St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-28
TURNING sOMERsAULTs.

After the campaign OIL 1897 one VI llie
best, most apt and powerful cartoons
Puck ever produced was the Retreat
From Moscow" with Napoleon Nc
Kinley, on spawned horse, leading
a column of detected generals, Tom
Reeds jolly face wearing an espe-
cially lugubrious expression, while the
great army of the rank and file piod-,
ded disconsolately along through the
snow. The same army is again on
another march to Moscow, but has
moved only as far as the banks OF
the Rhine in their little tariff bill;
where, Gen. Dingley announces, they
will go into winter quarters until there
is a change of commanders which he
imagines will be; cdecreed next year.
In 1895, in apparent blindness of their
direction, these Survivors of the Mos
COW campaign of 3'92 are executing an
other retreat, or rather series OF
retreats. In factS it IS more a series
of somersaults. Every position they
have taken heretofore is contradicted
by them, and every former theory of
finance they now deny. We doubt If
ever such bungle of contradictions,
assertions and refutatfonS was made
the programme of any, political party.
There has always been, in the ma
neuyers Of the Republicans, a certain
adroitness; but they seem to have lost
even that merritt They are suffering
the effect of a wrong start. which
must be pursued ito theie because
they are unwilling to admit that they
blundered in the outset.
The Republicans, following the cue
of the New York Tribune, asserted.
when the depletion of the gold reserve
drove the president to the Issue of
bonds, that the real trouble was de-
f1ciency of revenue, caused by the de-
crease of taxation in the German act
1t counts for nothing that the presi-
dent assures them, and his secretary
of the treasury demonstrates to them
that there is no deficit that needs i'm
mediate relief, and none that the IN
creasing revenues will not cure short
ly. The Republicans started out on
the assumption that there was de-
felt, and, like the man who said thai
the horse was sixteen feet high and
stuck to it because he had said it, they
insist that neither the president nor
his secretary knows what he is talk
ing about, and proceed forthwith to
bring in a bill to increase taxation.
The present movement needs for COM
parison a restatement of familiar facts.
The Mckinley act was the only Gus.
toms revenue producer in force from
It's enactment until Aug. 2S. 1894. Its
title declared it's purpose to be ito re-
duce revenue" It did it. From over
s200, 900, 600, it shrank to $13l,OOO,Ooo In
1894. Because of 1t, in part, the ex--
penditures exceeded the income in the
year ending June 30, 1894, by $72,325,-
44S It increased taxation in order to
reduce revenue The Republican lead
ers announce their intention to re-
turn to it as soon as. sthey have the
presidency. They announce their pres
ent purpose to be to increase revenue,
and they adopt precisely the methods
used by them in 1890 to reduce reve-
nue.. They would renhpve the deficit
of income. and they go at it by the
se1f-same way byzi WHICH they created
a deficit after 1890. Having reduced
revenue by raising taxes. they now
propose, to increase revenue by raisII
ingd taxes. Having made outgo ex-
ceed income by raising taxes, they
now propose to make income exceed
outgo by raising taxes. Which way
is the old party going anyhow, under
this tomfool leadership? Is this states
manship, or is it the antics of clowns
It is not a retreat, but succession OF
somersaults in a sawdust ring. All
that is needed to complete the har,
monies of action and apparel is to
have the majority in. the house don
the cap and bells and the motley col