The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-06-24

power only by an appeal to the re.
served right of the people to resist
oppression which is inherent in all self
governing communities. Two years
ago this revolutionary policy was en-.
phatcally condemned by the people
at the polls; but in contempt Of that
verdict the Republican pirty has def
initely declared III its latest authorita-
tive ut;erances that its coming election
will mean the enactment of the force
bill and the usurpation of despotic
control over the elections in all the
| states.
PLEDGED AGAINST THE FORCE BILL.
Believing that the preservation Of
republican government in the United
States is dependent upon the defeat
OF this policy Of legalized force and
fraud, we invite the support of all
citizens who desire to see the con-
stitution maintained in its integrity
with the law pursuant thereto, which
have given our country a hundred
years of unexampled prosperity; and
we pledge the Democratic party,ifit be
entrusted with power not only to the
| defeat of the force bill, but also to re-
lentless opposition to the Republican
policy of prohigate expenditure which
in the short space Of two years, has
squandered an enormous surplus,
emptied an overlooking treasury,
after piling new burdens of taxation
upon the already overtaxed labor Of
the county.
SECTION 3 We reitera,e the oft re-
peatd doctrines of the Democratic
party that the necessity of the gov
eminent is the only justification for
taxation. and whenever a tax is un.
necessary it is unjustihablc: that when
customs house taxation is levied upon
articles of any kind produced in this
country the difference between the
cost Of labor here and labor abroad
when such difference exists fully
measures any possible benefits to labor
and the enormous additional imposi-
tlons of the existing tariff fall with
crushing force upon our farmers and
workingmen, and for the mere advant-
age of the few whom it enriches exacts
from labor grossly unjust share of
the expenses of the government, and
we demand such a revision of the
tariff laws as will remove their iniquit-
Gus inequalities, tighten their oppress-
ions and put them on constitutional
and equitable basis.
M'KINLEY TARIFF LAW DENOUNCED
But in making reduction in taxes, it
is not proposed to injure any domestic
industries, but, rather to promote their
healthy growth. From the foundation
of the government, the taxes collected
at the custom house have been the
chief source of federal revenue. Such
they must continue to be. Moreover
many industries have come to rely up
on legislation for successful con-
tinuance, so that any change of law
must be AZ every step regardful of
the labor and capital thus involved.
The process OF reform must be subject
in the execution of this plain dictate
of Justice
We denonuce the Mckinley tariff
law enacted by the Fifty-frst congress
as the eliminating atrocity of class
legislation; We endorse the effort made
by the Democrats of the present con-
gress to modify its most oppressive
features in the direction of free raw ma
terials and cheaper manufactured goods
that enter into general consumption
and We promise its repeal as one of
the benehcent results that will follow
the action Of the people in en-
trusting power to the Democratic
party. Since the Mckinley tariff went
INTO operation there have been ten
reductions of the wages of laboring
men to one increase. We deny that
there has been any increase of pros
perity to the country since that tariff
went into operation, and we point to
the dullness and distress, the wage
reductions and strikes in the iron
trade as the best possible evidence
that no such prosperity has resulted
from the Mckinley act.
IMPORTATION OF FOREIGN WEALTH.
We call the attention of thoughtful
Americans to the fact that after thirty
years of restrictive taxes against the
importation of foreign wealth, in ex.
change for our agricultural surplus,
the homes and farms OF the country
have become burdened with real
estate mortgage debt Of over two
thousand five hundred million dollars
exclusive Of all other forms of indebt-
edness; that in one of the chief agli-
cultural states of the West there APP
pears a real estate mortgage debt
averaging SI65 per capita Of the total
population, and that similar conditions
and tendencies are shown to exist in
the other apriCultuarl eynOrtino Statec