Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-10-24
Democracy's Tariff Plank.

Grover Cleveland, in his memorable
message to congress, sounded the key
note on the tariff question. He sprung
the issue and forced it upon his party
and upon the attention of the people.
In the campaign of 'SS, however, Demo
cracy's organs, too many of them, acted
on the defensive. They didn't force
the fight on the lines laid down by their
great leader.
They argued that they believed in
low tariff, tariff for revenue-and then
they twisted and squirmed and founder
ed around in the attempt to prove that
they too, believed in protection, instead
Of asserting and bringing facts and
figures to prove that protection was an
up and down, all around, internal fraud,
and did not protect, and never was in
tended to protect the American work
ingman, either in work or wages.
The tariff plank adopted at the last
national convention is good; excellent.
While we believe in NO tariff we realize
that the Campaign of education" has
not, as yet, progressed far enough for
the people to understand that really a
tariff for revenue only is not what the
people need.
1t is an expensive, terribly expensive
method of raising revenue-besides, it
does not place the burden of taxation
upon people according to their means
but according to their necessities-the
poor dollar-a-day workingman often be-
ing forced to pay as much of the tariff
tax as the fifty-millionaire.
A tariff for revenue only and tariff
for protection differ in this: The gov
ernment gets the tax in the one case,
while in the other the government gets
one dollar in the shape of tariff and the
the manufacturer gets four dollars in the
shape of protection" tribute, blood
money wrung from people who are not
able to keep the sheriff from the door.
AS we have said, we believe in no
tariff; it was born in inquity and has
been STEPPED in inquity ever since; and
while tariff for revenue is vastly better
than a tariff for protection, which en-
ables manufacturing barons to levy tri-
hute from the people, direct taxation
would be as far superior to tariff for
revenue only system as that is ahead of
tariff for protection system.
The man who has his millions has not
accumulated them through his own
exertions. Others have created the
wealth but the "others," through some
hocus-podus arrangement, have been
euchered out of the products of their
labor. This is self-evident. A man
may have the knack of accumlating, but
accumulating is not creating.
A man makes an investment in land,
buying up large tract of raw land for a
song. In time the land becomes very
valuable, worth five thousand times the
original cost. The man who bought and
held it in idleness for twenty years has
done nothing. The community has
made millionaire of the man who has
invested hundred or so. He didn't
create the wealth; the community did.
He has done nothing for the benefit of
the community; rather, he has been a
stumbling block in the path of progress.
We would not take from the investor
all his profit, but we would compel him
to pay his just proportion of the tax
burden, according to his means.
We would not leave him all this
wealth, which not he, but the commun-
ity created, as a means, constantly
growing and becoming more and more
powerful means of forcing tribute from
the community which made the proper
ty valuable. Chicago Free 1rader.