Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-07-16
A PROPHECY OF 1892
GENERAL ttARRlsoN's LAST MESSAGE
TO CONGRESS.

Cievelands Eiection and Il. Era.
Business Discussed - Testimony To N.
Benefits ofPrrtection-A Matter az p,,.
cipie. Not Schedule.
1t was after Grover Cleveland b,a
been elected and congress had assembled
in the session which was to expire with
the inauguration of Democratic nres;'
dent that General Harrison in his las,
message bore testimony to the benefits
Of the protective system On Dec q
1892, he said:
There never has been a time in on,
history when work was so abundant on
when wages were as high. whetbe,
measured by the currency in which thev
are paid or by their power to supply the
necessaries and comforts of life. If anv
believe that wagesor prices, the returns
for honest toll, are inadequate. they
should not fail to remember that there
is no other country in the world wbere
the conditions that seem to them hard
would not be accepted as highly pros.
porous. The English agriculturist would
be glad to exchange the returns of his
labor for those of the American farmer
and the Manchester workmen their
wages for those of their fellows at Fall
River.
Then, with a prophecy born of in.
spiration, Mr.. Harrison discussed the
result of. the election which was to re.
tire the Republican party from power.
THAT election" he said, must be
accepted as having introduced new
policy. We must assume that the pres.
ent tariff, constructed upon the lines Of
protection, is to be repealed, and that
there is to be substituted for it tariff
law constructed solely with reference to
revenue; that no duty is to be higher
because the increase will keep open an
American mill or keep up the wages of
an American workman. but that in ey.
cry case such a rate of duty is to be i'm.
posed as will bring to the treasury of
the United States the largest returns Of
revenue. The contention lies not be-
tween schedule, but between principle.
"Whep d system of customs duties
can be framed that well set the idle
wheels and looms of Europe in motion
and crowd our warehouses with foreign
made goods, and at the same time keep
our own mills busy; that will give US
an increased participation in the mar
kets of the world of greater value than
the home market will surrender; that
will give increased work to foreign
workmen upon products to be consumed
by our people without diminishing the
amount of work to be done here; that
will enable the American manufacturer
to pay his workmen from so to 100 per
cent more in wages than is paid in the
foreign mill and yet to compete in our
market and in foreign markets with the
foreign producer; that will further re-
duce the cost of articles of wear and
food without reducing the wages OF
those who produce them; that can be
celebrated, after its effects have been
realized. as its expectation has been, IN
European as well as American cities,
the authors and promoters of it will be
entitled to the highest praise. We have
had in our history several experiences OF
the contrasted efforts of a revenue and
protective tariff; but this generation has
not felt them, and the experience OF one
generation is not highly instructive to
the next. The friends of the protective
system, with undiminished confidence
in the principles they have advocated,
will await the results of the new expert
ment.
What the results Of 1.-THE new expert
ment'' have been every one knows.
Failing revenues, imports exceeding ex-
ports, gold disappearing from the re-
serve, constantly recurring deficiency,
repeated increases Of the national debt,
general depression, business. uncertainty
universal bankruptcy, labor unemploy'
ed, wages reduced and an era Of disaster
unparalleled in the history of great
nation. That is the story of four years
of "the new experiment. "-Washington
Cor. New York Press.