St. Paul daily globe., 1894-10-08

HAS uccu DSiiluCldt, ilS - Vio VI thS
many strong men Ireland has given
this country, his father having emigrat-
ed i'll l7G3, and founded all lroa manu-
factory near Bellefontaine. Gov. Cur
tin follows closely his fellow war gov
ernors. kirkwond and Banks. i'll the
muster-out roll of this year.
TWO BUSINESS MEMS VIEWS.
Franklin MacVeagh, of Chicago. is
and for many years has been at the
head of the largest wholesale grocery
house in that city. He is not exclusively
ii business man, but has given to the
economic questions of the day his study.
He is the Democratic candidate for
United States senator. and is making
vigorous canvass of his state. declaring
himself not Il revenue refUrmer, but an
Out-and-Uut free trader. He breaches
to farmers. wage earntrS and business
men alike the gospel of free trade.
L. Ii. Winston is also a business man
of that city. He has been Democrat.
President Cleveland made him minis
ter to Persia eight years ago. He. too,
has addressed the public, not from the
stump, bua in All interview. lie re-
nouuces his Democracy in fact, though,
it would seem, unconsciouSly. in the
interview. He says the tariff "is a
matter of business interests. | can't
stand this thing any longer-this thing
or stopping the wheels of manufacture.
| want business to revive. and don't
want politics III it all the time"
Here we have TWO men of business
driving in directly opposite ways. Both
wish and expect to reach the same end.
the removal of the tariff from politics.
Both see that tariff and business are i'll
eXtricably interviewer. Both know from
bitter experience that business suf.
fers from every change i'll the tariff.
Wheels stop. trade slackens. men buy
less and earn less, anu it makes no d.f-
ference i'll the consequences if the rates
go up or down. Either way they know
trade nalts and limps. Each has his
remedy. MIR. MacVeagh says stop that
way of taxing. Mr.. Winston says fix it
once for all and then let it alone; stop
reducing it now. Give the wheels a
chance 10 go round.
Which one of these two business men
is right, for both can't be? Which one
Will the business men of the country
decide is right and follow? And by
business men we do not mean merely
the men who distribute merchandise,
but the men who make it and the men
who work for the men who make it and
the farmers and artisans and others who
use it. All in this country except the
trSmps and dudes are business men. 1t
has never occurred, probably, to Mr.
Winston that there is any other way of
raising the federal revenue than by a
/ tariff. 1t is probable that he. like many
| other men in this country, regards the
tariff as divinely appointed method
revealed at some time to men by their
| Creator, and, like the bull Apis of
Egypt. is h0iy. He realizes that up
heavals of the tariff are accompanied as
! certainly and unav0ida5ly with up.
heavals of business as earthquakes are
| by disturbances OF the social ana busi-
ness relations of the people where they
prevail, but he regards it as one of the
irremediable evils like fires, sickness
and death, to be endured with what OF
philosophy one can command.
The difference is that Mr.. Winston
has given his attention wholly to his
business, while Mr. MacVeagh has
looked deeper and farther. Mr.. Mac
Veagh has discovered that there Is moth
ing divine in tariff. and that it Is not
all indispensable adjunct of our social
structure. He sees that it hurts trade
instead of helping it. He sees the ab.
surd:y of a government trying with
| one hand to make trade easier and its
transport cheaper, and with the other
hand putting costly obstructions i'll its
way. We build railroads, grant them
aid, dig harbors, build bridges, dig
canals, subsidize steamship lines, all
10 promote and encourage trade, and
| then we clap tax and all the hlndrance>
of its collection on all the things trade
deals in. He sees that the two main
factors of production are material and
wages, and he sees policy of taxation
which increases the cost of the one anC
invites an increase of the supply of the
other.
These things MIR. Winston has moi
taken the trouble to find out. Another
thing Mr.. MacVeagh has seen that Mr.
| Winston has not, and that so few busi-
ness men have as yet noticed. and
which is the most stupendously signif
cant fact of all. He sees forty -foul
state governments, with all their minor
machinery of city, town, village ano
school government, raising annually
taxes from three to four times the
amount the government raises by Gus
toms. He sees his own city raising
twenty times annually the amount O
tax its citizens would pay if the Gus
toms tax were levied directly on pc
capita basis. And he sees these enor
nous revenues levied and collected
with no perceptible jar to any wheel o
industry in all the land.
Seeing these things which Mr.. Win
ston and so many have not seen becaus
they have not looked at them with opel
eyes. Mr.. MacVeagh has asked himsel
why, if one system shakes the founda
tions Of business aud the other neve
gives it a moments care, the seismi
system should not be dismissed and tn
other put in its place. And that othe
business men have asked the SAM
question and found the same an
, swer is shown by the $500 names o
Chicago's business men who form tn
nucleus of the MacV VeaghBusiness Men
| club and support his candidacy for tn
l cAl