The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1893-10-25


the Kauawha Gazette that we chase
our assertion that the Gazette advo-
Gates a high tariff, from thefaet thai
in its Issue of the 18th inst, it came
out boldly in defense of Gov. Mac.
corkle's position on the tariff, and
at the same time it advocated the
retention of the IS cents ton OF
coal, which is about three cents q
bushel added to the cost of the poor
mans coal. The Democratic plat
form, adopted at Chicago, declared
in favor of a tariff for revenue sufh
Gent to run this government eco
nomically administered; and further
it declared that the necessaries
should be made free.
Upon this question the Gazette
joins issue with its party platform.
In the late Presidential campaign
the Gazette was one of the loudest
papers in the State in declaring that
the Republican Mckinley tariff was
a robber tariff, and that the people
were being robbed by it to enrich
coal barons, manufacturers, trusts,
combines and syndicates.
If the Gazette was sincere and
honest in what it proclaimed daily
during the campaign. it is dishonest
now in preaching protection.
1t is not Democratic.
1t is not what the party won its
great victory upon.
Tariff for revenue was the fight,
and the Democratic party won the
battle.
Tariff is the great question which
divides the Republican and Demo
cratic parties.
To be honest with the people the
Democratic party must carry out
It's pledges to them, and that it will
do, notwithstanding the Gazette has
set itself mp in opposition to tariff
for revenue, and if it desires to
preach its protective tariff views it
should join the ranks of the McKin-
leyites.
We are one of those Democrats
who believe that the proper place
to talk protection is in the Repub-
liran party. Democrats should not
tolerate such conduct in its ranks,
either from individuals or from
newspapers
We believe in the enemies of the
Democratic party being on the out
side.
tits disgusting to hear individuals
and newspapers parading their De-
mocracy, and at the same time ad-
vocating Republican doctrine.
The Gazette claims that it is stand
ing squarely upon the National
Democratic Platform. Below we
quote the tariff plank of the plat
form, and we would be pleased to
know how it reconciIes its present
position of "protection" with it,
which reads as follows:
"We denounee the Republican
policy of protection as a fraud on
the labor of the great majority of
the American people for the benefit
of the few. We declare it to be a
fundamental principle of the Demo
cratic party that the Federal Gov
ernment has no constitutional pow
er to impose and collect tariff duties
except for the purpose of revenue
only, and we demand that the col
lection of such taxes shall be limited
TO the necessities of the Government
when honestly and economically
administered.
awe denonnce the Mckinley Tar
If Law enacted by the Fifty-6rst
Congress as the eliminating atroci-
ty of class legislation; we endorse
the efforts made by the Democrats
of the present Congress to modify
its most oppressive features in the
direction of free raw materials and
cheaper manufactured goods that
enter into general consumption; and
we promise its repeal as one of the
beneicent results that will follow
the action of the people in intrust-
ing power to the Democratic party.
Since the Mckinley tariff went in
to operation there have been ten
reductions of the wages of laboring
men to one increase. We deny that
there has been shy increase of pros.
perity to the country since that
tariff went into operation, and we
point to the dizziness and distress
the wage reductions and strikes in
the iron trade as the best possible
evidence that no such prosperity
has resulted from the Mckinley
Act. We call the attention Of
thoughtful Americans to the fact
that, after thirty years of restrictive
taxes against the Importation Of
foreign wealth in exchange for our
agricultural surplus, the homes and
farms of the country have become
burdened with a real-estate mort
gage debt of over two thousand
five hundred million dollars, exclu.
sive of all other forms of indebted.
ness: that in one of the chief agri.