Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1893-09-15
LET TARIFF ALONE.
THERE IS NO OCCASION FOR
ITS REVISION.
No Valid Grounds Upon which the Demo-
Gratis Can Attack Protective Duties-How
the Tide VIII He Turned In 'ee-Grover's
Retreat.
N u Tarin.

Chairman Wilson of the Ways and
Means Committee, protesting in the
name OF the w-ags-earners of America
against the overthrow of protection by
the Democratic majority in Congress.
This document is signed by B. F. Jones,
president, and James NJ. Swank, gem
eral manager. Its written with great
clearness and force; and its statement
of the case for protection is unanswer-
able. Mr.. C%leveland's famous free
trade message of Dec. 6, 1887, urged
a general lowering of duties on two
grounds. The first reason assigned
was the existence Of u large surplus in
the Treasury, which nude a reduction
in the revenues impei ative. Tho Sec
ond vas the assertion, probably made
in ignorance and certainly made in de-
1iancs of the facts, that protective
tariff laws increase the prices of arti-
cles to consumers by an amount equal
to the duty imposed. Still another
reason for tariff reform" was given by
Mr.. Cleveland in his inaugural on
March !, 1893, when he declared that
protection for protectien's sake" is
"paternalism" which STILES the spirit
of true Americanism and stupeties
every ennobling trait of American cit
izenship."
Not one of these grounds is valid.
Not one of these assertions can bear
the light of investigation. Not one can
be advanced to-day us q cas- for de-
stroying tho system of protection that
has given this nation the most splcn-
did prosperity that is recorded in
human history. The surplus which
MIR. Cleveland in 1887 declared to be
the prime cause for tariff reduction
does not exist. The Mckinley law, IAN
act to reduce the revenues and equalize
duties on IMPORTS" increased the free
list till 90 per cent. of III imports now
come in without q cent of duty. 1t re-
duced the customs revenues from
$226, $40, O37 in 1880 to Sl74,12l,27O in
1892. To-day the Treasury Of the
United States, instead of being bur-
dened by a surplus, is confronted by u
deficit. What egregious folly, what q
crime against patriotism, against
craftsmanship, against the principles
of sound government, to propose a
sweeping reduction of duties in the
face of this condition!
Nh. Cleveland's declaration that the
tariff is q tax which Expresses the peo-
pie and increases prices to the con-
sumer is disproved by all the facts.
It is condemned as false by every price
list current for a dozen years. 1t is
condemned by the authoritative and x-
haustive report of the United States
Senate Committee on Wages and
Prices. 1t is condemned by u delib-
free trader, Edward Atkinson, whose
that of Nh. Cleveland as an encyclo-
pedia compares with u primer. Mr..
Cleveland's final argument that pro-
lection to American industry is uncon-
untenabie. The preamble to the
constitution expressly states that
one of the objects OF tho govern
ment of the United States is to
promote the common welfare" The
first protective tariff, signed by George
Washington and supported by Alexan-
der Hamilton and the most eminent of
the Revolutionary patriots, contained
the declaration that it was enacted "for
the encouragement and protection of
manufactures" Can the human intel
lect imagine anything more absurd
than the theory that the first President
of the United States and the trainers
of the Constitution who sat in the First
Congress were guilty of an oifcnse
against the Constitution in one of the
earliest important statutes they passed?
Were the statesmen and patriots who
had imperiled their homes. their lives.
and all that they possessed in heroic
resistance to the oppression of u for
eign king likely to enact u measure
founded on a principle that "%stupefies
every enrolling trait of American citi-
zenship?"
The interests of the American people
demand that the false and foolish tariff
plank of the Chicago platform shall be
re%pudiated and that the protective tariff
shall be let alone. Every spindle that
is idle, every mine that is vacant, every
side that is cherries because of the
threat of free trade, is q protest, mute
but mighty, against the ~senseless, the
unpatriotic, the criminal policy that
would cripple American Industries,
pauperize American toilers and beg
a American homes. Democratic
Legislators are bound by higher obi
cations than the %vaporings of dema-
gogue5 embodied in convention plat
forms. Their duty is to the people,
their masters, whose welfarerthey are
bound by their oath of Office to main
tain. Every Congressman who delib-
erately votes to destroy protection vio-
lates his obligation to the nation,
votes to degrade America and aggran-
die Europe, and acts the part of an
enemy to his country's institutions
and prosperity.
Retreat of the Administration.
The pretense is advanced that the
Cleveland administration has merely
modified" its outrageous order arbf-
trarily susgending scores OF. thousands
of Unionpensioners and requiring them
to reproduce testimony proving their
right to draw pensions within sixty
days or be dropped from the rolls.
This pretense is particularly thin and
silly sham. The administration has
not modified" it's position toward the
gray-haired men whose valor upheld
this Republic; it has been ighomini-
ously driven from the stand it has
taken. For the present, at least, the
rout of the soldier-haters is complete.
Public indignation has forced them to
retreat. Not ven Bourbonism is rash
enough to invite certain disaster by
defying public opinion OR face assured