The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-09-07
Three Planks in that Party's Platform Dis
sected end Their Weak Points Exposed
10 the Gaze of American Voters.
Time Has INDICATED the Mckinley Bill
with Its Reciprocity Clause.
Its Blessings Have Been Manifold and 1t Is
Still Working Wonders-The Danger of
Adopting Wildcat Currency.


man Manley, of the Republican State CON-
mittee, is made public to-day:
BAR HARBoR. Me-, Sept. 3.
To Hon. Joseph II. Manley. Chairman. ETC.:
My Dear Sir-NOt being able, for reasons
which l have explained to you, 10 deliver
public speeches In this present campaign
take the liberty of submitting my views on
the issues which l regard as being strong
est for the Republicans TO urge before the
people.
First-Ths iseue of the greatest conse-
Quence is the tariff on imports ami it will
continue to be until u settlement is elected
by u majority SO large that it Will be tanta-
mount to general acquiescence. The
Republicans are aggressive 'On this
subject. Two years ago they passed
q general enactment known as the
Mckinley tariff which. for a time. failed to
meet with popular approval, and was re-
garded with a certain degree of distrust by
those who had always upheld the protect
i've system. But q powerful reaction has
come in consequence of the vlndicatiOn OF
the Mckinley tariff bill. 1t is found to
have worked admirably, and within the
last year has produced q greater volume of
business. internal and external, than the
United States ever transacted before. Not
withstandinR the character and extent of
the opposition to 1t, agriculture Is remun-
e%rative. manufactures are prosperous. and
commerce Is more iiOnrishing than at any
previous time, thus indicating the Nc
kinley tariff 10y an impressive and undeni.
able series of facts.
THE POSITION.
Against this tariff the Democratic party
has taken q position almost without paral-
lei in the history of the country. They re-
ject entirely the doctrine of protection,
pronounce it q fraud and anathematize it
generally. A resolution to this effect was
adopted by the Democratic convention.
against the report of the committee Oh res
olutions, by y two-thirds vote, thus mani
Testing the Intelligent participation of
every man in the convention. Sometimes
q resolution may be adopted In haste, or,
when the convention Ia adjOurning. it may
fail TO receive the attention of members,
but this resolution was debated pro aud
con, adopted after . contest. and was per-
fectly understood by the members of the
convention. 1t contained these words:
We denOunce the Republican protection as a
fraud upon the liberty Of the great majority OF
the American people for the benefit of a few. We
declare it a fundamental principle of the Demo
cratic party that the federal government has no
constitutional power to impose and collect tariff
duties. except for the purpose of revenues only.
We demand that the collection OF such taxes be
limited TO the necessities of the government
when honestly and economically administered.
If any one will tax the trouble to read
the resolution by which Mr. Calhoun
sought to defend his nullIticatIOn scheme
in 1873, he will find the tariff platform of
the Democratic party in general harmony
herewith. and If he examines the subject
further he Will discover that the duties in
the compromise tariff, which recOnciled MIR.
Calhoun and appeased his angry followers
In south Carolina, were of a more comrre-
hensive character than those contemp plated
In the Democratic resolution OF 1892.
The Democrats are In the habit of NAM
ing Jefferson AS the founder of their party,
and yet on the subject of tariff they are in
radical opposItiOn to the principles laid
down by Jefferson. Toward the close of
his administrator the revenue from the
tariff on imports produced a considerable
surplus, and the question was what should
be dOnes Should the tariff he reduced. or
should this surplus be maintainedf Jefer-
son pOintedly asked: shall We suppress
the impOsts, and give the advantage to for
eIgn over domestic manufactures" For
himself he that 1.-The
imposts be maintained" and that
the surplus created should be
appropriated to the Improvement of
roads, Canals, rivers and education. If the
Constitution did not give sufficient power
to warrant these oBriations, Jefferson
went so Tar as 10 recommend that it be
amended. This presents the stron gest con-
ditlon of affairs upon which a protective
tariff can he justified. and Jefferson did not
hesitate To recommend 1t. the Democrats
of the present day. 1t is needless to say. are
the direct opponents of the policy which
Jefferson thus outlined and adhered to.
DEMOCRACY AND
Second-When the principle of recipro-
cal trade was first proposed to be intro
duced into the tariff system the Democrats
showed much generous appreciation of the
question, and gave il their support SO long
as the Republicans refused to accept it; but
when the Republicans came to approve it
the Democratic support vanished, and.
instead of favoring, We find the Democratic
national convention passing q resolution
hostile to the system. But in spite of
Democratic opposition We have attained
through reciprocity q most valuable trade.
aud the sy stem has demonstrated Its many
advantages. We were about TO declare
sugar, molasses, coffee and hides free of
ali duties IN the Mckinley bill,
but instead of that we passed o
law by which we asked the several
nations interested what they would give
TO have their articles made tree. We found
that the privileges which we were about
to give. without cost and without charges,
would secure a large trade in Brazil, in
Cuba and Porto Rico. in the Windward
ana Leeward islands. In British Guiana
and Jamaica, San Domingo and the hve
Central American states and to q minor
degree in Austria. France and Germany,
ell In exchange for the articles which We
had intended to gratuItously admit. The
free list OF the Mckinley tariff is larger in
the number of articles and In the aggre-
gate amount of their import value
Sboh AZ . WOulu
have been the result to the United States
If every article, before being put on the
free list, had been subject of inquiry to see
what we should get In return for itf We
omitted to do Sd for many years, and that
neglect has cost the governments advan-
taRes in trade which would have amounted
to tens OF millions of dollars. This Is the
whole of the reciprocity scheme. 1t Is very
simple. 1t secures o aluabie trade in ex-
change Tor articles otherwise destined to
| be put on the free list. The Democracy
think they can dIscredit 1t, and they make
the effort, apparently. for the unpatriotic
reason that they did not originate it.
WILD CAT VERSUS NATIONAL CURRENCY.
Third-With all it's calamities the war
brought us one great blessinR-pational
currency. There are many who will say
1t was worth the cost of the war to bring
about 80 great q result. Until the war We
had the worst currency system of any en-
lightened country in the world. The banks
existed by thousands throughout the
United States. Wherever one of them
failed the result was q large loss and great
distress among the people. No one was re-
sponsible for their bills, and they were
generally found In the packets of thou
sands of laboring men, to whom they were
Q total loss. without any redemption
whatever. OF the State banks il was
often and truly snid that their debts
were the measure of their profits. They
have caused an aggregate loss of hundreds
of millions of dollars to the American peo-
n A-.-~ - -