The Coconino weekly sun., 1893-10-26
A CONSTITUTIONAL" TARIFF.
The Deceptive Representations of the
 Democratic Platform.

The Deceptive Representations of the
 Democratic Platform.
 Tariff making for the democratic congress would be a simple matter if it were to follow rigidly the pledges of Ihe national platform. The argument Is presented with great persistency by the New York Sun, which notifies the democratic party, day after day, that there can be only one constitu- tional tariff, according to it's. solemn declaration which the people have rati- fed. That is a tariff for revenue only, so framed as entirely to eliminate favor to any especial interest The platform is cited as follows: V
 We denOunce republican protection as O fraud, robbery of the great majority of the American people for tho benefit of the few, We declare 1t to be fundamental principle of the Democratic party that the federal govern mcGH has no constitutional power to impose and collect tGriu duties except fo he purpose Of revenue only We denoun-s the McKin. ley :ariG law, enacted by the Fiftyfirst con greSs, as tho eliminating atrocity of class leg. islatiop. And we promise its repeal as one Of the benclcCnt results that will follow the uction of the people in intrustiug power to the lomoCrauc party"
 This declaration and this solemn promise, it is urged, utterly forbid any discrimination in favor of anybody, either by imposing greater duties on competing products imported or by granting cheaper raw materials through removal of duties, because the latter kind of favoritism would only compel the imposition of higher duties on other articles, not raw materials. The party has but one honest course, it jS reiterated to find out what rate of duties on imports will yield the re- quired revenue, and then to impose that rate on all imported articles alike. That and no other would be "consti- tutional' tariff The attempt to make any other is not only 'unconstitu- tiOnal," but a direct violation of a sol semn pledge.
 It is necessary to admit that this req soning has great force. If it is to be supposed that the democratic party was at all honest in its declarations in its platform, it is difficult to see how any other kind of tariff than the one thus described can be imposed. Yet every one knows that no such tariff was ever intended, even by those who voted for the majority resolution in the demo- cratic national convention. If it had been understood that this was the kind of tariff required by the resolution adopted, probably it would have re- ceivcd but an insignificant fraction of the vote. The unavoidable conclusion is that the platform was intended to deceive. Those who voted for it did not mean to do what the words for which they voted distinctly promised, nor did they, in fact, believe what they explicitly declared, that any other kind of tariff than the one so described would be unconstitutional Mir Neal, of Ohio, who is just now running fer governor, was the special champion of this declaration, and in his great fight for it's adoption he spoke more frankly and boldly and went much further than any other speaker; and yet even MT Neal took care not to make it known that the language he proposed would exclude as unconstitutional the favoritism of admitting materials free for some industries, as well as the favor itism of imposing protective duties for others, It is for him to explain whether he did not know the meaning of the words he used, or intended to deceive the voters.
 The other wing of democrats is at sore disadvantage when the platform and pledges of the party are consid- cred. Crooked explanations and shifty devices of cunning interpretation can be found, of course, to reconcile pro- posed action with past pledges, but the exhibition is nevertheless pitiable one. Thus it is said that tariff for revenue only applies to such articles only as it may be thought expedient to subject to taxation. and that it is no violation of the declarations of the platform to favor some industries by giving them raw materials free, at the expense of higher duties on other ma terials and on products of industries. Or, again, it is said that the rate which will yield the largest revenue is not the same for different articles, and that low duties may yield the best return in some cases and high duties in others. But if it is intended, in any case, by Id" lTCC, UT ny du- justing duties on imported articles, to enable the home manufacturer to com pete more successfully, and so to shut out larger share of foreign imports, the intention there is to prevent reve- nue and not to raiserreyenue The can did mind can find only fiat hostility to the solemn declaration and the pledges of the platform, in any attempt to fix duties so that home industries may live, because by doing so the imports of competing foreign products must be diminished, and the raising of revenue correspondingly prevented.
 What the democrats ought to do is to admit that their declaration and pledge were such as ought not to be carried