New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-07-29
] ajor IL Kinlsy and liz enad hat III


The tenacity With which men will Cling
to preconceived opinions, eyel af atbl
their conclusions have been proven e
rest or false assnmp tions, is amazing
At this time the Republican politicians
seem to be given up to attri buting anll
our ills and the financial tribulations q
our government to anIevil that does mot
exist. Fhey seem to have brought them 81:
selves to believe that the delnand FOL
gold for export, the constant Train son
our gold reserve, the depletion & that
reserve, and the necessity OF sboIf rowing
gold to replenish it.in order to provide
for the redemption of Treasury notes
and greenbacks in gold sisoleI tl1e re-
silt Of the repeal Of thu Nc inley tariff
law, which repeal they assume Is have
been followed by = falling Of mex ports,
enlarged imports, and consequent adj
verse trade balances, necessitating the
export of gold in settlement.
The platfo form ad opted by the Repub-
lican Convention beldly attributed the
drain on our gold for export, and all the
ills, real and ina inary, following in its
tram, to adverse trade balances, which,
we are assured, would never have arisen
under the Mckinley tariff and Republi-
can rule. And now comes Major Nc
sKinley IN the same vein. He tells us it
is from adverse trade balances that we
suffer, that it is because we buy more
than we sell that we must export gold,
and he concludes that we have only to
build the tariff higher, make and buy
more goods at home, and sellmore goods
abroad, and at once 'sthe trade balance
would be quickly turned in our favor,
and gold would come to us and not go
from us in the settlement of all such
Grade balances in the future" Thus the
drain on our gold for export would be
stopped, our treasury reserve would no
longer suffer depletion, there would be
no longer occasion to borrow gold with
which to replenlsh it, and the Treasury
would be relieved of the difficulties that
have confronted it.
Such is Mr.. McKinley's diagnosis Of
the disease, and such his remedy. But
his diagnosis is wrong, and his remedy
would effect no cure. With all the con-
fdence born of ignorance he prescribes a
remedy for an evil that does not exist.
The adverse trade balances, as the result
of the Wilson German tariff and Demo-
cratic administration of our finances, of
which Mr.. Mckinley and the other Re-
publican politicians speak so loudly,
have no existence in fact. Republicans
have often spoken proudly of protection
as science founded on facts, of free
trade as science founded on assump-
tions, yet now the Republican politicians
are content to build their arguments on
false assumptions, and to attribute the
sufferings of our producing classes to adj
verse trade balances, the very existence
of which is controverted by the statistics
of our foreign trade that are within rea-
dy reach of all.
MIR. Harrison was lnaugurated as P1esi-
dent, in the place of Mr.. Cleveland,
March 4th, 1889. For the three fiscal
years following, June Both, 1889, to
June 30th, 1892, the balance of trade
was i'll our favor to an aggregate amount
of $310:95S,575 two-tbirds Of this fa-
vorable balance accruing during the year
ending June 30th, 1892, a year of crop
failures IN Europe, famine in Russia, and
great demand for our grain for export.
During the Dext fiscal year, including
the last eight months of Mr.. Harrison's
Administration and the first four of Mr..
Clevelaud's, our imports exceeded our
exports to the value Of $18,737,72S. No
doubt those editors who have educated
themselves to attribute all our adver-
sites to tariff reduction, or to fear of
tariff changes, would tell us that this adj
verse balance, although arising under the
bill. was owing to the election
Of Mr.. Cleveland, and the fear of tariff
changes. Granting this we will put this
year aside.
So then let us compare the first three
fiscal years of Mr.. Harrison's Admins
tration with the first three years, or rath-
er two years and eleven months, Of Mr..
We have seen that during
the first period-thstis June 80, 1889
to June 30, 1892, our exports exceeded
our imports by $310,958, 575, a very con-
siderable balance in our favor. This
balance Major Mckinley would have us
believe was wiped out by the change
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