Omaha daily bee., 1893-12-04
A Wide Diversity Of Opinion on Democ-
racy's Fiscal Policy.
The TREND OF eDkoRlAL CRITICISM
Forty Views Lar sciy Coiorcd by Party Anti
tions-Disco INT Notes I'm the
Ranks OF Both Supporters
and Opponents.



some democratic members of congress who
are not ready to commit political suicide by
signing the death warrant of the country's
prosperity.
Philadelphia North Americana: Mr.. Will
son of West Virginia has gwen another blow
to prosperity under the belt, and has only
this TO comfort him-that he has remanded
Morrison, Mills and Springer as tariff thinkers
to profound oblivion.
New York Recorder: The bill is q medi-
tated crime against labor. IL 1t shall pass,
wages must come down to the European
standard. That is as certain as that congress
will meet next Monday. And what will be
the compensatory benefits to laoor' None
whatever that any sane man can see.
Minneapolis Tribune: Indeed, the Wilson
bill is built on protective lines so largely
that q dispassionate person would consider
1t decidedly nearer being a republican meas
ure than the revolutionary abolition of pro-
lection demanded in the national democratic
platform.
Kansas City Journal: The tariff bill as
presented by the ways and means committee
will probably be quite another measure by
the time it reaches the president. The
southern senators and congressman are not
going to see the industries of their states
slaughtered without i%nterposlng vigorous re-
sistance.
St. Paul Pioneer Press: The interests as
sailed by the bill are so extensive and so
varied that it is b. no means certain that it
Ssth iiiit q VI IL Sii1S VIZ
votes, especially in the senate. The GER
taInty of its defeat would bring great relief
TO the country, and it cannot be long before
its fate will be settled.
Chicago Tribupe: On the other hand this
| bill is q radical one. IL goes farther on the
road toward free trade than the one for
which Senator Mills was the sponsor. 1t is
like that in that it is framed with great
tenderness for southern interests. and great
! disregard for northern ones. The unmis-
| In liza hln troil Of tho cnuthnrp hripadia. Ia
over IL all.
Denver Republican,: Altogether, it may
be said to be we'll. viewed from the republi-
can standpoint, that the democrats have
committed themselves to so extreme a meas
ure. They will be on the defensive in the
next congressional election, and they will
find it very hard to convince the American
people that the policy of protection should be
reversed to 80 great an extent.
New York Tribune: In short, nearly all
classes must share the blessings of this
democratic change, farmers and miners,
woolgrowers and weavers, cotton spinners,
furnace men and lumber men. 1t is not an
American bill, but is distinctively for the
benefit of other countries and their indus
tries. 1t is hauling down the American flag
in this country as we'll as in Hawaii.
Boston Advertiser; The new tariff bill
prepared by the democratic majority of the
Ways and means committee is partly good
and partly bad, a mixture of wisdom and
Il olt IL ID III ~ IN Ghu ooAlol us Z
was at one time reason to fear that it would
be. For that measure of relief let the couu-
try be duly thankful. The bill bears many
infallible marks of having been modified
under the influence of the recent elections.
philadelphia Press: The Wilson tariff
bill will arouse and alarm the country. 1t is
much more extreme and drastic in it's de-
structive features than has been expected.
1t far outrunS conservative authorizations,
and comes up to the most radical demands
| of tho most nronnunced anemipS of protnp-
ton. No such bold approach to free trade
has ever before taken legislative form in this
country.
Cincinnati Commercial: The mauufac-
turers of Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool,
Nottingham and other great manufacturing
centers in England should cable their con-
gratulations to the democratic committee
men who drafted the tariff for-revenue-only
monstrosity. They might also post their
names for honorary membership of the Cob
den club. 1t is due that they should recognize
the solicitude with which their interests
have been looked after at Washington.
Indianapolis Journal: The Wilson tariff
bill is the most radical stride toward free
trade that has ever received the sanction of
a ways and means committee of an Amerl-
can congress. The Mills bill was conserva-
tive compared with it. and the Walker tariff
of 1876 and the further step toward FREQ
trade in 1857, which brought bankruptcy to
the treasury, are conservative measures
compared with this now before the country.
Milwaukee Wisconsin: Upon business,
hardly less than upon patriotic and economi-
cal grounds, the pending bill is f~agrantly
faulty. 1t substitutes the ad vaiorcm for
the specific system in levying duties. This
is q deliberate turning back of the wheels of
customs administration and is the renewed
adoption of u practice which the govern
menus of the world have for the most part
discarded. The ad valorem system is one
that puts a premium upon fraud.
Philadelphia inquirer: 1t will take time
to get down to all the iniqulties and blum
ders of this bill. The great manufacturing
establishments will have to do an immense
amount of close figuring. Some of them will
close; others will go on. Business must
struggle along some way, and of course
many factories will get upon their feet af-
ter a fashion and will do the best they can.
But where does this bill leave the workman,
the ono above all others who was promised
large wages and plenty of work by the tariff
tInkersl The workman Is out at both ends.
St. Louis Globe Democrat: The one
thing that was needed to max" this bill
odious to the country is provided in the
change from specific duties to the ad valorem
form. Almost every authority on tariffs
who has spoken for the past forty or fifty
years has condemned the ad valorem sys.
TEN, and advocated the imposing of
specific rates whenever practicable, as
they are 10 nine out of every ten cases. Ad
valorem duties put a penalty ON honesty
and a premium ON perjury. The Wilson bill
l Is cOuSiSeut III utIilS ucStTuCblN6 anu NlClOu1
throughout. and the republican party will
fight it with all the resources at its CON
mand.
Independent Republican.
Washington Star: There are many good
points about the Wilson bill. IL is not q
free trade measure, 1t is not a tariff -for-re
~fOrm-only measure. There is much less oil
protection to American industries in it than
in the Mckinley act, but 1t is q protective
measure. 1t corrects some excesses of the
Mckinley act; it Is possibly too radical
itself in the propositions OF certain OF its
schedules, and over these issues the legis'
lative battle will rage.
indianapolis News: On the whole the
bill appears to be an honest effort in the
direction of a tariff for revenue only. There
is plenty of protection in it yet. The exor
bitaut Mckinley duties are reduced, and
they will range from Is and % per cent tc
something like 20 per cent. Perhaps 30 pen
cent is about the average ratio on dutiable
goods. 1t is not free trade, nor anything
like 1t. 1t is not even "a tariff for revenue
only. But it is probably as much as the
tariff reformers had a right to expect.
Philadelphia Ledger: Chairman Wilson
Is one OF the ablest members Of the tpresenI
congress, aud 1t would naturally be thought
that he would be sagacious enough not u
dig a double pit, one in the front. in the
shape Of his tariff revision scheme, ano
} another In the rear. in the form OF an In