Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-01-17
Give the Consumers a Chance.

The Mckinley tariff was gross
breach of faith with the American PEG
pie. The report accompanying the
Wilson bill pertinently reminds Con-
gress and the country that when the
high tariff rates imposed in 1862 were
originally fixed it was done on the dis
tinct pledge that they were to be lower
ed Just as soon as the special internal
taxes levied on manufacturers to raise
war revenues could be abolished.
1t was loudly and repeatedly claimed
in 1862 by the republican leaders that
the higher tariff rates of the act passed
that year were only temporarily put
on, and that they were so laid as sim
ply to compensate our manufacturers
for the heavy special taxes levied on
their products and profits for war pur
poses. Thaddeus Stevens, the great
Pennsylvania protectionist, was then
chairman of the committee on ways
and means, and he pledged himself and
his party on the floor of the House in
1862 that the added duties on imported
goods were only put on to offset, for
the time being, the heavy direct inter
nal taxes imposed on all our manufac
turers in order to get money to carry
on the war.
Mr.. Morrill, gave the same pledge,
and so did every responsible republican
leader of that time. No party W as ever
pledged more solemnly to anything
than was the republican party to re-
duce the tariff rates as soon as the
heavy direct taxation of the war period
was repeated.
We will quote, to prove this, Mr.. AL
lison, who was once promising candi-
date for the presidential nomination of
the republican party. In speech de-
livered in Congress in March, 1870, Mr..
Allison said: ut is admitted by all that
the increase of the tariff was COM
menced and carried on upon the basis
of the protective duties of the Morrill,
tariff of 1861; the increase of direct
taxation, added to the price of domestic
manufacturers, rendered an increased
tariff necessary in order to prevent our
country being flooded with cheaper
foreign productions. Certainly then,
upon the decrease of internal taxation
the tariff may be and ought to be de
creased in proportion, the danger being
no longer in existence which was
sought to be averted by these increased
duties
Mr.. Allison went on to say that al
least reduction of 20 per cent. ought
to be made on the duties then Q870
levied, and he added: "Even this will
not be full equivalent for the removal
of all internal taxes upon manufac
tures.p Twenty-three years have pass
ed since Mr.. Allison, now a Senator
from Iowa and expected to vote against
the Wilson bill, made that declaration
But the tariff rates are higher today
than they were then. All the specia
war taxes on manufactures are gone
None of the increased import duties
first levied to compensate the manufac
turers for those special war taxes, are
gone. Most of them, in fact, have beer
still further increased. The republican
party lifted the burden from the backs
of the manufacturers long ago. But il
left the whole load on the backs of the
consumers.
That is the republican policy in {
nutshell-take care of the protected
rings, the privileged monopolies, ths
powerful trusts and combines of al
kinds, and let the people look out TO
themselves. 1t ought never to be for
gotten that the present high tariff rate
were put on expressly to make good t.
the manufacturers their extra wa
taxes. What were those extra wa
taxes Why, they were the direct take
levied during the war, under the hea(
vi lAIClual ldACSs VII ONCIy variety "
our domestic raw and manufactures
products-on coal, cotton and crud,
petroleum, on boots and shoes, Oh
cloths of all kind and on other fabrics
on manufacturers of iron and steel
and, in fact, on about everything turn
ed out in an American factory, mill o
workshop. The amount of interna
taxation collected on manufactures ant
products in the year 1866 was 1927, $50,
500. That was the war load on manu-
facturers, to help them bear which tn,
tariff rates were advanced in 1862 ant
again in 1864. That load was all liftet
by the repeal of the internal taxes
twenty-five years ago. The extra Loaf
of tariff taxes has never been lifted
from the backs of the people, who ar,
still paying them, and more, too.
President Cleveland and the demo
cratic party propose now to lift par
of it. The republican party promised
when the load was first put on, that il
should be taken off. 1t has broker
faith with the people and now rails OF
the democratic President and cries our
Free trade" simply because the Presi
dent and the democratic party are
moving in earnest to redeem the solemn
pledges given by the republican party
to the people long, long ago. The ex
ira war taxes levied on capital have
gone. The extra war taxes levied on
labor ought to go, too.-BG1t. San.