Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1894-10-11
sHEpHERDSTOWN w. VA THURSDAY OCTOBER IL, 1894

at the custom-house on raw sugar, and
the refner is protected by six-tenths
of cent on refined sugar, the exact
equivalent of what he is compelled
to pay on his raw sugar. What is
the difference? Fifteen or twenty
millions of dollars collected at the Gus
tom-house by the si2-tenths of a cent
tax and which goes into the United
States treasury. In the Mckinley
scheme it is not collected by the Gus
tom-house but by the sugar refners
and goes into their pockets. From
that one instance we learn all.
"Now, hold, with the Democratic
platform, that that kind of protection
Is fraud. l hold, with the national
Democratic platform, that that use
of the custom-house for the pur-
| pose, not of making collections of the
tax on sugar, but to enable the sugar
refining company to collect the tax
and put it in its own pocket, is per-
version of the taxing power Of the
United States.
"That is my creed of free trade that
you hear so much Of | believe in
custom-house tariff tax. | believe that
it should be levied only for the United
States treasury, and not for private
purposes on any ground whatever.
"Now to give one further illustration.
The men who are my closest and dear
est friends, the men with whom my
business associations have been long
est and most intimate, are men who are
interested in the production Of coal.
Many of them believe that it is essen
tial-to do what? To levy duty
on coal for the purpose Of collecting
tax on coal that comes in? Oh, no !
There is no coal that comes in on the
Atlantic coast-practically none
but it is for the purpose of keeping
out the fellow who wants to send coal
into New England The argument
that is made is that the Almighty in
Nova Scotia has put the coal fields
close to the water and in Maryland
He has put the coal fields 200 miles
or more from the water, and that the
inequalities that the Almighty has
made in the diffusion Of His blessings
must be regulated through the Gus
tom-house.
Il believe that coal and iron, the
raw materials of industry, should be
made free. find, for example, in this
very town Republicans and Democrats
uniting in a common petition that iron
ore should be taken off the dutiable
and put upon the free list
"This illustrates, without going into
detail and wearying you, my general
position on the subject Of the tariff.
The mention of free trade ten years
ago might have scared the children
but the beating of tomtoms and the
calling of me a free-trader, with my
definition of free trade, will not scare
the veriest infant in Democracy today.
"Now what is my position-and
YOU are entitled to know ton the
tariff bill as passed? l maintain that
the bill that has passed, far as 1t Is
Democratic achievement, behind, as 1t
is. the fulfllment of Democratic hopes
and promises, is yet vast advance
on the march toward commercial free
dom. 1t gives free wool to the man
ufacturers of this country and, like
William Lloyd Garrison, | am willing
to fight the battle of free trade VS..
protection around free wool alone. l
venture that not a single Republican
convention outside of one or two little
Western States-not even there, per-
haps-will place this year IN their
platform that they wish wool restored
to the dutiable list. Wool has been
the particular subject about which the
battle of free trade and protection has
been and can be fought. As William
Llovd Garrison has said when speak
ing on this subject, While stands the
Coliseum Rome stands; when falls the
Coliseum Rome falls. So l say that
when the wool tariff went down before
the Democratic hosts then the great
breach was made in the wall Of pro-
lection and the citadel will in time be
taken
A Romance of the War.
l.. Io4-1o