The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-07-14
The Tariff and the Financial Crisis.

Independent in ats uieavs on all local questions.
The Tariff and the Financial Crisis.
The Republican newspapers down
to two weeks ago denounced Mr.
Cleveland in the severest terms for
not calling a special session of Con-
gress to repeal the Sherman law.
They considered the dishonest silver
dollar the one only cause of the pres
emit financial crisis. and they thought
it was absolutely criminal in the
President to delay dealing with it.
AT n time they accused him of
cowardice; ne was afraid of the silver
men. Again, they accused him of
deliberately prolonging the monetary
stringency for political effect; he
wanted, they said, to make the people
feel the evil of the fiat dollar and
then throw the blame on John Sher-
man and the Republican party. There
were various other accusations against
Mr.. Cleveland; he was a%pathetic, he
was obstinate, he distrusted his own
party; but they all led to one con
clusion: Mr.. Cleveland was wicked in
not summoning Congress and having
the Silver act repealed, for by doing
SO he could at once stop the distress
from which the business world is
suffering at this time.
In the fullness of time, Mr.. Cleve-
land called the extraordinary session
of Congress. It will begin early in
September, and doubtless its first act
will be the repeal of the Sherman
law.
1t is not a little unsatisfactory now
to be told by Republican news papers
and statesmen that the silver .ques-
ton is not the vital one at all. The
tariff is the thing. and even the re-
peal of the Sherman act will not re-
store confidence unless Congress will
give a pledge to the country not to
interfere with the present tariff or re-
duce duties on any imported articles
for the next three years" This form
of expression we quote from the
Philadelphia Press.
1t is evident what ever Mr.. Cleve-
land does, he cannot please a Repub-
lican extremist. But it does not seem
to us that the Republican extremist
himself can be a very pleasing person,
just now, to the mar of ordinary COM
mon sense. Just what is meant by
Congress giving a pledge not to alter
the tariff. we do not know and proba-
bly, the Press did not know either.
1t is a fine sounding piece of
nonsense. But, if possible, the
proposition is a shade more
nonsensical that a Congress which is
elected for two years should pledge
itself to preserve the tariff intact for
three. The average man will be like
ly to smile a little at the idea; but the
fear of being absurd does not hamper
a Republican editor, and indeed there
is nothing he can say about the tariff
one-half 30 absurd, one-half so repul-
siye to common sense as the tariff
itself.
If the possibility of speedy modifi-
cation of the tariff is one of the causes
of the present financial situation, why
did not the crisis come sooner? Why
did it not Immediately succeed the
positive ascertainment of the fact that
the Democracy would control both
Houses of Congress? This is a ques-
tion which our Republican brethren
will find it hard to answer reasonably.
But a still harder one is this: If a
prospect of tariff reform is causing
panic in the business community,
why have the business men of the
country been clamoring for a special
session of Congress? Why have they
demanded that it be held at once?
Why have petitions for it poured in
on the President from all sections?
Why has every chamber of commerce
and commercial exchange in the coun-
Try passed resolutions demanding it?
4 Congress is generally expected to.
deal the business of the country a
edeath blow the moment it meets,
why is the whole business community
clamoring for a speedy meeting?
Really the Republican editors would
do well not to insult the common in
telligence of their patrons with such
bosh. The people have grown too
familiar with tariff discussion to be
imposed npon with mere schooiboy
trash. The people passed upon the
tariff question at the last election.
They passed upon it deliberately and
intelligently. They are certainly not
scared at the result of their own de-
cision in these few months. But
there is something despicably crinii-
nal in the effort to set up a new cause
of uneasiness at this time. The
country has suffered much from one
Republican crime, the Sherman law.
The Democracy is now upon the
point of redeeming it from the con-
sequences Of that piece of political
trickery. 1t is certainly shocking that
A.. sD,-rll;oo1 .oroeo rh0ufd fr.y ~