Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-10-22

no Ul1cuHN0t tine I8fElul0 FUlttlNMA Ntftn
Growing Out or the system.
|. In the national convention Of 1883 the
republican party gave itself over body
and soul to the money power interested
In the protective tariff, expecting FROM
1t substantial aid in the election.
know this Is grave assertion. But
II you are not yet satisfied Of It's truth
fulness, you need only study the his
tory of the campaign of 1888 and what
followed. There was not the slightest
popular demand for higher tariff duties.
The republicans had till then sub
stantially admitted the desirability of
reductions, and only asked that they,
as the friends of the system, be per-
mitted to make the alterations them
selves But in 1883 the scene changed.
With the most cynical frankness, re-
publican leaders notified the protected
manufacturers, openly recognizing
them ms the benefciariers Of the
tariff, that unless they permitted the
''fat to be fried out of them" for the
benefit of the republican party, they
need not expect any further tariff
favors-in fact the tariff might be let
go by the board-but that they would
be well taken care Of If they paid up.
The republican national convention
took extreme protection ground. A
vista of indefinite increases of duty was
opened. The fat-frying process pro-
ceeded vigorously. The beneficiaries of
the tariff contributed with profusion.
The republican campaign fund received
unprecedented sums Of money to be ex-
pended by Mr. Matt Quay. Thus the
victory was won. Then the helpful
beneficiaries of protective duties de-
manded and received their reward, and
that reward was the Mckinley tariff.
1t is a notorious fact that for not q few
of the new tariff rates scarcely any
reason could be given, except that they
had been asked for; and the demand for
them was enforced by the argument
that they had been earned.
shall not discuss the economic, but
only the political aspect Of the McKin-
ley tariff, which seems to me the most
important As has been truthfully
said many time, the natural resources
of this country are so enormous that in
a sense it may prosper for long period
in spite of any economic system ever SO
vicious; or, If it suffers, it may speedily
recover. The American people can
endure being plundered or, as the
protectionists say, enriched by this sys-
tem-what they cannot endure without
danger Of lasting detriment is the polit-
ical Generalization which this sort of
tariff policy inevitably brings with it.
This is pollution of the blood.
Examine the case with care and can
dor. The republican party, as the adj
vocate of the protective tariff, is fond
of calling itself the champion of Ameri-
can labor. The only pretext for this
pretension lies in the fact that the re-
publican party by its tariff policy en-
riches certain employers of labor and
then trusts them with being SO philan-
thropic as to pay their workingmen
more than the market rate of wages
according to the well known scheme OF
benevolence which consists in making
the rich richer, SO that they can take
better care of the poor.
In fact, the republican party is the
champion of the capitalists deriving
profit from the tariff duties protecting
certain industries The capital invest
ed in these industries constitutes a gil
gantic money power dependent for the
magnitude of it's profits on legislative
favors, and therefore interested in in
fluencing legislation for its own ben
eft.
With this moneyed power, compacted
by common interest, the republican
party has sort of tactic partnership
agreement-and not quite tactic either
Ito this effect: The party of the first
part, the moneyed power, is to do all l
can by way of furnishing campaig
funds to be used in national elections,
to keep the party of the seconu part,
the republican party, in possession of
the government The party of the Sec
ond part, the republican party, is, in re-
turn, to do all it can by way of tariff
legislation to keep the party of the first
part, the moneyed power, in the enjoy
ment of large financial profits And
the larger these profits are, the more
able and the more willing will be the
party of the first part, the moneycd
power, to furnish the party of the Sec
ond part, the republican party, with a
big corruption fund for buying the next
election, expecting, of course, for itself
again ample returns in the shape of
still more profitably-deyised tariff laws.
And so on.
1t is true, the republicans tell us that
the Mckinley tariff is the closing act,
the final contamination of the protective
policy, and that beyond it nothing will
ever be asked. That is the old song
know it we'll. This country never had
a protective tariff in its whole history,
before the enactment of which the peo-
pie were not assured that this was the
utmost measure of the demands that
would be made, and after the enact
ment of which the clamor for more pro-
acknowledged duties-did not soon
again begin. 1t is the experience not
only of this country, but of the world,
and it is in the nature of high protec-
ton. So it will be again with the Nc
Kinley tariff, if the republicans are in
trusted with full power. More will be
asked for; more will be granted by the
republican party for more subsidy need
ed to keep the party in the possession
of power. But even If the duties were
not increased, the arrangement to pre-
serve those now existing would be sub
stantially the same.-Extract from a
late speech by Carl Schurz.
Dangerous Protection.
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