The Coconino weekly sun., 1896-04-09
TIE PROPER PLATFORM.

THE PROPER PLATFORM.
 No Shadow of Doubt ns Regards Pro tecsion.
 When the great council of republicans
 comes together to represent the wishes
 and the needs of American citizens, it's
 declaration on one question will have
 supreme importance to the people.
 Every man has a direct personal inter-
 est'in the question of duties on imports
 Tour years ago a great many working
 men were persuaded by leaders and
 demagogues that neither their wages
 nor their employment would be ma
 tcrially affected by any change of tse
 tariff that was possible. Years of bitter
 experience have taught them better.
 They know now, beyond all possibility
 of dispute, that reduction of duties may
 and in many branches of industry actu-
 nlly does subject them to an enormous
 Iy increased foreign competition, which
 lessens the number of persons who can
 be employed in this country and the
 wages that can be paid to them. It is
 no longer vague theory which they
 have to confront, but practical experi-
 ence which will not be forgotten So long
 as the workers of this generation live.
 They have seen their employment, reck-
 oned in days or hours, reduced by
 large percentage in consequence of this
 foreign competition. At the same time they have seen wages of labor generally
 reduced more than at any other time for 20 years.
 The wage-earning millions form the main body of every political party. Practical politicians, who are accus- toned to run things in villages and wards, or in districts and states, think much of the distribution of offices and contracts. But these things interest at the most 100000 or 300. 900 persons. The wages of labor and the condition of i'm duDtries directly interest more than 2O,- 900 ,000, many of whom are voters. If the convention finds q candidate and adopts a platform which expresses in the most distinct and emphatic manner the desire of the wage-earners respect ing foreign competition md duties on imports, there will not be very pro- found interest felt, it is possible, in the rest of it's deliverance. The people will vote for republicanism and prosperity, implicitly trusting the republican party to protect the national honor in foreign affairs or in monetary matters, as it has done for many years.
 It is therefore important that the should be prepared to de- clare it's position on the tariff question SO distinctly and unmistakably that | there shall no longer be the shadow of | an excuse for any man to pretend that he is a republican if he subordinates the protection of home industries to his | notions about currency, the coinage of | silver, 'or any other question. It does not answer to be republican provided | one can have his own way, against the | a i'll of nine-tenths of the people, about | some question of that sort. The people ,ced defense of their industries. .whethe they get something else or not. They | need genuine republicans to make their laws, not men who have gone so far | in their devotion to the silver interest pr some other that they are ready to destroy national prosperity if their pet theories or wishes are thwarted. When the national convention pledges the ut most efforts of the republican party 10 restore full protection to home in- lustries, it does not mean that a repub- ican will do this after he has done else, or provided he can do else, but will refuse if he Men of that stamp need to be old in the most emphatic manner by he national convention that they must :iuher serve republican principles un- and faithfully or cease o be reckoned with the great party which has never yet paltered with its pledges from the first election of Abrn- ,am Lincoln to this hour.
 If man has the notion that labor 'annot be sufficiently protected with ut cheaper money, that is not an hon. st reason for refusing to give labor uch protection as he can. If he finds measure pending which is not half what he wants, that is not an honest eason for refusing to do what he can n the direction of his principles and ledges. Neither is it an excuse for efusing to carry out one pledge of the epublican party that a man considers has also promised something else which nine-tenths of its members never meant to promise. The national con- ention will need to be decidedly blunt nd explicit, and cannot speak too plain y for the 2o,OOo.o00 of wage-earners.- [. Y. Tribune.
 Chandler's Mistake.