The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-06-25
MOSTLY CLAP TRAP.
There is More Nonsense Spoken
on the Tariff
ThanAnyOther Question Thinks
Senator Kyle.
BACK AND FORTH T.
We Are Swinging Between Two
Points Of Rest.


''We shall push the bill rapidly now, -
said Senator Kyle IN q general talk on his
position as to the tariff And for my
part am willing to concede great deal
If we can only make some kind of a start
In reforming the system of taxation. They
have fallen on Mr.. Allen and me pretty
heavily of late, and, according to what /
hear, are rather more out of humOr with
us than with the Democrats, but for my
self must say that have always been a
free trader and never concealed it. It
used to embarrass me q great deal When I
was Republican. for in every campaign
they insisted ON fighting the old battle
over again, and take it all in all there is
more claptrap and nonsense on both sides
of it than almost any other question.
put il up like this: That there are only
two points of rest-absolute free trade and
absolute prohibition of foreign trade which
was the old Chinese system AS long
we swing between there never can be
stable tariff. As said in my speech,
think that the teachings of 100 years az
sufficient to prove that every restraint u
TO intercourse between this and foreign
nations should be removed SO far an is con-
sistent with revenue, but if they insist on
having q partly protective bill of course
want raw wool protected in some kind of
proportion to wooden goods
Free Coal and Free Wool.
''What are the products of South Dako-
well, in my judgment, protection does
us no good in the long run We are inter
ested like the rest of the country in get
ting cheap clothes and cheap sugar, but
doubt very much whether free coal, over
which they are making such fuss, would
make a particle Of difference to US. It is
the transportation which makes it cost us
SO much anyhow, and in that part of Can
ada adjacent to us there are no coal mines.
As to free wool, why, we have the finest
kind of pastures and Intelligent breeders
and managers of sheep, and If the Yankee
cannot hold his own with the rest of the
world what are we here for2 The point
that urge most is that on the line they
are now travelling the tariff question will
remain unsettled as long as selfish inter
ests conflict and the greed of man is I'M
satisfied.
gets in his work. The tariff has been
changed on an average every two or three
years from the start-some 40 times in all,
believe-and the spectators slip in be-
tween the changes and make enormous
fortunes on the alternating rise and fall
For instance, while the Mckinley bill was
pending the dealers stocked up and got all
the benefit of the rise Now they are hold
ing back for decline in the rates By
and by the Republicans, so they tell US,
will come into power again and raise the
tariff away up. If experience counts for
anything, they will raise it higher than
ever before, and once more the dealers will
stock up and realize on the rise"
A Tariff Commission.
"Why not have a permanent commits
sion, then, to settle the rates?''
why didn't we appoint commission
of shareholders to settle the slavery queS-
tionr How could You get a commission
that was not composed of interested menu
Congress would have to pass on the work
of the commission just the same and would
accept or reject its work just it has
done heretofore Congress cannot farm
out its legislative powers. Commissions
arc only valuable in dealing with very
technical and scientific affairs, matters in
which the great mass Of us are compelled
TO take the Judgment of experts, but this
question Of taxation Is one which never
can be got out Of politics. 1t cannot be
delegated to experts The tariff must stay
I'm politics, and right in the center of it,
because It is a matter of taxation, and
there ID no other place for IL but In poll
lis. The most threatening national evil
of todsy-that is Capitalization of wealth
lis directly connected with the tariff in
the minds of the people, and they will
never let it alone. The west has been vot-
ing with the east on this question merely
for the sake OF harmony and getting moth
ing In return. There is profound dissatis
fRtion all over the country, and how can
you have stability on the old lines? If
islation Of the last so years on this sub
ject they would not have voted the Re
publicans out of power. As to being in
composition with the labor of Europe why,
the farmers are already in that fix So
say, as said before, in absolute free trade
except for revenue there is stability, and
IN absolute prohibition there is stability,
but anywhere between this question will
be like football banded back and for
ward and worse every campaign and con-
Rress. No This idea of permanent
commission and stable tariff As what our
Kansas friend calls an .iridescent dream
Senator PeHer In Doubt.
Mr.. Kyle went at some length upon
the concentration of wealth and the de-
preston in agriculture and kindred topics,
with some figures to show that the Amer
tcan manufacturers labor really costs him
but a tride more than does the labor in
Europe, and that while the French Cana
dians are driving the natives out of the
New England mills the Slavs and Huns
are driving them out of the mines. and
the farmers foreign market is cut down,
and altogether the outlook is n tFif1e blue.
However, as he has said all this and
good deal more in various speeches, il
need not be repeated The interesting
fact is that he and Senator Allen are as
eager any Democrat to bring the dis
cussion to close, and both think the end
Is near. The Populists in the house con-
tinue to swear by all that's good and great
that Senator PETER must and shall vote
for the bill so long as the income tax
clause is in It, but the clerical senator has
60 far kept his own counsel with success,
and the Republicans regard him GER
tainly theirs.
The dead calm which settled upon the
house after the storm over the Indian bill
was the most natural thing in the world,