Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-10-21
ISSUES OF THE DAY.
CANDIDATE srevENsos's ADDRESS At
BLooMIEGTON, ILL.-THBc WAR
TARIFF AND TIE FoRcE u1{aa.

]
Mr.. Stcvenson's speech, which was re-
ceived with tremendous enthusiasm, in
substance was as follows:
"The responsibility of determining
what line of public policy shall be pur-
sued, and vino shall be selected as Chief
Magistrate, IL again upon us. Upon
tire correct determination of these ques-
tions through the peaceful methods pre-.
scribcd by law, will depend the welfare
Of the people.
at will be my endeavor to suggest
some of the reasons why Mr.. Cleveland
should be elected President and the
Democratic Party restored to power.
The four years administration of Prcsi-
dent Cleveland was confessedly an
honest administration. Those who pre-.
dicted evil from Mr.. Cleveland's election
proved false prophets. Tho Democratic
administration ending March A, 1859,
has gone into history as an economical
and able administration OF the Govern.
ment. No scandals attached to any of
| its appointments to Office.
Vat the close OF President Clcvcland's
Administration the surplus III the Treas
ury, exclusive Of the gold reserve, was,
in round numbers, cighty-thrce MILLIONS
of dollars.
"What is the condition that now con-
fronts lis at tho @nd of three and half
years OF Republican administration On
the basis Of revenues TO the Government,
rs estimated by the Secretary Of the
Treasury, for the present fiscal year, and
of the liabilities OF the Government on
account of the annual and permanent
! appropriations for the same period, there
will be u deficit Of lifty-two millions OF
dollars. The bankruptcy which now
threatens the Treasury is the result, first.
Of the enactment Of the Mckinley Tariff
law, and, secondly, OF the lavish appro.
priations of the Fifty-iirst Congress.
THE TARIFF.
"The tariff is the all important issue
Of the campaign. The position of the
two leading political parties upon that
question cannot be misund erstood. The
Republican Party, us illustrated by its
recent enactment of the ckinley law,
stands for high protective-in other
words. prohibitory tariff. The Dem
ocratic Party, rs emphasized by its ut
teranccs and its acts, Is the advocate OF
tariff reform.
"The argument advanced by the early
advocates of protective system was the
necessity of protecting our "infant in-
dustries." Yet Mr.. Clay, the euthor OF
the famous tariff bill with which his
name is inscparably associated, declared
such protection to be only temporary,
and that SO soon as such industries were
able to stand alone, tariff duties should
be reduced. The compromise tariff law
of 1888, of which Mr.. Clay was the
author, provided that at the end OF ten
years there should begin rapid rcduc-
ton of duties, until the average rate
should not exceed twenty per cent. In
view of the fact that protection to the
"infant industries" has more than
treblcd since the passage of tho bill of
which Mr.. Clay was the author, Clay
would himself, if living, be now de-
nounced rs free trader by the protec-
tionists.
"'The average tariff tax at the begin.
ming OF the Civil War in 1861 was but
nineteen per cent. To purchase NUM-
tions of war, to arm and equip soldiers
and meet all of the expenses incident to
the great struggle, required large sums
of money. Tariff taxes were largely in-
creased. Our Government was in the
throes of war, struggling for its exist
ence, and but little heed was given by
the people to the fact that duties under
the new tariff Inv were not only highly
protective to manufacturers but burden
some to the people. But this was not
all. By subsequent increase by success
sive Republican Congresses the average
rate of duties reached four-seventh per
cent. This was the average rate of tariff
taxes when the Mckinley hill became the
law.
"In the early days of the war n now
system OF taxation was devised by Con.
gress known as tho Internal Revenue
system, by which enor nous SUNG flowed
into the Treasury. With the war closed.
Republican Congress relieved the
manufacturers from this taxation, and
added to their profits and to the burdens
of the people by increased duties.
grant the necessity of repeating these in
ternal war taxes when the evidences of
war no longer demanded their con.
tinuancc. But why did not the Repub-
lican Congress repeal the war taxes
tariff taxes-which bore so heavily upon
the farmer, upon the mechanic, upon the
laborer, upon the great mass of our
people7 Why was not the war tax ne.
duced upon the necessaries of life2
"Why remove from the manufacturer
the tax of less than five per cent and
lcnve him the power to tax the consumer
forty-seven, sixty, eighty per cent. upon
hats, upon shoes, upon blankets, upon
clothing?
"But this is not all. The protected
classes growing year by year stronger
and more powerful with the protection
afforded them, demanded of the Fifty
first Congress yet higher duties. In
1890 their demand was in substance for
prohibitory tariff. The resuonse to
shis demand was the passage by Re.
publican Congress of the Mckinley bill.
The avowed object of this bill was to
check importation. It's purpose so to
increase the rate of duties, as in MANY
instances to exclude absolutely foreign