Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-11-24
PUBLIC OPINION.

PUBLlC OPlNlON.
TAXES FOR SUGAR, TEA, AND COFFEE.
New York Press.
When the Press, before election, told
those who intended to vote the Demo
cratic ticket that they were going to
vote for tariff on sugar, tea and coffee,
its warning was probably set down as
a mere campaign alarm. Democratic
orators and editors assured the people
that the statement had no foundation
and they voted for Mr.. Cleveland.
Election is now over, the Democratic
party finds itself placed where it must
of necessity formulate definite tariff
policy, and the motive for concealment
which existed before November 8, is no
longer present. Hence We find the
Democrats gradually approaching the
admission that the Democratic tariff will
be exactly what the Press predicted.
The Memphis Appeal -AUalanche, of
November IL, boldly declares that I'VE
need a tariff for the most part on those
articles which we are compelled to i'm
port and which we can not make in this
country" Matthew Marshall, the Dem
ocrat who regularly writes on financial
and kindred topics for the Democratic
New York Sun, is even more precise in
his language. He sees that at least one
article now free must bear tariff in
- hn
abolishing the duty on wool and other
things and selects sugar as that article.
In his opinion "a return to the old
(sugar) duty and the abolition of the
bounty constitute the readiest means of
raising the additional amount (of rev.
enue) demanded by the necessities of
the moment" For any further deficit
caused by removing protective duties
he thinks that ''to compensate the rev.
enue for the loss of these duties new
ones might be imposed if necessary on
coffee and tea, which are now free, but
which, as they can not be grown in this
country, do not compete with any home
product"
Bear in mind that this is an opinion
from the most conservative Democratic
source, not the utterance of a radical
free trader. Yet it is this latter class of
which the Democratic Congressional
majority is composed, and doubling
Democrats can rest assured that they
will not fall behind Matthew Marshall
in their advance toward free trade. 1t
may be regarded as certainty that if
even any considerable part of the Dem
ocratic programme outlined in the party
platform is carried out, taxed sugar,!tea
and coffee ARE coming. The. poor are
about to have taste of what real tariff
taxation means.
LABOR COMMISSIONER PECK DISCHARGED
New York Press.
That the persecution of Labor Com
missioner Peck was undertaken for no
other reason except that he told the
truth about the phenomenal progress
made by the industries of this State is
made evident by the decision of the
Court of Sessions at Albany that there
was no basis for the criminal charge
brought against him by bis Mugwump
prosecutors. Their ulterior object, the
election of Cleveland, has been attained,
and they do not now care what becomes
of Mr.. Peck or his report, which, by the
way, remains as true and forceful an
argument against the Democratic calam-
ity policy as ever.
FOREwARNED AND FOREARMED.
Pittsburgh Dispatch.
The decision of the Treasury Depart
ment to maintain a proper amount of
vigilance for the exclusion of cholera
from this country is manifestly wise.
With partial continuance of the pre-
cautions hastily adopted when danger
from the disease was at its height, re-
turn to the complete detention system
then in vogue will be less difficult than
If the whole arrangement were allowed
to lapse.
Furthermore, there is still warrant for
more than the amount of care usually
devoted to immigrants by medical in
spectors at the ports. There is every
probability that spring will witness the
return of cholera in the districts recently
ravaged. Past experience demonstrated
the worthlessness of foreign official an
nouncements with regard to the presence
of he disease. No faith should be
placed by this country in anything but
its own preventive and defensive meas
ures. While defensive inspection should
be continued at the ports, scrupulous
cleanliness should be practiced as pre-
ventive in the interior of the country
Let there be no aceumulations of filth
or garbage during the winter which,
with the breaking of the frost, would
harbor and encourage the spread of any
disease germs that might secure their
admittance to this land.
Cleveland Leader.
One Of the most persistent, and, we
suppose, effective charges made by Dem
ocrats against the Republican party
during the last campaign was the COM
plant that the tariff system developed
under Republican rule protected almost
everything except the American wage
worker, who was exposed to the unlim-
tied competition of foreign labor as soon
as it came to this country. The Bourbon
orators told their hearers that the higher
wages went in America the more quickly
and disastrously they would be forced
down again by an thrush of foreign
workingmen who were permitted to
enter without paying any duty. There
was ground for this charge, we are sorry
to confess, but now the evil will, no
doubt, be remedied in short order. We
can see the Democratic majorities in the
House of Representatives and the Senate
making hot haste to DO what they have