The herald., 1896-09-13
THE CONTINUATION oP PRO
lection

insufficient revenues to run the govern
ment." So Quoth Major Mckinley In
an address delivered on the 9Th instant
to some pilgrims to Canton. And what
is the significance OF these words? Is
the candidate Of Waterloo day about to
execute another political "about face
and serve protection as he has silver?
Is the doctrine of public taxation for
private interests to be discredited in
the house of its friends and disowned
by its chiefest modern apostle? OBJ
viously the major. who, by the way, has
actually gotten to the point Of expressing
opinions on the money question that are
almost positive. refers to the tariff pol
icy of the United States. That policy
Is now what it has been since first the
Republican party obtained control of
the government-protecti The pres
ent tariff, more's the pity, is protective,
and it is silly fiction to designate 1t
as free trade tariff" The people who
thus describe it are either ignorant of
its character or of the meaning Of free
trade" or willfully misrepresent the
facts. So if Major McKinley's language
is to be literally interpreted 1t would
mean that the Republican party is op-
posed to the continuation of protection,
and it would logically follow that the
major, as the modern luminary of the
doctrine, should suffer an eclipse, that
hev 1ha,IId himself ms dss s<, n Asssu-a with
the policy by which he was foisted to
a place in the political armament.
It is of no use for the front porch or
ator to proclaim that the existing tariff
is not protective. Such contention con-
victs him of either ignorance or men
dacity. Outside Of wool and lumber
there are no important raw materials
in the free list Of the present tariff
law that were not in the same list Of
the Mckinley measure. There is no
manufactured article, at least of con-
sequence, admitted free by the present
law that was taxed by the preceding
law. In order to minimize the opposi-
tion to the bill and comply with what Mr..
Wilson and those associated with him
in preparing the bill. considered the ex-
igencies of the situation; the Wilson
measure as introduced in the house con-
tanned duties distinctively protective all
along the line of manufactured articles.
Mr.. Wilson, though a free trader, was
fearful of being too radical at the out
set. He was mistaken in his fearfulness
and unwise in the concessions he made
to protectionism. Every such conces-
sion afforded precedent upon which
demands for more were predicated. 1t
is difficult to limit the range Of a bad
principle once you turn 1t loose. Ii
was to make the measure more protec-
tive that the long and tedious fight was
waged in the senate by the Republican
senators and seven or eight traitorous
! Democratic members of that body. The
Republicans and the senators who wore
| the livery of Democracy to serve the
| devil of protectionism in. won and the
result was a tariff law, some better thar
McKinley's bleeder, but not in accord
ance with the pledges of the Democratic
! platform of 1892 nor responsive to pop
ular expectations. 1t was SO literally
protective that President Cleveland re.
! fused to afFix his signature and suffered
| it to become a law without executive
! approval.
II the present tariff measure is ere'
trade measure, the Republican tariff
measures ante dating the Mckinley con
| triyance were freer trade measures ant
the Republican, party in its laudation o
them as protective has been lying. Fo
the present tariff is higher than thu
Morrill, war tariff by about so per cent
higher than the tariff of 1883 and tn
highest protective tariff in the world
And the average difference between /
and the Mckinley bill is between ant
10 per cent.
The plea Of the protectionists is 70
duties which will cover the differenc
in the labor cost Of production betweel
this and competing countries. Thi
difference is liberally covered by tn
i.present law in practically every case
The extent to which this difference Il
labor cost has been and is now covere'
is illustrated in the instances of tw
industries suggested by their promi
nsnce, the struggle that labor employe
in them has had to maintain an" "Ameri
can standard of wages" and the recen
migration Of delegations interested i
them to the Mckinley door step. Thes
are the steel and window glass indus
tries. In the course of congressiona
investigation into the merits of the grea
Homestead strike, it was developed tina
the labor cost of making O. ton of ste<
bi,Iets or bloorsis (insots) ranged frol