Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-08-09
McKinleyIsm VS.. Cleyelandism.

McKinleylsm vs.. Cleyelandism.
Some of our free trade contempora-
ries are squabbling over the definition
of McKinleyism. The Press will gladly
define McKinleyism, and we hope that
the definition will be accepted.
McKinleyism. as applied to the tariff
legislation formulated by William Nc
Kinley, chairman of the Ways and
means Committee of the Fifty first
Congress, represents the most advanced
tariff bill ever enacted by an Ameri-
can Congress.
That act as it stands ON the statue
books today represents the broadest
statesmanship.
It extended the free list, reducing the
average advalorem rate ON all impor-
ted merchandise to trife over 20 per
cent. e1
1t tgive the masses of the people the
great boon Of free sugar.
Itgave the manufacturers free raw
material wherever this could be done
without destroying an American in
dustry or impoverishing American
labor.
1t reduced duties wherever it was
possible to do so without injury to
American manufactures.
1t fearlessly increased duties wher.
ever by so doing it was possible to
establish cn this side of the Atlantic
an industry employing American labor
and American capital.
I. It strengthened the administration
of the customs laws by substituting
specific for ad valorem duties, thereby
decreasing the possibilities of fraud.
1t adjusted rates of duties to the
needs of business with the one patri-
otic aim of employing the largest
amount Of American capital or the
greatest number of American artisans
for the benefit of the home market.
That, in brief, is McKinleyism.
What were the result?
No sooner was the law enacted than
the current began to run in our direc-
tion-the direction of the United States.
Mills, factories and workshops began
to spring up all over the country.
Many large industries moved their en-
tire plants TO this country. The manu-
facture of tin plate, of various other
metals, of pearl buttons, of lace, of
plush and hundred other commod-
tiles, was established. Wages stiff
fened Additional hands were en-
ployed. New factories were built.
The country was prosperous. The
working class were employed. To say
that McKinleyism increased the cost OF
anything can not for an instant be
sustained, for even such a rabid free
trade organ as the New York Evening
Post, in an article elsewhere repro
duced, admits that never in the histor,
of the country has the American work
man been able to purchase 80 much
for given sum Of money as during
this period.
Had McKinleyism been allowed tt
stand this prosperity would have con
tinued. The present depression ant
industrial ruin would have been aver
ted. In place of McKinleyism, with it
prosperity, its high wages and abund
ant work, the nation is now threatened
with the blight of Clevelandism. Th,
very hearts core of the country-it
industries-are to be destroyed. Tn
wages of labor, 80 free trade organ
c0ldly announce, must be reduced
They are too high, they proclaim. l
the passage of these free trade law
means ruin, why ruin it must be
Clevelandism means broken financia
institutions, shrinkage of values, re
duced wages, men and women out o
employment, ruined manufacturers
closed workshops.
1t won't take long, If matters cor
tinue as they are just now, for tn
wage earners of the United States t
obtain a very clear and very emphati
definition Of the difference betwee
: McKinleyism and Clevelandism-Ne'
York Press.