St. Paul daily globe., 1892-10-05
Garfield's Attorney General
Tells Why He Is for Grover
Cleveland.
Powerful Reasons Given for
His Change Of Political
Faith.
Tariff Reform Necessary for
the Welfare Of the
Nation.
Evil and Corruption Follow
the Course Of q Pro-
tective Tariff.

PHILADELPHIA. Oct 4.-Hon. Wayne
MacVeagh, who was attorney general
in President Garfeld's cabinet, today
sent the following letter to J.W. Carter.
secretary of the Massachusetts, Reform
club:
Philadelphia, Oct. 4, 1S92.-J. w.
Carter. ESQ.,, Secretary: Your cordial
invitation to address the citizens OF
Boston on the issues of the canvass hap
pens to reach me just when professional
engagements prevent my naming a
time when | can do so, but you are quite
right IN concluding | intend to vote for
Mr.. Cleveland. Entertaining the con-
victions do, no other course is open to
me, ana L cheerfully accord to the sup
porters of President Harrison the same
sense of public duty by which l claim
TO be actuated.
As both parties have presented uneX-
ceptiOnable candidates there is no rea-
son that the differences that exist upon
questions of public policy should be
discussed otherwise than in good hui
NOR, and with entire respect for each
others opinions In. the present cam
paign what may be fairly called the
first alarms of the canvass will prove of
little value, because of the general con-
fidence in the safe and conservative
character of both candidates. The av-
erage voter knows that
Free Trade Is Impossible
in this country, for the conclusive -rea-
son that the vast revenues now required
to meet the expenses Of the govern
ment will necessarily afford far higher
degree Of protection to our established
onI manufactures than
either Alexander Hamilton or Henry
Clay thought desirable in the infancy
of our weak and struggling industries.
The average voter also knows that the
irredeemable paper currency i'll use be-
fore the war can never reappear. On
the other hand, he knows as we'll that
no system Of duties or imports, how
ever inequltable, can prevent our con-
tlnued growth iE wealth. in manufact-
ureS and in population, growth due to
the incompatible gifts of Providence,
the intelligence and energy of the peo-
pie and the blessings OF free lnstitu-
tions.
While 1 am more than ever resolved
to hold duty to country far above any
ties of party. l find myself at present in
general accord with the Democratic
party. and willing to trust its course i'll
the future. The insight. the courage
and the patriotism the masses OF the
party exhibited in compelling the NOM
ination of Mr.. Cleveland, when he was
without single Officeholder to support
his candidacy. seem to me to demand
that l should meet them in the same
spirit and act with them as long as they
maintain that
High Standard of Policy
and of administration. 1t is more easy
to do SO because the Republican party,
securing its return to power four years
ago by promising to preserve matters as
they were, at once embarked upon what
l regard as reckless and revolutionary
policy, even overturning all the safe
guards of legislation in the house OF
representatives in their haste to pass
the force bill and the Mckinley bill,
both, to my mind, unnecessary and I'M
wise measures.
The opposition to the force bill, as not
only sure to create far greater evils than
it could cure, but as also subyerSlYe OF
the rights of the states. has become SO
earnest and widespread that it is said
to have been abandoned; but it must not
be forgotten that only two years ago
that such measure was warmly advo-
Gated by President Harrison, earnestly
supported by the Republican party, and
has narroly escaped becoming law.
There is no pretense, however, that
the Mckinley bill is abandoned. On
the contrary, our express approval of ii
is demanded. No doubt that bill, which
l cannot but think was an uncalled-fOr
disturbance of the then existing tariffs,
greatly benefited a few interests, but
certainly it greatly
Of the protected Industries themselves
many were then, as now, in far more
urgent need OF free raw materials than
of higher protection; but with raw
materials OH the free list the bill could
not have passed. for those having such
materials for sale controlled enough
votes to defeat it.
The manufacturers of free raw ma
terial were therefore obliged to join in
the Objectionable process of increasing
prices by restricting production, thus
adding to the number of trusts by
which the price of the neceSsarieS of
life is placed at the mercy Of unlawful
combinations of capital. 1t is not sur
prising that labor, believing itself to be
oppressed, should rise in revolt, and
civil war has actually ragged this sum-
mer in four different sections of the
country. And of course the farmers.
paying more for what they buy and
getting less for what they sell, grow
poorer day by day, and excellent farms
in some of the most fertile sections of
this most highly protected state will
hardly bring the cost of the buildings
upon them.
But the economic faults, however.
great. of the Mckinley bill and the un-
reasonable system of protection it rep.
resentS are of far less Importance to my
mind than
The Evils Which Follow
in their wake. In deciding for what
purposes the masses of the people may
properly be taxek. it must not be forgot.
ten that taxes have a wonderful capac-
ity for filtering through all interven-
ing obstacles; that they reach the bowed
back of toiler and rest there. Therefore
the granting of bounties under any form
of taxation is mainly the giving away of
the wages of the laborer. The sad truth
that the curse of the poor is their pov.
erty is illustrated i'll nothing more
clearly than the undue shere they suffer
of the burdens of taxation.
But, apart from these considerations,
ought not taxes only to be imposed as
required for public purposes, and NAV
IuCg OO pOoSA AOi thS PSSoNiRlI QN-
vantage of such persons OK classes as
are able to control congressional action
in their favor? 1t seems to me like a
travesty on taxation to require, as the
Mckinley bill does, the farmer who
grows corn in Indiana to pay bounty
to the farmer who produces sugar cane
in Louisiana or to require the farmer
who grows wheat in Pennsylvania to
pay a bounty to the farmer who pro.
duces maple sugar in Vermont. But il
is nearer tragedy than travesty to tax
the masses Of the people to increase
the wealth of the very wealthy of most
our protected industries. But even
such
Inequality and Injustice
are the least of its evils, for, while such
system endures, political corruption
is absolutely sure to increase, as such a
system not only invites but it assures
the corrupt use of money both at the
polls and congress. Ii is of its very es.
sence that fiat" shall be ''fried" out of
its beneficiaries. Who shall happen to
do this ssfrviDC ~ or who shall happap