St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-26
AN GRID nsCaNr DREAMY

The Pioneer Press wants the proloo-.
ZIONIST Democrats to join the Repub-
licans and "unite in the establishment
OF an enduring tariff policy which will
restore prosperity. etc." This is what it
TO prejudice of which nothing but
ashes and burned embers remain. ad-J
vlses this element of our party to
''shake off, the ''yoke of Southern
domination" We cordially second its
motion that the proteetionists in our
party join their fellows in the other.
They should not need the suggestion.
Were they manly they would declare
that their views have changed; that
they are no longer Democrats in belief,
and that, as they cannot be hypocrites,
they must follow their convictions into
the party where such convictions are
the party policy.
We have no us, for or patience with
the sneak who remains with any party
whose principles he abjures. There is
no room in the Democratic party for any
one who believes that the taxing power
OF the nation may be rightly used to
give any one or any class of ones oppor-
tunity to exact more of profit than free
competition would give him. and the
sooner those in our party who do believe
this get out of it the sooner the party
will be relieved of the diseredit of its
purpose and sincerity which their pres
ence now creates.
But the Pioneer Press, not usually
IN Aitl niY i'm, iri-
descent dreams, is child crying for the
moon when it talks about an enduring
tariff policy" From 1861 to 1893 It's
party controlled the legislative policy
of the country. At times it has had
completes control of the three iegislating
branches of the government. During
all the time it has been where it could
block attempted changes in its policy.
Its record has been on of constantly
changing tariffs. These have averaged
one a year during its control. When
the change of 80 was proposed, the
answer to the objection to change was
that change was inherentih the system;
that trade conditions were constantly
changing, and that the restrictions on
trade must change to meet them.
There is the same struggle going on
between the efforts of men TO secure
free exchange that there is between the
efforts of safemakers and burglars, the
one to make a safe that the others can
not get into, and the latter to meet the
latest devices to keep them out with
superior ingenuity in means of getting
in. In another field a related struggle
is going on between the makers of
armored ships and the makers of pro-
Jectiles, the one intent on making a
protection that the former cannot pierce,
and the latter meeting increase of armor
| with increase of force in gun and shell.
Tariff tinkering has been kept up for
thirty years. each patch put on to meet
some Eruption of trade; the wall being
built ever higher, ana as the wall grew
the. food of trade rose and swept over it.
There can be no enduring tariff policy
short of actual and complete prohibition
of importatlons. such as the Chinese
maintained until England's cannon and
Burlingame's diplomacy broke down
the barriers. William L. Kelly saw
this, and expressed it when he wished
that the Atlantic could be converted
into sea of flame; and the manufac-
turers of Victoria perceive 1t and ex-
press it in their demand for the prohibit
ton of imports. Denial of the right of
free exchange is tyranny. and tyranny
cannot be permanent. All the instincts
of human nature rise up in rebellion
against it to overthrow it. Nothing can
be permanent that is not in accord with
those laws. equally immutable whether
operating OH inert matter or OH human
action, which, with blind faulty, all
tariffs seek 10 .suby ert. An "enduring
tariff policy" is but ian iridescent
dream,"a barren deality."