Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-10-04
An Example Of Democratic R~.pudi,,,on

" D~hhoSEdtlS sktDuut1tiOn.
In discussing the question of repudiat-
Ing the contract made between the gem
eral government and the sugar W
Oh the country, the New York Press says:
Upon what basis do the bond issues
ana the paper circulating notes Of the
united states government rest? Upon
nothing but the pledges given by Congress
mat they VIII be paid or redeemed in ac-
coruance with certain plainly defined con-
olulons, Without these pledges and with
out perfect confidence among the people
mat the contract thus made will be ex-
actly fulfilled, the bonds and notes re-
terred 10 could have no more value than
pieces of blank paper. One pledge thus
supplied ought to be no more sacred than
another pledge from the same source. A
promise, given in an act of Congress, to
90 a certain thing cannot be willfully
broken without exciting justilable ap-
prehensi0n that the bad faith thus dis
played in one case may be manifested in
others. A Congress and president capa-
Bile OF a single act of reputation may be
regarded as capable of any such act; and
surely nothing could be more likely to
shake the public confidence in the general
credit of the federal government than the
wanton violation by one Congress OF a
contract sOlemnly entered into by a pre-
ceding Congress.
In the tariff act of 1890 it was de-
clared that a bounty of . cents a pound
should be paid to domestic sugar growers
during a period beginning with July |,
1871, and continuing until July /, 1903.
The act also provided that a higher duty
upon tin plate should begin on July l,
1891, and should continue until October
/, 1897. Accepting the assurances thus
given by the highest authority in the
land, millions of dollars were invested in
the production of beet and cane sugar
and tin plate. The action of Congress
and the enterprise of the citizens who
engaged in these industries represented
q most cOmmendable attempt to diversity
American industry and TO move the nation
toward independence of foreign countries
for necessary articles of large cOnsump.
ton. The attempt has succeeded almost
beyond expectation, and the lower prices
of both sugar and tin plate show that
there was warrant for the belief of the
authors Of the law Of 1890 that the cost
Of the undertaking would be fully repaid
b. the country.
Eleven years before the sugar con
tract has expired and three years before
the conclusion of the TIN plate contract
q Democratic Congress mas ~repudiated the
pledges upon which American citizens
engaged in these two industries, and has
done so in such a manner as TO threaten
both of them with determination. MIR
Cleveland, in his letter to Mr.. Wilson, de
scribed the bill, which he did not dart
TO veto, as representing 'perfdy and dis
honor The term is an apt one: bul
| 6lled as the measure is with iniquity Of
the most various character, it contains
uothing more %perfdious, nothing more
dishOnorable TO the men who voted TO
II, than its betrayal of the American!
who yentured their money in the manu-
facture of tin plate and the production o.
z upon their faith in the solemn
promises of the government of the United
States. To repudiate the public deb
would have been no more ~scandalous ant
indefensible."