St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-19


Tariff for Revenue Only Slapped Norway's
Strength and Ruined Her Industries.
The Heavy Burdens of Taxation Fell Upon
Her Common People ana Crushed Them.
Tariff for Revenue Only Will Bring the Same
Calamity Upon American People.
The Republican managers are dealing
very extensively in what is known as
''plate matter" these days. Their vari-
GUS candidates, from governor down,
seem 10 require so much defensive liter
allure that it was found to be much
cheaper to manufacture it on q large
scale in st. Paul than to pay the eX-
penSe that would be incurred in the va
rious local Offices throughout the state.
Besides, no local Republican paper,
however faithful it might be to the
party, could be expected to ''Set up"
and publish in one week two columns
of A defense of Nelson's railroad record,
two more Of his tariff record, and in adj
ditiOn to these four columns another
one denying that Senator Tawney, the
congressional candidate in the First dis
trlct, has been railroad attorney and
always corporation man.
The quotations at the beginning OF
this article are the heads clipped from
five columns of plate matter that has
been running in the local Republican
papers in the First district. The Nelson
matter has appeared in all parts of the
state. The article on "a Sad Tariff
Lesson" is from the pen of Nicolay
Greystad, who has. in the past been
tariff in Norway. This time he was
hired to take the other side, and the
poor fellow tried his best, but that he
did not succeed very well the following
excerpt from bis two columns of
plate" will show:
The new policy was inaugurated I'M
der favorable auspices and for time
all went well. There was steady and
increasing foreign demand for lumber
and fish products; imports increased
enormously, and business fiourlShed.
The source of all this apparent pros
DerIty was the phenomenal growth of
Norwegian shipping. Containing a
population of less than 2.000,000 people,
Norway in few years attained the rank
or the third maritime power in the
world. Her flag tioated over all the
seas, and the net income of her ocean
carrying trade, some S25, 100000 annu-
ally, was sufficient to cover the large
difference Of value between imports
and exports, and thus keep the balance
of trade even. Free trade was WOr-
SHIPPED as the mother of the new actlv-
ity, and what appeared to be rapid
accumulation of wealth.
OF course the flag Of Norway fioated
over all the seas under this policy, Mr..
Grevstad, and If you will pick up a pa
per published in any seaport town of
consequence in the United States, you
will see there chronicled the arrival or
departure Of Norwegian bark or two
nf
Pacific Northwest is carried in Norwe-
gian vessels.
And in the face of all this, Mr.. Grey
stad would attempt to deceive his cOun-
trymen in Minnesota by telling them
that after fifteen years of prosperity
there came a period of depression,
which he hints was brought about by
free trade. Mr.. Greystad knows that
his countrymen are lovers Of liberty in
every walk of life, and, knowing OF the
success of tariff reduction in Norway,
are naturally inclined to favor it here.
But MIR. GrevStad has the supreme
nerve to tell his fellow countrymen that
while ne knows they have heard OF the
fifteen years of prosperity he thinks he
is the only one who has heard of the de-
preston. and 1t is therefore his duty TO
instruct the Norwegian citizens of the
state how to vote. Mr.. Grevstad'S nerve
is clearly exhibited in the following
paragraph:
"a majority of the Norwegian-born
citizens of Minnesota and neighboring
states have come 10 this country since
then. To them the picture outlined
above will be very familiar. They left
Norway as free traders. and many Of
them have probably remained free
traders ever since. Some possibly never
dreamt that free trade had anything
whatever to do with their coimng to
America. But if they look back upon
the conditions in their old homes in the
light OF their wider experience, they
cannot fail to perceive that NoIway's
tariff for revenue only was the main
source of the evils from which they
ied.'
And so the defensive fight of the Re-
publicans is carried on. The people,
however. know where this "plate mat
teri comes from-they know that it is
all paid for by the Republican leaders,
and they can be buncoed no longer.