The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-01-03
An IneNcusablc Measure.

Nobody has any doubt that tn
president will veto the new tariff bill
which has passed the house and is nov
before the senate. Nor is there an.
; fair chance for doubt that it ought t.
be vetoed. There can be nothin!
worse for business than Temporal.
tariff" which il all this Processes t.
be. creating disturbance and unscttc
ment without settling anything, com
polling all industries for the secone
time within two years to adjust them
selves to now conditions with tht
certainty that they must go through
the same process again at the end o
eight or lS or 80 months which arc tho
times TO which the new tariff is linn
tied.
There car be no excuse for such d
measure except pressing revenue needs
of government, which do not exist
now In the first place the treasury
now has a surplus of some $40, 600, OOC
above the 100000, 600 that should
be the gold reserve, and the bond
issue which is coming within a few
days ia order to get gold to protect this
| reserve. will raise the surplus by az
much rs the issue figures. If the bond
issue Is 800, 900, 600 it will put 1870,
| O00, 600 into the treasury, leaving Il
surplus Of $40, 600, 600 above the gold
reserve. This is enough to cover any
possible deficiency in the revenues for
five years to come. And as no one can
know or calculate accurately until the
return of normal times, what the normal
awaits of the Wilson tariff will be, it
is not at all impossible,o or even unlike
y. that all this $40, 600, 600 will be IA
useless and embarrassing surplus,
handicapping businss by ithdrawing
so much money from circulation. The
only excuse for the bond issue is the
necessity of getting gold. which the
government can get in no other way,
to secure the greenbacks. To pile on
more taxation on the country, in adj
dltion to this. is absolutely without
sense or reason. Even if it we're
necessary, perfectly easy and plain
way to do it. without injury to any
body except the great brewing interest,
would be to add 81 a barrel to the tax
on beer, which would yield Just about
the amount that it is claimed the
proposed tariff changes will yield,
The simple fact is that under the
thin prctensc of revenue need" the
leaders are trying to steal
a march back to Mckinleyism and are
doing it in the most injurious way
possible.
No one imagines for a moment that |
their tariff additions are temporary, -
except to temporarily meet the
rlamors of greedy interests and to
afford standing ground for further in
;reascs at the expiration of tho periods
stipulated in the bill
1t is their right, if they want to re-
establish McKinleism, to fight the pres
mi years campaign on that issue and
hen if they win to 60 about it with
thorough and systematic revision of the
ariff according to their ideas. and do it
Ill at once instead of by piecemeal. Now
While they claim the Wilson tariff, be-
ides being too low. to be wrong and
as it is to some degree.
hey propose to agravatc the wrong
nd inconsistency by q horizontal in
rease.
But of course they don't expect to
ccomplish any such thing. They are ;
imply playing politics. and trying
o satisfy the trusts and stimulate
contributions with bill E
'hich they don't expect the president
. sign and know that he ought not to :
ign. They may learn the lesson |
'hich has been taught a good many S
ines in the past few years. that there S
} such thing as being over shrawd S
i politics. I