The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-01-20
A UNIVERSAL FAULT-FINDER.

The p. j., local organ of free trade,
in the bitterness of its grief over the sue
cess of the Mckinley law is moved to re-
mark that "the total income from all
sources (both custom and internal rev.
enue) for the first half of this month is
somewhat in excess of the outgo. This
means, of course, that importations are
growing larger; and the Republicans are
beginning to hope that by the failure of
the Mckinley law to stop the incoming
of foreign goods the Treasury may be
saved from deficiency after all"
Behold the ingenuousness of the free
trader For months he preached about
the Chinese wall erected by Mckinley
and the impossibility of importations be-
cause of this inquitous tariff. But now
he confesses that the importations are
growing larger" If importations are
increasing will the logician of the p. J.
explain the connection of that fact with
the Chinese wall theory Of a protective
tariff
Before the new law went into effect
the p. J. announced that it was piece
of class legislation and must end in a
dismal failure. Now it has seen that
failure does not result according to its
own predictions, and at once assumes
that the Republicans are hoping for its
failure. BY what authority the p. j..
speaks for any one Republican in this
state or nation we do not know, but if
it knows as much about the real feelings
of Republicans regarding the Mckinley
law as it pretends to know its ability to
misstate that knowledge surpasses the
record of Ananias.
Is the p. j. so hemmed in by its own
ignorance as to suppose that any sane
Republican "hopes for the failure of a
measure upon whose success the party's
reputation so largely depends? Does the
p. j. suppose that any Republican
would be so short sighted as to follow
the example of the Mugwump, who
hoped that by his desertion to Demo-
cracy the Republican party would be
ruined? Does it expect that any Re-
publican would follow the ill-starred
lead of the Mugwump newspapers which
raised the Democratic standard in
hopes that this great influx of
purity would purify the unwashed
Democracy, only to find after eight years
of purifcation the Democratic party is
controlled by such models Of political
virtue as ID. b. Hill, and that the purity
Mugwump organs had become tainted
past remedy with the principles (or
rather lack of them) advocated by COR
iuptionists? No, esteemed p. j., the
Republican party is not n party that
lives on hopes. 1t is a party with a
record, and its experiences teaches it
that the Mckinley law will succeed. 1t
was framed so that it should succeed.
That is the important respect in which
it differs from the Mugwump newspa-
pers' attempt TO cleanse Democracy.
Anu lstSll.s ihbt ti'douly' III puShb
to have shown deficiency, said the p.
j. But it didn't, and the p. ]. com
planned because it didn't The tariff
law ought to have stopped importations,
and to have deprived the government of
sufficient revenue to pay its bills. But
it didn't, and the p. j. found fault with
that. The Mckinley law ought not TO
have made the country prosperous, but
it did, and the u. J. found fault with
that. The tariff ought not to have been
so equitably trained to encourage home
production, and still allow of importa-
tions but it did, and the +. J. found
fault with that.
If there is any one legislative act on
this mundane sphere which the =. j.
can commend il would be extremely
gratifying to the public to know it.
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