Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-10-27

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clans, not in behalf of the people.
Nor is the Republican position any
more sincere or consistent. Mr.. Nc
Kinley says the tariff is tax paid by the
importer. Now mark the insincerity
of this. The Mckinley bill las the tar
liz preceding it did provides that when
a manufacturer, using in his products
material on which tariff duties have
been paid, exports those products for
sale in foreign markets, he shall have
a rebate equal to 30 per cent. of all the
tariff dRties paid. That is the Stand
ard Oil Company, for instance, receives
about s1,5O0,OO0 n year from tho Gov.
eminent in the sEnpe OF rebates on the
tin imported from Wales and used in
its foreign trade. Now, IL the tariff Is
paid by the foreign importer instead OF
by the American consumer, why Is q
rebate paid to the latter. Is this
clause not an absolute admission that
the amount OF the tariff duties is add
ed by the importer to the price OF the
article and is paid by the consumer
Otherwise this rebate Is o monstrous
piece OF fayoriteism, and the Standard
Oil Company has no more right to
that sl,500,0O0 than The Voice has
The Republican platform declares that
the amount OF protection given by the
tariff to products of American labor
should be equal to the difference be-
tween wages abroad and at home"
Do they carry out that doctrine. Let
us see. The tariff on steel rails is $13.44
a ton. The difference in the cost of
labor on ton Of steel rails made in
this country and made abroad is but
1897. This is the figure given by Car
roll d. Wright (appointed by President
Harrison as United States Commits
sioner of Labor at Washington after
a special investigation, and includes
the additional cost of labor in every
process from mining the ore to finish
ing the rail. Where is the sincerity in
declaring in o national platform for
a tariff equal to 1878 a ton and levying
in national Congress tariff of S1344
a ton, or nearly four times as great
The truth is that while the two old
party platforms may sound differently,
while the speeches may seem to be diff
fercnt, while their campaign banners
and campaign literature seem to indi
cate that there is tremendous fight
between them, yet when it comes to
actual legislation, the difference
dwindles away, 50 far as the interests of
the people are concerned, to an almost
ludicrous degree. We do not say that
there is no important difference be-
tween tariff for protection and a
tariff for revenue. What we say is,
that that difference does not appear
when it comes to actual legislation.
We have not made the estimates our
selves, but it has been made by others
than we, and is not denied, that
the difference in the percentage Of
tariff imposed by the Mills bill and
imposed by the Republican tariff which
the Mills bill was designed to supplant
was on an average only about 5 per
cent That is, the ratio which the total
amount of duties paid bore to the total
value OF dutiable imports was only 5
per cent. greater under the Republican
system than it would hay been under
the Mill bill!
The issue of the national banks Ter
sas State banks raised In the Demo
cratic national platform and in Presi-
dent Harrison's letter of acceptance,
does not touch the real heart OF the
currency question as it affects the peo-
pie of America. There are to-day just
three channels through one of which
nearly every dollar that is issued by
the Government must pass in order to
reach general circulation. One is the
capitalist who owns the silver mine,
another is the capitalist who owns
gold mine, and the third is the national
banker. Hardly a dollar reaches gen
eral circulation and commercial use
except through the hands of one of
tAco0 GllISe SGtS Vi CttplJdllSGS. IAey
are the recipients from the Federal
Treasury of every newly printed silver
certificate or gold certificate or bank
note, every newly coined silver dollar
Or gold dollar, with the sole except ion
of the seignorage made by the Govern
ment by reason of the difference be-
tween the price paid for silver and the
legal tender value of it when coined.
In other words, one of these three sets
of capitalists can levy toll on almost
every dollar that issues from the Fed
eral mint or engraving bureau before
it reaches the people Now the Demo
cratic party comes forward and says
this must be changed. Instead of ma
tional banks we should have State
banks. That is, the national banker
will turn his bank into a State bank
and continue his operations as before,
except that he will have his bank notes
Endorsed by State instead of by the
nation. The Republican party says,
No, the national banks should continue
as they are. Neither proposes any