Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-03-23
THE BURNING ISSUES.


representatives on the afternoon OF
Tuesday, February ID The house
spent hours in fi.jbustering over the
measure. Anu-siver men desire to
hide the silver agitation behind the
meaningless discussion on the tariff is
sue, which they brazenly assert to Sbe
of most vital importance at this time.
/ strongly suspect that their intention
IS to direct the eyes of the country
AVA from the currency question. Tho
house is democratic by a large ma
jority. 1t can pass silver bill of the
most radica. character and throw the
burden of opposition to 1t on the re-
publican senate. ThA president will,
it is said, veto the Bland bill should 1t
pass both hou es, and, as a conse-
quence, the democrats are safe in pass
ing it so far as blame for its defeat
resting with them is concerned. They
proclaim that they prefer o be honest
(?) and will oppose il, so far as they
can, and, in order to throw dust in the
eyes of voters, insist on making the
tariff the Issue. l said, in starting
that the discussion of the tariff in the
house of representatives was meaning
less, and, so far as the discussion Is in
tended to affect the prosperity of the
nation, that is true. They do not bring
the tariff up because they mean to
benefit the country by an agitation on
the issue, and because they hope to
divert attention away from the cur
rency question, which will naturally
occupy large space before the public
eye, while silver is being talked over
in the house. Some of the most astute
Il speak advisedly when 1 say that
would allow the silver bill to go through
in the stiffness of the night, just as
Senator Sherman allowed the resump-
ton clause to go through in 1873, so
that public attention would not be at
tracted toward it, and bv that means
prevent discussion and education upon
the question OF finance. They favor
kicking up dust on the tariff issue,
affecting to believe that Grover Cleve-
the needs of the country, and that
the tariff is the only real is
sue before the people, or the
only question that is worthy Of discus
sion Nine-tenths OF the thinking
workingmen of the nation understand
the tariff question much better than
the average congress man. They un-
derstand its full import and meaning
much better than do our national legiS-
lators, but they realize that there is .
time for every thing and that every
thing should be in its place For tho
last ten years the tariff has been the
issue between both parties. 1t was
the bone of contention in 1880, again
in 1884, and was the only thing that
came up for discussion in the campaign
of 1888. The goats of the nation fat
tened on the tariff literature which
they nibbled from the bill boards in
1888, but the people grow no stouter or
stronger than before. The result of
the contest male no change for the
better, and, had it gone the other way,
we would have the same story to tell
Congress IS to-day engaged in most
dishonest attempt to obscure real, vital
issues and hide them behind the tariff
bugaboo. If the democratic party were
sincere in its declaration that tho
Mckinley tariff would prove hurtful to
the country they would strengthen
themselves and win the support of the
nation by giving the law chance to
work the evils they predict. It seems
to me that if were partisan demo-
crat and prophesied that the Mckinley
bill would injure the country in four
years, as many of them assert, would
not do anything to prevent it from do
ing that injury so that my position as
free trade advocate would be
strengthened If 1 were a republican
and believed that the Mckinley tariff
would prove to be a blessing to the
nation, 1 would insist on giving it fair
trial so that its benefits might become
plain to all men. Both parties if sim
cere in their professions, have every
thing to gain by allowing the McKin-
ley tariff time to operate and demon
strate It's claim to public favor and a
longer lease of life. By doing that
they would also give the country
a much needed rest and the peo-
pie time to think about other
questions Possibly they do not
care to allow other matters to
occupy much of the time or attention
of the people. 1t may be their desire
to switch other questions off on some
side-track for fear that they would
overturn some of the institutions that
stand more of a menace to the welfare
of the people than a high or low tariff
can possibly stand. While you are
talking tariff in the house of repre-
sentatives, with no other object in vie "
than the strengthening of your posi-
tion in the fall campaign, hundreds of
thousands of men are being turned out
of the mines and workshops These
are the men for whom yon would re-
duce or increase the tariff A COM
bination, stronger than the one that
recognizes Benjamin Harrison as
its president has been formed
with a capital of 5000, 600, 900 to
say whr shall burn coal, who
shall mine it, what shall be paid for it,
and just how much shall be mined
each year. There is no tariff on
anthracite coal Why stand one hun
dred thousand mine-workers in idle
ness or the fear of discharge? What
has the free trader to say in denuncia-
tion of the combination that corners
anthracite? If you are sincere iu ask
ing for free trade in order to improve
the lot of the workingman. why do
you not exercise your power to compel
those who do not stand IN dread of for
eign competition to extend the benefits
of that free trade to the wage slaves
of the anthracite coal regions2 God
made man; G. d made the anthracite
He made it free. God made six or
eight men and endowed them with
business qualifications and they made a
combination Man made money, man
made the combination which placed six
hpndred millious of dollars against one
hundred thousand men who were made
by God Himself The six hundred
thousand dollars are the most power
full; humanity is crushed to the dust by
dollars. while near-sighted statesmen
talk tariff as the sole issue. There is
no tariff on antnracite-itis is free; those
who mine it are slaves. There is ne
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