Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-01-04
REPUBLICANS WILL oBsTRucT.

REPUBLICANS WILL OBSTRUCT.
Protection Forces Preparing to D0lay tho
Passage OF the Wilson Bill.
The democratic authors of the tariff
bill have shown their considerate re-
gard for the business interests OF the
country by postponing the date when
it will go into operation from March
to June 1. It was pointed out to the
ways and means committee by q dele
CATION of New York merchants that
should the bill go into effect on March
l the spring trade would be ruined, or
at least seriously impaired. The delay
in the passage of the silver repeal act
ruined the fall trade of the country,
and the committee saw at once the inn
prudence and needless hardship Of APP
plying the provisions of the Wilson bill
at season which would involve dam
ger to the trade of the spring months
In consentiag to a postponement from
March to June ], the committee pos
sibly made a sacrifice of the interests
of the democratic party. 1t has been
argued. and with good reason, that
effect at the earliest possible date
in order that the country may have
had a satisfactory and comforting ex-
perience of its provisions for some
months before the next congressional
elections. From a party point of
view this is undoubtedly good politics,
but politics do not dominate the COM
mittee. Chairman Wilson and his asso-
ciates feel that they have received their
mandate in two congressional elections,
in which an overwhelming majority OF
the people pronounced for reform of the
tariff. They have gone about their
work without raising any question as
to the persistency of the popular senti-
timent which made itself so powerfully
felt in the elections of 1890 and 1892.
Some timid democrats, misunderstand-
ing or not understanding at all the
meaning of the democratic reverses in
certain states last month, would tenn
per and trim the tariff bill to proper
tions Of colorless and inoffensive futility
in order to avert disasters which their
trembling souls apprehend may come
upon the party in the next congress
sional elections The ways and means
committee has, however, been devoid
of fear. 1t has no doubt that the peo-
pie of the country desire the enactment
of a tariff bill which shall reduce, and
reduce radically, the burdens Of the
customs impost. They have prepared
such bill, and are willing to risk their
own political fortunes and the fate of
their party upon its acceptability to
the people.
The repu blicans in congress, and the
partisan protected manufacturers out
of congress, have evidently determined
upon policy of action. They send up
the same loud cries that have been
heard from them in the last three presi-
Dental elections and in all recent con-
gressional years. They have resorted
to all the tlme-worn practices of their
kind. They close their mills, or threaten
to; they reduce wages discharge demo-
cratic employees, and I'LL the columns Of
protectionist newspapers with their
confident predictions of universal ruin
should the Wilson bill be enacted. Such
protectionist clap-trap failed to affect
the voters of the United States in 1890
and 1892. We imagine that this burnt
powder would not be gathered up for
present use were it not for the hope
cherished by those who use it that on
account of the losses and sufferings due
to the panic its detonations will now
be even mere alarming and effective
than when it was first let off. 1t is
natural in pursuing these tactics that
the repu blicans should desire, if posi-
BILE, to put the democrats in hole
by fighting off the enactment of the
Wilson bill until late summer or early
autumn, hoping that if its application
does not long precede the congressional
elections of next November the people
will rise against it and its authors, as
they did in 1890, one month after the
passage of the Mckinley act.
It will be within the power of the
democrats by wise leadership and union
and courage to defeat the obstructive
1t is their duty to use all possible dill
gence to secure the speedy enactment
of the bill. The adoption of some
form Of closure in the senate will prob
ably be necessary to put a stop to re-
publican delays. But the democrats
should shrink from no means necessa-
ry to achieve their purpose. Speaker
Reed was an au:ocrat and tyrant in
his management of the house no doubt,
but in some conditions autocracy and
tyranny are useful and admirable
qualities A little more arrogance than
the democratic leaders have usually
been accustomed to exhibit, little
more of firmness and determination,
and, above all, of unity, than have al
ways been theirs in times of party con-
fict are eminently desirable in the
coming struggle.
To prolong the commercial uncer-
tainty is to prolong conditions in which
the merchants and manufacturers and
agencies of transportation are not max.
ing money. Outside of the busy parti-
san protectionists the desire for
prompt settlement of the tariff is uni
versaL The people want the democrats
in congress to get this bill through and
Y. Times.
in the formulation of any meas
ure affecting the tariff of this country
congress is always confronted by the
fact that a uniform rate must be un-