The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-07
THE WILSON TARIFF BILL.
Judge ID. r. Baldwin Analyses the
Measure.

RI a Itteill the Prog
ress club on the subject. rs Mckinley
ism Benefit 10 Manufacturers. Judge
D. p. Baldwin of Logansport said:
The Wilson bill is an honest effort to
edualize our public burdens. 1t proposes
10 reduce the cost Of living by taking
so, 900 900 to 500. 600 600 of tariff taxes of
from the necessities of life and stin leav-
ing our manufactures 40 per cent av-
erage duties. It also proposes to divide
the burden of federal taxation between
| consumption, which, under McKinleyism,
pays it ali. and accumulated wealth.
which now pays nothing. This IL
complishes by supplemental bill. which
taxes all incomes. personal and Corpor-
ate, over 1900 per annum These bills
viii be followed by radical measures re
ducing our enormous public expenses and
doing away with billionairism. which
since 1890 has demoralized both our con-
crosses. II crea ting in the Mckinley con-
gresS over 1900 new offices. For these
measures Cleveland and his supporters
are venomOusly and fanatically attacked
by the entire republican party. II they
were common horse-thieves they would
not be more bitterly assailed by the
high tariff press and orators.
Higher Tariff.
''Forty-two per cent. tariff (such as is
left after the Wilson bill takes effec)
is a higher tariff than we had at any
time during the war. when our OK
penses were 81 200 900 per day for about
three years. and is only per cent. lower
than that i'm effect just prior to the
Mckinley act. The wonder is that the
Wilson bill is so conservative. For this
reason it is ridiculed by the Mckinley
ties and assailed by Henry Watterson
and his school as cowardly. I ask the
question: If our manufactures can't
thrive with a A. per cent. barrier against
III. Ill
lege of taxing our people AZ per cent. Is
il not time that they should quit the
business? And that brings me to the
question. viz: That the Mckinley tariff
is a detriment not only To our farmers
foreign commerce was killed by protec-
tion twenty years ago. but to our manu-
faCturerS. For years we have had the
changes swung upon our enormous acCu-
mulat tons of national wealth. In 1860 II
was $4,000 600 600 i'm 1880 $4,000. 100000
and In 1890 II was $50 600 10000 Behold.
cried the hilarious high-tariff advocate.
what protection hath wrought. But
when put to the test our dollhouse. ai'ti-
fiCially stimulated Industries, which have
cost our American people billions upon
billions of dollars. ANONYMOUSLY failed
and are still failing. Last May. June
and July, when the financial storm-the
product OF fifteen years Of mismanage-
ment-brolIe upon us. these protected in
dustries were the first 10 shut their
doors and turn their wOrkmen on the
streets and to bawl like so many calves
q bout the threatened reduction of their
subsidies. If their prosperity and wealth
We're genuine where is the occasion, with
AZ per cent. subsidy left. for all this
uproar? The worst part of all this
calfism is that the workingmen engaged
in these goveTument-fed industries are
made to bear the burden and to be con-
verted into the cats-paw to save the
protected industries are crying, Cut us
IS per cent. and we must turn our en-
ployeS into the streets Why not de-
duet this Is per cent. out of your re-
naming profits2 Why not be content
with less gain and give your working
men their accustomed wages? There is
but one answer: This would stop the
agitation and take away our material for
narrowing speeches and editorials. The
truth about the matter is that the pro
tected industries have been SO over-stin-
ulated that there is no strength or back
bone in them. 1t is the insolvent and
not the solvent men that raise all the
racket about hard times. The non-pro-
tected industries-Our hotels. newspapers,
etc. did not shut up their doors last
summer nor have they discharged their
employees. They have grown up In our
midst. taught TO expect nothing from the
government, and are, therefore, Self-SuS-
tanning and solvent. Any industry that
can run 10 Washington and get sub
sdy in a pinch will always be unhealthy
and will always do as did our fairfield
and tariff-fat establishments last sum-
mer-rend the air with calf cries. and as
they are doing now-denouncing the gov
eminent for only allowing them AZ per
cent instead of so per cent. protection.
You can't raise an oak in a conservatory.
Artificial heat under a glass roof will
only make shrIbs-pretty enough 10 look
l.unH F.Vs1w~
worthless for the purpose OF
strength and endurance. So
with these boosted protected industries.
They are all fair weather establishments
and will go to the wall every time when
a sduall comes. They are like rich
mans son who can always in times Of
trouble go into his fathers pocket-book.
II is the poor boys who have to root
hog or die" that makes the strong men.
Another Reason.
'"rhere is another reason why Nc
Kinleyism is a detriment 10 its bene-
ficiaries. It converts them into political
machines There is no such thing as
nixing manufacturing with politics and
making a success of il any more than
mixing politics and religion Politics is
one thing, business another, and. like
oil and water. YOU can't mix them. III
YOU try you will find that politics is the
iii Of the firm and industry the water.
and the oil will come out on top and the
water underneath all the time. This |
reDeat is the trouble today with our pro
tected manufacturers. They are under
the cunning hand of polticians-made
instruments for furnishing campaign
funds Put them over the fire and fry
some fat out of them. said the irate
senator. when the mill bosses were
slow to shell out. The threat was suffi-
cient. Our protected industries are COM
PEELED to maintain perpetual and enor-
nouslv expensive Hobbies at Washing
ton. They are obliged to carry congress |
sional districts to supply the requisite !
votes to maintain their subsidies; in a !
word they have become an adjunct to a |
great political party. who furnishes the !
Iegisla ton i'm consideration of the manu-
facturers furnishing the money. Every
BODY who knows that this is so and |
everybody knows that this is the reason |
why the so per cent. Mckinley duties are
so vehemently insisted upon. The pay
ment of high wages is the pretense-the /
payment of campaign funds the hidden /
and ugly reality. This partnership is de- |
mOralZing to both sides. 1t has lost the !
republicans the confidence of the peo- |
pie and it has robbed the manufacturers 1
OF their real strength and prosperity. |
1t is like the combination forty years |
ago between the democratic party and |
slavery McKinleyism makes a political |
foot ball of great and beneficient indus |
tries.
"'Your subsidies are in danger is the |
lever with which the protected manu- !
facturers can always be aroused and |