The herald., 1896-09-10
OF charge and unlimited in quantity for

OF charge and unlimited in quantity for
private account.
But vastly more than a mere assertion
of purpose to reconstruct the national
currency is suggested by the Chicago
platform. 1t assumes, in fact, the form
of revolutionary propaganda. 1t en-
bodies a menace of national disintegra-
tion and destruction. Tlhs spirit mani
tested itself in a deliberate proposition
to repudiate the plighted public faith,
to impair the sanctity of the obligation
of private contracts, to cripple the credit
of the nation by stripping the govern
ment of the power to borrow as the ur-
gent exigencies of the treasury may re-
Quire and, in word, to overthrow all
the foundations of financial and indus
trial stability.
Nor is this all. Not content with a
proposition to debauch the currency and
to unsettle all conditions of trade and
commerce, the party responsible for this
platform denies the competency of the
government to protect the lives and
property of it's citizens against internal
disorder and violence
1t assails the judicial monuments
reared by the constitution for the de-
fense of individual rights and the public
welfare, and It even threatens to destroy
the integrity and independence of the
supreme court which has been consid-
cred the last refuge of the citizen against
any form of outrage and injustice.
In the face of the serious peril which
these propositions embody, it would
seem that there could be but one SEN
timent among right thinking citizens. as
to the duty of the hour. all men, of what
ever party, who believe in law, and have
some regard for the sacredness of indi-
vidual and institutional rights. must
unite in defense of the endangered in
terests of the nation.
While the financial issue which has
thus been considered and which has
come, as the result of the agitation of
recent years, to occupy peculiar con-
spicuousness, is admittedly of primary
| Importance, there is another question
| which must command careful and ser1-
Gus attention. Our financial and busi-
ness condition is at this moment one OF
| almost unprecedented depression. Our
| great Industrial system is seriously par
alyzed. Production in many important
branches of manufacture has almost
ceased. Capital is without remunera-
| tive employment. Labor is idle. The
revenues of the government are insuffi-
| cient to meet it's ordinary and necessary
expenses. These conditions are not the
result of accident. They are the out
| come Of a mistaken economic policy
| deliberately enacted and applied 1t
| would not be difficult and would not in
| volve any violent disturbance OF our
| existing commercial system, to enact
| necessary tariff notifications along the
| lines of experience.
For the first two fiscal years of the So
called Mckinley tariff, the receipts from
customs were $3S0,6O7 $50. At this writ
| ing the Wilson tariff act has been in force
| for nearly two full fiscal years; but the
| total receipts, actual and estimated can
| not exceed 1912 2,441, ,947. A steady deficit
constantly depicting the resources OF
the government and trenching even upon
| it's gold reserve, has brought about pup
lie distrust and business disaster. 1t has
also necessitated the sale of $4,000, 600
of bonds thereby increasing to that eX-
| tent the national debt. 1t will be re-
membered that in no year of more han
| a quarter of century of continuous
| Republican administration succeeding
the civil war, when our industries were
disintegrated and all the condition OF
business were more or less disturbed,
/ IoJ, cd q
single dollar; it was, on the contrary,
steadily and rapidly diminished. In
such a condition Of affairs as this, it is
| idle to argue against the necessity OF
some sort of a change in our fiscal laws
The Democratic party declares for
remedy by direcet taxation upon select
ed classes of citizens. 1t opposes any
application of the protective principle
Our party holds that by wise ADJUST
ment of the tariff. conceived in modera-
tion and with view to stability, we may
secure all needed revenue, and it declares
that in the event of it's restoration to
power it will seek to accomplish that re-
suit. 1t holds, too, that it is the duty
of he government to protect and encour-
age in all practicable ways the develop.
| menl OF OOnleStlc industries. tHe eleNd'
ton of home labor and the enlargement
of the prosperity of the people. 1t does
not favor any form of legislation which
would lodge in the government the
power to do what the people ought tC
do for themselves, but it believes thai
it is both wise and patriotic to discrimi.
nate in favor of our material resour.
ces and the utilization under the bes
attanable conditions of our own capt
al and our own available skill and indus
try
The words of the Republican nationa
platform on this subject are at once
temperate and emphatic. 1t says of tht
policy of protection: I'm it's reason
able application it is just, fair and i'm
partial, equally opposed to foreign con
troll and domestic monopoly, to section
al discrimination and individual favorit
ISM"
We demand such an equitable tariff
On foreign imports which come int
competition with American products al
will not only furnish adequate revenue
for the necessary expenses of the gov
ernment but will protect American la