The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-12-15
THE MESSAGE.

There is q thread OF 1OreDodlbS
which runs through President Harri-
sons recent message to Congress.
There is all along an implication
that the sixty five millions of people
of the United States represented by
the thirteen millions who went to the
polls on the eighth of last November
have made a gigantic mistake in
electing Grover Cleveland President
and in placing the reins of govern
ment in the hands of the Democratic
party.
1t is true that the President in a
is one would stoically submit to the
inevitable. For instance he SAYS 81
recommend that the whole subject of
tariff revision be left to the incoming
Congress" He admits the necessity
of revising the tariff. He admits
that the people have a right to it rs
expressed by the recent verdict at
the polls, iand yet he goes on to in
innate where the people have erred
by attributing the prosperity of the
county to the protective system. He
says "the protective system, which
has now for something more than
thirty years continuously prevailed
in our legislation, has been a mighty
instrument for the development of
DER national wealth, and most
powerful agency in protecting the
homes Of our workingmen from the
invasion of want" The Baltimore
Sun in commenting on the Presidents
logged adhesion to his faith in Pro-
lection while at the same time ad-
hitting that the system must be
modified, we'll says ''1n fact the Pres.
ident exhibits himself as an apt illus
tration of the saying that "a man
convinced against his will is of the
same opinion still. ,"
The President invites review of
the growth of the Union since 1860,
consideration of the increase in it's
aggregate wealth, the increased mile
age of it's railways, the development
of it's industries, as if all these would
now be things of the past.
We cannot do better than to quote
again from the Baltimore Sun in
answer to this:
"In the first place, while speaking
of the increase of wealth and the de-
velopment of Industries, the Presi
dent omits to refer to the increase of
population, the extension of the area
of cultivation and the development
of natural resources during all these
years. Even the very extension of
the railroads, to which he does refer,
may have had something to do with
as well as high tariff. Avoiding
all facts that would initiate against
his argument, he omits to present to
his readers the actual condition OF
one once flourishing branch of Amer
lean enterprise and industry, the
shipping and ship building interests
of the country, where, perhaps more
clearly than in an other field, the
direct effects OF nigh tarln can be
traced
He leaves out of account entirely
as factors in the nations prosperity
the possession of a vast untitled, un
opened continent, virgin lands to be
had aim st upon the single condi
ton of occupancy, and all the adj
vantages Of soil, climate and institu-
tions, which have contributed to the
growth and prosperity OF the coun
try since It's first settlement without
reference to tariffs or to changes in
administration or of parties. Not
only does he fail to recognize or dis
count these obvious causes of pros
perity, but he ignores the fact that
the last thirty years have been years
of unexampled production and of in
crease of wealth throughout the civil
Iized world