Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-08-22
PLAN OF THE REPUBLICANS.

PLAN or THE REPUBLICANS.
what tho Issue OF the High Protectionr
lists Is Likely to BE.
Through reports from all along the
line it is made plain that republican
leaders intend to force the tari6 ques-
ton to the front as the overshadowing
issue of the next national campaign
There are signs unmistaka BILE that
some kind of q truce has been patched
mp between the silver miilionaires and
the tariff barons the latter to become
the direct benefciaries of high pro-
tec,ive system should their party gain
control in the country. and the former
financial agitation within their own
ranks by having the government re-
sumo the purchase of silver bullion for
storage In the treasury. Not only
have Mckinley, Harrison. Allison and
even Morton indicated with greater or
less emphasis that the republican war
cry of 90 and '9o will be revived,
but prominent spellbinders of the
party in almost every section are Civ
ing utterance to the same sentiment
Among the latest echoes of the re-
publican campaign keynote was Sena-
tor Cullom, of Illinois. To the assem-.
blage of his partisans at Springfield he
said: when the republican party gets
control again, as it will next year,
with some republican for president, we
will take up the tariff act and go over
it item by item and make such amend
ments to it as will give reasonable pro-
lection to American labor and Amer
lean industries as against foreign labor
and foreign industries. The people OF
this country never knew they wanted
that sort of protection; they were never
certain of it until the democrats, by
mistake. got possession of this country
two years ago
In this brief statement the senator
virtually tells the people of the United
States that they are fools; for it was
they who committed the mistake"
which he seeks to pervert into a wide
spread calamity. Not only were they
guilty of this mistake" in 1891 when
their reputation of high protection
and of its representatives was the most
emphatic on record, but two years
later they gave an overwhelming con-
frmation of the original Judgment
rendered. During the interval they
had ample time and opportunity to
test the practical workings of the sys-
tenn against which they had pro-
nounced within month of the time
when it became operative. They stud
led it with an acuteness and an earn
estness begotten of self-interest, and,
xryifh fri 1>roxr1o1nn ~ 70 hoo -
upon the welfare of the country, they
disapprovaL They saw that the Nc
Kinley law was framed in the interest
/, of a special few, that it exacted extor-
tionate tribute from the masses to the
classes, that was responsible for the
worst political corruption the country
has ever known and that it was rapid
ly building up a moneyed autocracy
that would in the end usurp from the
people their right of self government.
But it is to be hoped that the repub-
lican leaders will continue to regard
their most memorable defeats as a
mistake" on the part of the voters.
Democracy accepts the challenge. It
valves the charges of hypocrisy. incon-
sistency and broken faith to which
those of the opposition throw them
selves open, for when they were only
an obstructive minority they never
ceased to condemn tariff agitation as
disastrous to the country, causing un-
certainty, destroying confidence and
paralyzing trade. The issue will be
fought upon its merits. It will be
found that the fatal mistake was made
when the inscriptions managers of
the g. o. p. tried to place the democrat
ic administration in false position.
An era of reviving trade and prosperi-
ty is more eloquent than words can be
in indicating the wisdom of democra-
cy and convincing the people that they
made no mistake. Actual results oon-
stitute evidence so conclusive that
even republican trickery cannot evade
or republican cunning dissipate it.-De-
troit Free Press.