The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-04-21
How the Repeal of the sherman Act Was
Brought About.
To the Editor Of tho Press:

The unusually severe and prolonged
commercial depression and paralysis Of
industry through which this country. in
the dismal procession of all the gold
standard countries, is passing, have come
upon US In spite Of the wishes, the
prayers and the prophecies of hosts of
people, who felt sure that they knew all
about it.
After the second election of Mr.. Cleve-
land to the presidency, with a House of
Representatives strong enough and eager
enough to embody in laws bis schemes Of
revenue reform, after the inutiliated Will
son tariff had run the gauntlet of little
coterie of Democratic protectionists and
monopolists in the Senate, and had gone
into effect in the summer of 1894, the
mon who had voted for him, confidently
expected some years at least of CONNER
cial and industrial prosperity; and, it
must be confessed. sorsly needed it to
confirm by actual experiment. the sound
ness of their economic theories.
True the revenue reform left in the new
law, after the German Brioe combine had
mangled it, fell so far short of the pro-
gramme promised to the voters, that Mr..
Cleveland himself refused to recognize
it as an administration measure, and to
give it his official approval But, consid-
ering the gigantic money interest in our
favored manufactures, and the tena cious
vitality Of the protection sentiment in
the most enlightened and advanced Sec
t1ons OF the country, as shown in the yot-
ing OF 1894, the mongre bill, as 1t was
able to become law, was very brave and
very considerable step towards Free
Trade tariff; and the party felt obliged
to assume the full responsibility of it.
1t wholly removed the duties on wool
and on lumber, and So far reduced the
duties on coal, iron, cereals and most
raw materials as to offer fair test of
the practical workings of the two sys-
TENS of revenue, about which in this
country and in Europe there had been
such long and embittered debate. 1t
was OF immense Importance that this
first step in the direction of purely rev.
enue tariff should vindicate itself by a
practical working so successful that the
d1sbelieyers in it and the sooffers should
be silenced.
The writer of this paper. as some who
heard him may remember, said in the
summer Of 1893, if Mr.. Cleveland puts
through his tariff reform project without
slmu ltaneously, and as necessary part
of it, doing something either by local
legislation or by International agree
ment to reinstate silver in the monetary
function it performed before 1873, he
will find himself wofully disappointed in
the result.
But that was the very thing he did. He
ooaxed, he threatened his docile majority
in Congress, then as it were, In the hon
eymoon OF their partisan attachments to
him-since greatly cooled--to repeal the
silver bullion purchase clause of the
Sherman Act, under some kind of equiv
ocal promise made TO the ear to be brok.
en- 20 the hope, but embodied in the act
OF repeal itself, to do something interna-
tlonally TO restore silver to its place in
the general monetary system.
This promise he has not kept, and 1t
Is apparent now, that be had no inten-
tion Of keeping it; but in the oallow
condition of his partisans' minds it
served to win their votes. Other votes
were won by the genuine, but utterly
Ignorant, fear that the legal tender at
| tribute of the $3.50, 600, 600 Of silver al
ready purchased could not be main
tanned, unless further purchase was i'm
medfately stopped.
Here is what the Sherman Act repeal
promised, undoubtedly every clause and
word of it carefully considered and APP
proved by the President in consultation
| with his Secretary of the Treasury and
Attorney General
cit is hereby declared that the efforts
| Of the government should be steadily di-
rooted to the establishment of such a
safe system of bimetallism. as will main
tain at all times the equal power of every
dollar coined or issued by the United
States In the markets and in the pay
ment of debts.o
What steadily direotedo efforts to the
establishment of 'any kind of bimetaI-
ism" has the government of the United
States as administered by our present ma
tional Executive ever put forthS How
does he expect ''the dollar coined or is
sued by the Cnited States to maintain at
all times its power in the payment of
debts" after he has refused to use such
| a dollar to pay the very debt of the
United States incurred in purchasing
the metal out of which it was coined,
and to the payment Of which it was es-
| pecially appropriated by act of Congress?
| OF course the Presidenet was not long
| in wriggling out of all the obligations
this Official language plainly implied.
| So far from steadily directing efforts to
the establishment of bimetallism" he
| sage that bimetallism is delusion, and
that gold is the only safe basis Of sound
| monetary system.
THE HARD TIMES A GENERAL DIS
APPOINTMENT.
The natural and usual effects of abol-
ishing or lowering duties intended to be
prohibitory of importations, for the pur-
pose of giving the market to domestic
products. is to stimulate importations.
What actually took place was some slight
| increase of importation, but not sufficient
| to equal the lost duties through 10 wered
| tariff rates, and the administration found
itself confronted with defoit-a oalami-
ty which no administration in this coun-
try has ever been able to stand, unless
caused by the exigenoy of civil or for
eign war; And it could not have been
| otherwise. We bought all the merchan-
disc on which revenue was raised from
gold standard countries, and the premi-
UNI on gold, exactly measured by the
| depreciation of our great exportable
lGfa of tariff