Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-03-08
We WEEKLY REFLECTOR ABILENE. KANSAS MARCH s. 1894
Tariff Reform Effects,

The REFLECTOR say . 10 opposes the Wilson
bill "because II has already brought about
and promises to continue to produce the
most dire distress 10 every portiun OF the
| land" WIN our esteemed contemporary tell
us when the Wilson bill went into efTeotS
We were under the impression that the
Wilson bill was still ia the hands OF a dilatory
senate, ana that the country was still groan.
ing under the Mckinley law The REFLECTOR
Is still inclined to 30 or at half The
News.
The News is probably well enough
informed TO have heard the epigram
about coming events casting their
shadows before. Such has been the
condition of the country with the adj
vance shadow OF the Wilson bill hang
ing over It, and no one posted on cur
rent happenings will deny that the
shadow has been very dark and
grewsome one. II is true that the
Wilson bill "has not gone into effect"
but the Democratic party, In possession
Of all three branches Of the government,
has declared that II will put into oper-
alton the principle Of which the Wilson
bill Is the exponent-and are we to I'M
derstand the News to intimate that the
pledges are not to be carried outp
There is no question that many OF
those who voted for "a change" in 1892
believed that greater prosperity would
follow. II was conceded that we were
splendidly prosperous then. Business
was good, exports were increasing,
foreign trade was growing. But 1t was
not enough. The Democratic papers
and orators denounced the Mckinley
bill and protection as fraud" and
robbery" They promised still higher
wages, still greater prosperity.
No sooner had the election taken
place, owing to the calamity cry of the
Democracy and their cuckoo echoes, the
Populists, than times began to change.
How much they are changed no one
knows better than the editor Of the
News or the readers Of that paper. Our
farmers, our merchants, our laborers
feel 1t. Wheat il at the lowest notch
in the history OF the nation. Last
week carload Of horses that three or
four years ago would have easily
brought from Sl25 to Sl75 each, were
sold by Dickln son county farmers for
an average Of between $50 and $50, 1t
is not calamity bowling" to state this
fact. The whole matter is apparent to
all. The condition is with us and with
us to stay, perhaps, longer than we
wish. No one is glad Of it. The OPP
ponenls Of the Wilson bill and the
principle IL signifies feel the stringency
as much as its friends, and they have
the good Of the country at heart when
they ask relief from this condition.
For the presept situation is fact and
facts DTe worth more than INFESTED
theories. Poverty has already chase d
prosperity out of thousands OF homes,
stopped the shafts and wheels in hun.
dreds Of manufactures and brought
losses and suffering to businessmen
and wage earners everywhere.
The campaign crieB of 1892 were
cleveland and dollar wheat" "low
tariff and prosperity, ""Democracy aud
high wages" but those who were de.
ceived by these shallow hypocrisies see
now that the prophecy was entirely OPP
posed to fact. II the prospect Of the
overthrow Of protection has such dis
astrous results, what are we To expect
Of the realityp
The friends Of protection are mis-
representing nothing. The smokeles'
chimneys and silent machinery tel
their own story. At this time In th'
early spring when every manufacturing
town should be a veritable beehive d
industry, only here and there Is mil
running, and that on short hours, few
hands and reduced wages. Business
and trade care nothing for politics, bu
they are sensitive to policy. The polio!
embodied in the Wilson bill is one o.
hostility to American industry ant
American prosperity, and the blightinl
effect of its influence is seen only to-
plainly in the depression which ever
promise Of its coming has induced.
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