Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-12-20
The Tariff Scareerow.

AoAiJ 90 NOhStNoO NOnNCnCos Il VI 1CdAi
it has been the custom of congress t.
consume about all its time in talking
string of ridiculous nonsense abou
changing the tariff law and about no
changing 1t, until it has become a ma
tional disease. During period of thlr
ty years the legislative body has beer
discussing the subject, presidents have
been elected on the issue and the people
have been quarreliDg over it; yet during
all that time there has been no materI
al change in the law affecting duties or
imports. Is it not about time for the
country to take rest? Is there nc
balm in Gilead to relieve us from the
affliction?
No sooner has the regular session
convened than the scab is rubbed of
and the wound Drobed to its utmost
depth. A bill is prepared called the
Wilson bill, which provides for differ.
ent schedule with the same result, and
the disease renews its attack on its vic
tim. Our congressman have been paid
$1,000 a year for the past 80 years
simply to talk about and dispute over
something that remains practically the
same with every measure for It's revls-
| ion. How long does it take the Ameri-
can people to learn this self evident fact,
or for the tariff Teformers to learn that
they have the same foe IN both old par
ties? For every national i'll the tariff
laws are held responsible by the 'outs, -
and when the ''outs" get in they form
ulate bill precisely the same in its
outcome so the other side may have
something for which to ascrlbe the ills
to arse. And so it goes.
For all this tariff talk there has been
cause. 1t has not been from the in
terest the parties have taken in the
American people or in the American
manufactures. Nor has there been
any real division on the question; if
there had some change would have oc-
Cured when there was a change of
administration. The object has been
merely to have some bone of contention
over which to feign quarrel and
through the peoples prejudices reap
the spOils OF Office and fat salaries.
Each time congress has convened the
newspapers, which have learned their
part exceedingly well, have begun to
wage war of words about what is to
be done with the tariff. And the re-
suit has always been the same; pie
thora of squealS and froth but no
change effected. 1t is getting almost
time for this great American pantO-
mime show to be summary dispensed
with. The attempt to perpetuate the
farce has been begun in congress this
session with vicious determination to
keep up the ruse while the game of
plumber goes on, and the camel brought
forth turns out 10 be a little Wilson
bill which lowers the tariff II per cent.
What noble effort coming from such
a continued strain. Yet when the tar
IF now is over 80 per cent. ad valOrem
on the average, the democratic press
stOutly aver that reduction of II per
cent. will give employment to 5000, 900
idle men and restore prosperity, while
the republicans as vehemently assert
that it will ruin the country. The utter
Righteousness of such a performance
should present itself to every thinking
mind.
Again some papers have had quite a
dinicult time in explaining why the two
parties should separate after going
square together on the repeal bill, and
indeed 1t has brought out considerable
eXertion to unlock their embrace. The
difficult nature of the case has sum-
moned all the energies of political doc
tors, and as yet they have only partial.
! ly succeeded in dlsentwining the inter
woven tentacles. The best that could
be done was to get them II per cent.
apart just long enough to pass new
tariff bill as long as the moral law and
as utterly useless as an oil painting on
trip hammer.
A little reflection will disclose the
fact to any man that the tariff talk is
and has been all wind. For the past
| four years, even under the Mckinley
| law, the highest tariff law ever enact
ed in this country, the revenue so OBJ
tanned has been inadequate to meet the
enormous expenses of the government.
This year the treasury balance has
reached point lower than ever before,
because of the drain upon it resulting
from lack of revenue. In the face of
this we hear great palaver about low
ering the tariff and tariff for revenue
only. Unless some other means for
raising revenue is DEVISED we should
like to know how the tariff duties can
be reduced. VIII some political sage
who advocates tariff reform" please
| tell usp
The democratic party realized the
force of this fact when they came into
power. They had promised tariff re-
form" IN sweeping measures, which
was to relieve the labOring men from
paying from 40 to &C. per cent. tariff on
every article he buys for the purpose of
protecting millionaire infant indus.
tries. They We're IN a bad position,
with promises Of reducing revenue on
one hand and an empty treasury on the
other. To wriggle out of the dilemma
they concluded to formulate a bill
which would change the wording of the
tariff law without changing the tariff
And they only lacked II per cent. OF
succeeding. Yet the new bill has been
harped on by the press until one unso-
phistlcated would suppose that Some
radical and sweeping change had ~oeer
made. And the tariff ghost dance goes
on to hypnotic the people.
The only statesmanlike proposition
that has been advanced as a solution II