The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-09-09
PresIdent HarrI.on's Letter


of a patriot whose sincere devotion to
the best interests of the American people
has been repeatedly tested and never
found wanting. 1t is not collection of
theories taken from text books, vaguely
formed and crudely expressed. There
is in it no faint of demagogy, no trace of
a disposition to arouse popular prejudice
and passion. Unlike his Democratic
rival for the Chief Magistracy, President
Harrison is student of markets and of
living facts. The pedantic maxims of
Free Trade theorists are powerless to
obscure his comprehension of realities.
He will not stoop to the arts of the
agitator who seeks to set class against
class in his own selfish interest There
is not single statment in the Presidents
letter from beginning to end that is not
absolutely true. Simple and terse in
language, luminous in every part, nobly
patriotic in spirit, each sentence bears
the stamp of rectitude, of keen intelli-
gence and of unselfish earnestness.
On the currency question the Presi-
dent makes his position clear in the very
beginning He condemns as unworthy
and dangerous the avOwed Democratic
purpose to revive the fluetuating wildcat
currency of the State banks which
caused such widespread loss and incon-
venience to business men before the war.
AT later point in the letter he states
his own position and that of the Repub-
lican party on the silver question in
these brief words: 81 am thoroughly
convinced that the free coinage of silver,
at such ratio to gold as will maintain
the equality in their commercial uses of
the two coined dollars, would conduce
to the prosperity of all the great pro-
ducing and commercial Nations of the
world. The one essential condition is
that these dollars shall have and retain
an equal acceptibility and value in all
commercial transactions" This is what
the Republican party offers to the people
of the United States. What the Democ-
racy offers is shown by the two dis
honest and reckless measures for depre-
ciating the currency which commanded
the support of strong majority of the
Democrats of the Ffty-second Congress.
The benefits which have resulted from
the Mckinley tariff and from reciprocity
are outlined with great clearness and
force. 1t is demonstrated by the report
of the Senate committee appointed to
investigate the subject that wages have
increased and tnat the cost of manu-
featured articles in general has been
lowered under the operation of the
present Tariff law. After a graceful and
merited compliment to Mr.. Blaine for
his work in nrging reciprocity, the
President shows that this project, which
Democratic platforms fluently denounced
as SHAM" is regarded by European
Nations as most serious menace to
their trade with Latin America; that
under its provisions our trade with the
countries that have entered into
reciprocal commercial treaties with us
has already increased 23.7S per cent.
and that steadily growing volume of
trade may be looked for in the future.
President Harrison rightly declares that
if no other issue were involved in the
campaign, the fact that the Democrats
are pledged to destroy reciprocity would
make the issue of momentous import
ance, and he asks pertinently:
'tAre the farmers of the great grain
growing States willing to surrender these
new, large and increasing markets for
their surplus? Are we to have nothing
in exchange for the free importation of
sugar and coffee, and at the same time
to destroy the sugar planters of the South
and tie best sugar industry of the North
west and of the Pacific coastP Or are
we to have the taxed sugar and coffee,
which "tariff for revenue only"
necessarily involves, with the added loss
of the new markets which have been
opened?"
But important as reciprocity is, there
is another issue, even more vital to the
American people, at stake in the contest.
That issue is the development of Ameri-
can industry and the preservation of the
home market for American consumers.
That is assured by the Mckinley law;
and not only the Mckinley law, but
every form of protection must be over
thrown if the Democracy achieves power
and keeps the pledge made in its plat
form. The President pictures the whole
situation when he says: "a Democratic
Congress holding this view cannot enact,
nor Democratic President approve any
tariff schedule the purpose or effect of
which is to limit importations or to give
any advantage to an American workman
or producer This destructive I'M
American doctrine was not held or
taught by the historic Democratic states
men whose fame as American patriots
has reached this generation-certainly
not by Jefferson or Jackson. This mad
crusade against American shops, the
bitter epithets applied to American man
ufacturers, the persistent disbelief of
every report of the opening of tin plate
mill or of an increase of our foreign
trade by reciprocity are as surprising as
they are discreditable. There is not a
thoughtful business man in the country
who does not know that the enactment
into law of the declaration of the Chicago
convention, upon the subject of the
tariff, would at once plunge the country
into business CONFUSION such as it has
never seen; and there is not thought
full workingman who does not know that
it would at once enormously reduce the
amount of work to be done in this
country, by the increase of lmportations
that would follow, and necessitate re-
duction of his wages to the European
standard
In the matter of securing to every
American citizen the right to cast one
vote and have that vote fairly counted,
the President speaks with no uncertain
sound. The Republican party is in every
State the advocate and defender of
honest elections. AS it's candidate,
President Harrison deals with this great
National question fearlessly, as it is his
wont to deal with all great questions.
If the Democracy choose to make honest
elections an issue in this campaign Re
publicans are ready to meet them. The
Republican party does not urge any
measure which will infringe in the least
degree upon the constitutional rights OF
any American State. But it does urge
persistent education of public sentiment
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