Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-04-16
The Tariff of 1890.

Americans some time 10 learn the
lesson put by President Harrison In
the terse remark that a cheap coat
must have a cheap man behind it.
There has been scarcely any reduc-
ton IN the cost of wooden clothing
such as the millions wear. But for
that insignificant gain they have paid
in the stoppage of more than half
the wool cloth machinery in the
country, and necessarily more than
half the hands engaged in making
such cloth are idle. This is but one
Of the many facts which millions Of
voters know infinitely better than
any political orator can tell them.
They find 1t does not pay to do dol
lars worth of work for eighty cents
in order to get dollars worth Of
clothes for ninety-five cents. 1t does
not pay to have thousands Of shops
closed in which voters or their wives
and children were able to get EN-
ployment under a republican tariff.
It does not pay the farmers to find
manufacturing works idle and their
hands dispersed, so that they no
longer buy at nearby markets the
meats and dairy and garden products
of the farms.
In the face Of this experience, Gen.
Clarkson thinks it eXpedient to at
tack Gov Mckinley as the cham
pion Of an extreme ultra-high pro-
tective tariff A little thought would
have convinced him that he could
not help any other candidate that
way. The people have vivid recol-
lection of the unprecedented pros
perity which they enjoyed under the
so-called Mckinley tariff, and of the
astonishing strides made by the IN
dustries during the two years Of its
uninterrupted operation. The high
water mark of wages for the workers,
and of prosperity for manufacturers,
mechanics and farmers, was reached
III OGApptIa Io'@s ~ an bOAbAiSl Sidi
records prove, and that was the
month before the foolish vote for IA
change 1t will not help any candi-
date to have his friends assail the
act of 1890 as an ultra or extreme
measure. 1t went out Of house led
by Reed and Mckinley, and out of Il
senate led by Allison and Sherman,
and had the signature of Nice-Presi-
dent Morton, and received the sigma
ture Of President Harrison, and all
Of them approved it heartily.
1t sounds strangely to hear any re-
publican speaking in a tone Of CEN
sure or fault-finding about the best
revenue measure ever passed by le-
publicans, the lowest in rates and at
! the same time the most effective and
beneficent in protection. If it We're
| to be understood that any republican
candidate would seek support on the
ground that Ire does not want to pro-
tect as much as Mckinley did, the
chances are that the people would
not prefer him, for that precise rea-
son. The sad experiences of the past
few years have not inclined Ameri-
cans to favor anybody who wants to
get halfway between the two parties
on the issue Of protection, and as
Gen. Clarkson is assuredly not of
that mind, his reported remarks are
all the more strange. The one force
which is winning for the republican
party unprecedented majorities is
| the profound belief Of the people in
the republican policy. The one force
which has won for Governor MeKin,
ley a vast support, which he might
never have secured in merely per
sonal competition with some Other
candidates, is that attachment Of the
people TO the policy with which hi:
name has become identified.