St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-02
A SURPRISE IN THE EAST.

Inc Boston Herald. III LOlle WHICH
carries note Of sincerity and assures
the genuineneSs of its feeling, says that
lone of the most conspicuous features
of the present debate III congress is the
extent to which extreme free trade
doctrines have gained i'll their hold
upon the representatives of the Amer
lean people," and concludes with the
opinion that"this is symptom ominous
CT the future unless the tariff is settled
on reasonable basis by the present
congress-"
No one who has become even partially
familiar with the views of the Demo.
Gratis who live in the states fringing the
North Atlantic, as expressed by the
press Of that region which claims to rep
resent Democratic thought, but has
been impressed with the thoroughness
with which they are saturated with the
idea that tariff is not so much mat
ter OF revenue as it is of protection, and
their contention is solely that the Re.
publican idea calls for too much pro-
lection. Thus we have the New York
Times inveighing against the tariff
plank of the Chicago platform. repudi-
ating it as declaration of Democratic
belief, and asserting that Mr.. Cleveland
kicked the plank out of the platform in
his letter of acceptance. We have the
Boston Herald pleading for free coal
and iron ore because of its local adj
vantage to New England. while patting
the Wilson bill approvinglv on the back
for the protection it affords the manu-
facturers.
We find the Philadelphia Record pac-
flying the steel rail makers of its state
by assurance that the duty of 25 per-
cent OIL imports of rails "would be high
enough to prevent the Importation of
foreign rails" serenely unconscious
that if a Demo cratic tariff means any
thing it means such rate of tax as will
admit of imports, and that a tax that
prohibits them is not Democratic.
So we might go on naming papers in
all of the Middle and New England
states, claiming to be Democratic, which
oppose tariff for revenue only; and we
do not now recall single one in any of
these states which insists on making
revenue the main purpose. with protec-
ton the un avoidable incident.
This is not to be wondered at when
We consider the environment of these
papers. A soil sterile and rocky, grad
ually robbed by years of cultivation of
what fertility it possessed, has degraded
agriculture and thickly dotted the coun-
try with abandoned farms, while it's
rivers, with their opportunities for
| utilizing their power, gave an impetus
to manufacturing stimulated by the
rapid settlement of the Western coun-
| try by agriculturists. Manufactures
have thus become their fetish, to which
| all sacrifices must be made, and which
must be guarded from the assaults of
rivals. the only contention possible
being the degree and extent OF that
| protection. That manufactures should
be free, that they should be exposed to
the same competition that other indus
tries are subject to, that they could
exist under such conditions, is posi-
biIity that has never found entrance in
i their thought.
But in the states outside the narrow
belt where agriculture is despised and
manufacturing exalted environment
has given wider views of the relations
of things. We see that Ceres and Vul.
can stand on pedestals Of equal height
that they are interdependent, neither
dominant, neither servient. We see
Ceres year after year, after feeding the
people and furnishing the material fol
their clothing, sending her surplus
product abroad to other nations. there
to be sold unSheltered from the effect:
of the law of demand and supply: anC
we have seen her waging. on the whole
successfully, this competitive contest
with the world. We have seen her
doing this under circumstances of dis
couragement, in poverty and debt
struggling TO reduce new domains Il
subsection without the aid of capita
and the appliances capital can com
mand.
We have seen her doing this for many
years with Vulcan leaning ever more
heavily on her for support, she carry
ing her burdens and sharing his, until
Vulcan has grown to regard her as his
crutch, without which he could not
stand alone. We have come to feel
strongly that If there is such thing a.