The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-09-22
WEIGHED AND WANTING,
HARRIsoNS ADMINISTRATION FOUND
SADLY WANTING.

NFNNi
Le sislation Sold to Obtain a u,ea No.
ruption Fund Offensive and Dsfeusivs
Alliance with ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS q,
"Fat Paying"
WASHINGTON, September 15.--The
people are called upon to decide this
year whether or not they will continue
the present Administration in nower
1or another four years. and whether or
not they Will restore to the Republi-
can party the control of the lover
mouse OF Congress and with it full an.
thority to legislate. ' ."
Inc issue, as has been said in a pre.
vlous dispatch, is the record of the last
Tour years. The purpose of these dis.
PaCches Is to show what that record is,
at least in its salient features.
:. AS all important part of the record
IL Is necessary to inquire concerning
the processes by which the power nov
held by the Republican party was se.
cured; the means by which Mr.. Harri-
son ana the 5lst Congress were elected.
IN Chat we have not only an offence
against public morals, which was stern
ly rebuked in the election of 1890. bnt
also an index Of the spirit of the Ad.
minlstrat1on and the party, a forecast
OF the probable course Of events if
thaC ADMINISTRATION and party are
granted a further lease of authority.
1t has been said in these dispatches
tnat the election of 1883 was won by
Cne purchase of voters and the corcun-
tlon OF election officers, and that the
money with which the corrupt buvinS
was done was secured by selling legis.
latlon snort to the monopolistS of The
country. There were other Influences
equally corrupt brought into play. "a
Will appear hereafter, but this was the
foundation upon which the campairn
was JuiL. The facts were notorious
at the time, but it is necessary to recall
Them now for the refreshments of the
memory of voters
Gefore 1858 the Republican party had
always advocated protection, with a
very important qualification. Not one
oI Us leaders had dreamed of suggest
ing 1T as an unchanginy policy or i'm
the extreme shape in which the Nc.
Kinney tariff has since put it. John
sherman had publicly advocated the
repeal OF all the tariff duties which had
teen imposed during the war III COM
ptnSatlon for the internal revenue tax
at"n, and had given solemn warning
to tie DcIeiiclalieS of the tariff tnat if
this were not done the people would
rise up in their wrath at the Injustice
and oppression and sweep away the
who.e protective system by Il single
act Of legislation.
Eugene Hale, in an impassioned
speech in Congress, had urged the en-.
largelnent OF the free list, and had
characterized certain OF the duties as
taxes creating monopoly worse and
more oppressive than any granted by
the Tudors in England'S most despotic
time"
Garfield had declared himself in
favor only OF that "protecti0n which
leads TO free trade" Arthur aud Grant
| as President had earnestly urged like
VIEWS Of tariff II form, and there Was
not trace of The Mckinley doctrine TO
be found anywhere in the record of the
party or the utterances of its headers.
Bat a Democratic President was in
Office and there was every indie .tion
that the conIltry was growing more
and msre Democratic, and that power
was slipping away from the party
which had held 1t for SO long. The
leaders of the party were ready to
adopt any device which should promise
them another chance.
There was an embarrassing and in
| creasing surplus in the treasury. The
revenues were outrunning the eXpend.
itures of the Government. 1t was OBJ
Vious that the taxes imposed upon the
people to meet the heavier expenses of
a War period were greater than the
needs or the Government in time of
peace and unity.
1t was the plain duty of Congress to
reduce them, and Of the President 10
suggest that course
The taxes were Of two kinds-tariff
1,lt loo n it,ft Il
The internal revenue taxes, which had
been very heavy during the war and
for a time afterwards, had already been
abolished except those upon tobacco
and whiSley, and these had been re-
duced To nllnlmum. The tariff duties,
IN spite OF the revision of 1853, remain
ed praci lcaily untouched, and they in
cluued many impOSt3 which had been
granted only as com pensatory as
means of putting our producers upon
an equality with foreigners at the time
when revenue taxes were levied upon
domestic products. These revenue tax
es had been removed, but the CORES
poDdlng compensatory tariff duties re-
manned.
Under these circumstances the PrPS-
dent sent to Congress message urging
careful revision and reduction Of the
t"AiA tuheo. 1l6 " EtS Cdlcl III 10 urge lnh
due conside ration OF all business inter
es,S in the process, and especially the
avoidance Of any change Of SO radical
a character as to harm any manufactu-
ring enterprise which had grown up
uHdtr the protective system.
IL was q message which any of Mr..
Clevelands Republican predecessors
might have written. Its recommenda-
tiol's were precisely such az RepubH.
Can Presidents had made and Republi- !
can leaders had approved and urged. |
Its spirit was conservative in an ex- |
trere degree and it's purpose patriotic. |
1t vas int nded simply to secure for |
the people that reiief from the taxation |
In-, rlttd from the war period which |
the condition of the national finances |
warranted and indeed demanded.
But narrow and unpatriotic PARTISAN |
ship saw here its opportunity. RepuD. |
lican leaders, who had themselves atlyo- |
Gated precisely similar policy, raised |
the senseless cry Of "Free trade" and |
sci themselves to defeat in the Senate |
the very moderate measure of tariff re-
Inn