moro serious
than hostility of doetrinaires. The farm
ers would make short work of the doctrin-
aires if they had nobody behind them.
Their difficulty is that in this country pro-
teetion means two things, one thing to the
farmer and another TO the artisan. The
farmer can only be saved by tax on food,
and to tax on food the artisan will never
consent. unless he gets an equivalent In
come from protection that would raise bis
wages. If they could agree they would
soon revise Englsnd's tariff laws.
The resolution of the conference makes
ou nttcm ~ " uicct ILLS u nlCutly. IL DeglnS
with the assertion that unfair com petitlon.
OF untaxed foreign imp ports with home prod
uce and manufactures adversely affects
every trade and industry in this country.
l. is plauslbly put, but the artisan at
thirty shillings a week wants to know what
1t would mean In the price OF a loaf. The
farmers, moreover, have weakened their
case and arranged almost the whole finan-
cia world against them by THAR ad opton
OF bimetallism. The double load is too
heavy. Protection 10 England, remote as
it may be, 10 conceivable thing; bimetal-
ism is not.
But who could expect a body Of plain
farmers TO resist the sonorous eloQuence
and captivating manners Of Henry Chaplin.
No more affecting spectacle has ever been
seen IN public life than that of Chaplin,
Salisbury's Minister of Agriculture, pub
licly embracing Archbishop Walsh, and
commencing him to an English assembly as
an authority In finance. 1t is DIR. Walsh's
inertia merit which in Cbaplin's eyes
atones for his political heresies-to have
discovered that the true cause of Ireland's
woes Is the Increase in the value of gold, and
the true remedy for thsm-bimetallism.
XyynnH ATT