Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-09-16


by enrich some other persons engaged in a
different line OF business in another State.
So language can magnify the Importance
of this proposition.
II such power rightfully exists under
our Constitution. then bare majority, de-
irving its strength from sectional localities
or otherwise, may through the aid of the
power to levy and collect taxes, literally
appropriate the earnings of a minority,
however respectable or however remote.
More than quarter OF a century ago ne
cessity compelled the levy by this govern
ment of an enormous revenue tariff upon
almost every article of necessity produced
in this country and consumed by our peo-
pie. Some of these have been placed upon
the free list. Others have been retained
and in some instances the war tariff has
been increased.
The necessity which caused the levy of
this tariff has passed away Since the
war closed we have had five Republican
administrations,
AND ONE DEMOCRATIC.
The latter terminated three and half
years ago. 1t came into power with the
war tariff in force. 1t was powerless TO
change il, for one branch of Congress was
Republican. 1t could do nothing less than
receive into the treasury of the nation the
money which this tariff took from the peo-
pie. What was the result!
A Treasury gorged by these laws until at
the end of that administration on the 4th
Of March, 1889, 1t contained eighty-three
millions of dollars in excess of every ma
turede obligation of the government and
this was being increased at the rate OF
nearly q hundred millions of surplus an
nually. This was the condition of the
Treasury when Democratic administra-
tion turned it over to Republican success
sor. Whereis the surplus nows
To answer in the mildest language can
use, will say dissipated.
Why was it dIssipatedl
Because 1t stood in the way Of q protec-
tive tariff. The two could not exist to-
gether. One or the other must disappear.
But our friends say this protective tarin is
made for the benefit of the laboring men.
All that the the tax is intended to do is TO
eQualize the difference between the wages
of American workmen and the pauper labor
OF Europe. When il was under conSidera-
tion il was not the laboring man who ap-
peared at the capitol Of this nation and
asked to have it passed. Hundreds, if not
thousands of manufacturers, with the
ablest attorneys they could employ did so
appear. II has now been in force for two
whole years. Has 1t allayed the struggle or
lesSeued the contest between capital and
labori
LET HOMESTEAD ANSWER FIRST,
and then let us examine broader deld.
But there is a class, our Republican
friends tell US, that can always be depend
ed upon to uphold the great American sys-
tenn of protection. II is the farmers OF the
country. Now this includes myself, and l
want to know why we should uphold that
system. They tell US in the first place If
we will wait long enough it will give US q
home market for all the produce Of our
farms and save the expense of sending auy
part of it to foreign market. How long
will this take! we ask. They do not tell US
this, and so we must reason for ourselves
If we consult statistics, we find that three
fourths of all our exports come from the
farms of the nation; that in single year
we have sent abroad in round numbers
$500 600, 900 worth of these products.
At glance we can see that if we are to
wait until conditions so change in this
country as to provide home market for
all the products of our farms not one of us
will be here TO enjoy the change.
In the spring of 1892 the farmers Of Iowa
sold their oats of the crop of $50 for fifty
cents bushel. In the spring Of '92 they
sold equally good grain OF the crop of '9l
for one-half that money. What did the
money bills have to DO with these prices2
This, and nothing more: 1t kept out of our
markets ssme of the products of labor in
other counteies. Nations are like individ-
uals. They trade with those who trade
with them. For five years, from 1885 to
1889, both inclusive, it had cost IS and a
few cents per acre to rape and make corn
in Iowa. if the farmer was paid for his labor
the usual wages Of like workmen in other
lines Of business. Taking
THE BEST STATISTICS ATTAINABLE
as to the average yield of the corn crop
throughout the State during the same years
and the average price paid for the same in
our local markets soon after harvest, it
was found that the crop had sold for 1913
an acre, or 90 cents less than it cost TO pro-
duce 1t, saying nothing about the use OF the
land on which it was grown.
l used these figures in an address deliver
ed in New York, at banque tgiven by the
Tariff Reform League, in the win
ter of lS90-gl. Not one of them was
nv own. The estimate of the cost
OF producing corn was based solely upon
the opion of practical farmers in our own
State. and the yield per acre and market
price was taken and from the most reliable
statistics attainaole. They presented,
however, q most startling TACT. They
demonstrated q truth which the farmers
themselves had been ignorant, for they
showed them that during those years they
had been producing the most important
crop raised on their farms az heavy loss,
If their labor was calculated at the price
others received for similar work in other
lines of business.
After brief reference to the danger of
the enactment of the Force bill, in case.the
Republican party should be placed in
mower. Governor Boies undertook eXplana-
lion of the Democratic partys position
with reference to the State Bank tax.
Now, the whole offense Of the Democratic
party on this point" he said, consists in
This single statement in its platform:
"'We recommend that the prohibitory
ten per cent. tax on State bank issues be
repealed In another sentence it is de-
clared:
awe demand that paper currency be
kent at par with and redeemable in coin.'
You will see that the Republican leaders
are
UNNECESSARILY ALARMED.
No one proposes TO interfere with our
National Bank system or 10 establish a
state Bank with power TO issue irredeem-
able or worthless currency. The success
of the Republican parry in Iowa this fall
means a determined effort by that party
next wear to continue our present prohibit
torv law, 1t defeat this fail is the end of
that contest. for if defeated it will aban-
Son prohibition anu seek some more rea-
sonable method of controlling the liquor
traffic"