The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-11-25
MR.CURTIS' LAST WORDS
The Great Constitutional Lawyer
Writes About the Election.
HOW FREE TRADE GOT ITS HOLD.
Some speculations and Predictions Re
garding the Probable ana Possible
Course Of the Democrats in Congress
IL They Decide to Attack the Tariff.
ESPECIAL TO THE Ngws.l


NEW YORK, Nov. 25-George Ticknor
Curtis has written letter to the Ameri-
can Protective Tariff League upon the re-
suits of the election and the probable
course Of the Democrats in Congress.
Among other things he says:
by sheer misrepresention AMI by ap
peals to the low prejudices OF the So
called poor against the so-caled 'rich,'
the present Democratic leaders have per-
suaded large majorities on pluralities To
20 against the best interests OF the ma
tion. This shows how much the people
of this country still need TO be educated
politically on this great public question.
The supposed poor must learn TO con-
quer their prejudices, They must learn
that there Is no other country in the
world in which wealth Is so generally
diffused as it Is in this; and that, prop
erly speaking, we have no poor excepting
the paupers who are supported by pri-
vatecharity or at the public expense. "A
man who has capacity 70 labor-who
has muscle, manual skill, intelligence
and experience in a cailing-is ia just
sense IA capitalist. To call him poor"
man is to degrade him to the level of the
inmates of a workhouse.
IL know 90 well many of the men who
foisted the anti-Protection plank into the
Chicago platform that / have no difii
Guilty in Judging OF their motives. They
are not Free-Tradsrs on conviction. They
went upon the principle of anything TO
beat the Republicans and gain political
power" thereby manifesting u lack of all
principle. They raised the false cry that
protective tariff is both uuconstitution-
al and un-democratic. They debauched
the minds of great numbers of people
with false ideas and brought about this
great political change, To the Injury of
the very voters whom they bad persuad-
ed To lend themselves to their schemes.
81 notice that certain Republicans have
expressed the hope that the Democrats
will gain n majority in the Senate so that
the exp ,rmeut of free trade can be tried
They think it will fail and that the Re-
publican party will thus regain power,
which they will thereafter hold for a long
course Of years. do not like such tactics.
They bear too close a resemblance to the
tactics of your adversaries. They went
for free trade in order 20 gain
political power. You are advised to 90,
for free trade, temporarily, in order TO
recover the power that you have lost. |
do not wish the experiment of free trade
To be tried for this or any other purpose.
This Is not "a country in which 1t should
be tried, for IL will inevitably result in an
incalculable loss of national and in divid-
ual wealth and in great injury to the
laboring people who are employed in all
kinds OF manufactures.
"Let us suppose in the next Congress
subcommittee of the Ways aud Means
are assem- Dled to ma &e n new schedule of
duties for u new tariff on the delusive
idea of Tariff for revenue only"
They will find it practically impossible.
They will first determine what amount
OF money must be obtained from duties
in order TO avoid direct taxation. Then
they will proceed to consider the articles
on which the duties are to be laid. On
the first one that comes up, the
question will be the same that arose
in the First Congress, namely, what duty
will the article bear, how much revenue
can be derived from it, and what would
be the effect on our manufactures of i'm
posing no higher duty than such as is
necessary to produces the amount Of
money that we expect TO derive from
this particular commodity? Here there
will be interminable disputes aud contro-
yersies, ending in either a disagree
ment or in bad and injurious legislation,
which will flood the country with foreign
goods that can be made cheaper than
nere.n