The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-09-10

Is any farmer fooled by the pre-
tense that the Mckinley tariff pro-
tects farmers? 1t pretended to do SO
by raising the duty on wheat, which
was 20 per cent, to % per cent; on
corn, which was ten cents bushel,
to fifteen cents bushel. The pro-
duct of wheat in the United States
in 1891 was 450, 100000 bushels, and
the amount imported was S,2l6 bu-
shells, while the amount exported
was more than 100, 100000 bushels.
Does any one suppose that we should
have sent out so much and brought
in so little if foreign wheat had been
cheaper than our own? The tariff
on wheat might be put up to 500 per
cent. without any other effect than
to increase the cost OF what little
wheat Of a kind not raised at home
we import from abroad. What is
true of wheat is true of everything
that the farmer raises. The truth
is that the farmer cannot be protec-
ted SO long as he does not wish to
raise hot house bananas and other
such things which he has no desire
to attempt. Meanwhile Republican
protection increases the cost of fifty
things which the farmer must have.
The Democratic Platform.
The temper and the courage of the
party are nightly different in 1892
from what they were in 1884; what
was necessary prudence then would
be cowardice now. The convention
responded fully and heartily to the
feeling Of the party it represented.
1t meant that there should be moth
ing ambiguous about the party's at
titude to that cause, and that the
statement of its fundamental princi-
pies should not be OVERLAND with
cumulative limitations. And in all
this the convention was right After
the Mills Bill and the special bills
passed by the present House, it is
superfuous to assure the people that
the Democratic party will proceed
carefully and conservatively in re-
ducing the tariff. In view of the i'm
mense increase in our annual expend-
itures, and the steady swelling of
our pension list, it is equally unnec-
essary to repeat that taxes collected
at the custom house must remain the
chief source of our revenue. Ease
and simplicity OF collection will al
always give preference to indirect
taxes collected through a tariff of
duties on imported articles. The
power of the government to tax an
article for revenue is seized by the
private interest to tax a competitor
out of the market, or to handicap
him in his efforts TO compete in the
market. A system of direct taxa
ton would effectually check such ex-
travagance as led to the Billion Dol
lar Congress, and would prevent that
partnership between the government
and great private interests that is
rife with political scandals and with
unjust burdens to the people. But
such system was doubtless imprac-
ticable in the beginning and seems
scarcely less so now We are called
upon as the urgent duty Of the hour
and of all time, to guard against the
perversion of our tariff system that
has ripened into the Mckinley bill.
From the wrongs that now Cypress
us under that bill, we must work
back as rapidly as we can to a sys-
tenn where duties will be levied for
purposes of revenue only, and, hav-
ing reached that reform, we shall in
due time so amend our tariff system
as to purge it more and more of pri-
vate extortien and of inequality of
burden. Nor can the Democratic
party any longer derive strength
from pandering to the delusion that
protective duties can in any way d.
rectly benefit labor. The intelligent
laboring man, whose vote is his own,
knows better perhaps than any other
man, for he knows by experience,
that protective tariff is a question
of the enhancement of the profits of
capital" not of the increase of the
wages of labor which would reduce
those profits. "-WM. L. WILSON in
North american Review.