The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-01-29

scatter the tariff in the air as the promi-
nent issue, and with his popular reel
procity attachment added to it, he would
become the most exalted, absorbing and
overshadowing figure. Ii he reasoned
that way, he knew what he was about,
for he set aside for the time all other as
pirants and leaders in the Republican
camp ALDRIcH, MCKINLEY, Speaker
REED, Senator FRYE, Senator ALLISON,
Senator SHERMAN and even President
HARRISON himself. BLAINE at once be-
came the champion of reciprocity, or
limited free trade.
BLAINE had been protectionist all his
life, and he was still protectionist. He
had from the beginning supported the
high tariff policy that gave to the manu-
featuring states the ownership of one
half the wealth of the whole Union, and
he never relaxed that policy. He had
never word to say in favor of re-
ducing duties on the necessaries
of life duties which are so advantage
Gus to the favored manufacturers and
SO oppressive to customers. In the adj
vocacy OF reciprocal free trade with the
Central and South American countries,
Mexico and the West Indies he was faith
full to the northeast and unfair to the
West and South. The free interchange
he desired was with the agricultural
countries, some of which sell the same
sort of products that our own farmers are
engaged in raising corn, wheat, -four,
hides, wool, cattle and meats.
Mr.. BLAINE was careful to define re-
ciprocity as free trade with some nations,
but not with all. 1--WE may" ne said,
'senter into reel brocity with one nation,
betause we find advantage in it. We
may decline to enter into reciprocity with
another nation because we see no advan-
tage in it.'' And he explained
further that the advantages of the
policy were to be sought for
in free trade with nations whose products
are different from ours. Canada, there
fore, was not to be let into the reciprocity
circle, though originally that was part of
BLAINE's design, for its products are all
similar to ours, and to admit them free
of duty would De to impair the prices OF
our products.
f.,o f1f J,n nj
tariff was injected into it at the last mo-
ment, as it were, and then only after
BLAINE had, with passionate feeling, de-
clared the MCKINLEY act would not open
market to another bushel of wheat or
another barrel OF pork. Senator SHERMAN
of Ohio jumped on it with both feet and
held it up to ridicule, but many western
Republicans protested to believe that this
feature might save the whole measure,
and thenceforth attention was called most
assiduously to those parts of the act
which approached free trade most nearly
1t will not do, therefore, for Republican
biographers of Mr.. BLAINE to declare or
insinuate that the only opponents of his
policy were the Democracy. The Re-
publican party measurable aban-
doned the policy of reciprocity, or
rather the defense of that policy, when
the author left Mr.. HARRIsoN's cabinet.
The people at the election in November
last repudiated both bill and rider-high
tariff and limited reciprocal trade. There
is no ''prejudice and malice OF partisan
ship towards Mr.. BLAINE in mentioning
the circumstance that in elevating Mr..
CLEVELAND to the Presidency the people
of the United States repudiated the poll
cies of both the gentlemen whom he de-
feated at the polls.