The times., 1897-06-08
After the Tariff. wbate

a measure TO be called a tariff bill, an.
will send it over to Thomas Brackett Reet
to see what lie may think of it. Their
is nothing to prevent his referring it Il
the Ways and Means Committee with order'
not to take any further notice of it unit
do that, unless the Spanish bondholdef.
and the Sugar Trust should stir Linn uI
TO block the tariff, in order TO force che
Administration to abandonment OF any
decent Cuban policy it might have in con
temptation. de from that danger
it is very likely that he Will do what he
can to the Senate in conference, and afford
his White House partner the proudest rlo
rlent OF bis life, as he plucks tailfeathsr
from the moribund and somew what de-
composed American Eagle, makes pen
OF it., aad signs the document.
Then what? A high Republican author
itS assumes Us in coniiConoe, mat, but ton
announcement Of the fact i'll the press
nobody ever would know that tariff bill
Lad passed for any Improvement that VIII
| There is hardly any money III the country
and excessive taxation, combined with
rapidly increasing currency contraction,
viii reduce the volume of what little
remains in circulation. Every day the
masses are falling deeper and deepe I
into debt, misery and despair. Coldi
tiOns must be extreme when men liS. the
godly WaDamaker say: II cannot sit TN
/ fence with stiff wind blowing and
whistle for prosperity, the vanished bird
OF beautiful pIimage, TO come back.
! The 20 WIDER Of patriotism is wet with the
tears OF the suffering unemployed
Neither the Administration nor the Repub-
Iican party is Oblivious to the hopeless
ness Of the tariff as a means OF restoring
prosperity. seasonable variation of the
! Old game OF chasing the rainbow already
! Is in preparation. As soon us the trusts
and monopolies get the tariff they bar
| gained for when they were held up by
| Mr. Hanna for the sixteen -miilion-dolIar
education fund, we shall be told that
! all the country needs now is a reform of
| the currency; and a precious type of re-
| fern it is that the powers are cooking.
! They do not make it public; they know bet
! ter than to DO so. They are afraid Of the
! people, or are beginning to be. II they
were as much SO as they Will have reason
| to be within a short time, they would
abandon the project. But there are cam
paign debts due to Wall street, not In
| cludcd in the tariff settlement with the
| trusts They, too, must be liquiddted in Or
der to virdicate the business mana cement
of the latest national campaign.
Before the election we were promised
immediate prosperity TO follow Republican
l,yictory, because that would restore con
fidence and squirt rivers Of money through
the arteries OF industry, trade and COM
merce. But Secretary OF the Treasury
Gage declared in his Cincinnati speech
that times had not improved. He also
said that they would improve at some
future time not stated, In consequence OF
certain measures OF reform which were
to be applied to the currency. He did not
then, and does not now, describe them
Both be and the President dare not tell
what is at the bottom Of the scheme; they
are afraid OF the people.
What Mr.. Gage vaguely suggests is suf-
ficiently Indicative Of the plan. He says
that, after the passage Of the tariff bill,
he favors calling in trained financiers OF
eminenoe who tan construct currency
system of complete acceptabiIity to those
Interested, and report 1t to the Congress
at The regular session. Not to make a
long story how viii this bring prosperity.
or lead to it? The answe is an easy one
Tue scheme of the monetary commission
to which the Administration is committed,
is Wall street scheme, carefully prepared
formulated and agreed upon before Wall
street contributed to the sixteen-miIliou-
dollar fund. 1t has for It's central object
the retirement of the greenbacks, and the
substitution for them of national bank
notes The general purpose OF the IN we
ment Is firmly to fasten the last unit CT
American financial power in the ha nds Of
the syndicated banking and bond inter hsts
Then it is assumed that we will have Dros-
perity Repeal OF the purchasing clause
Of the Sherman act did not bring it; de-
monetization did not; Mckinley pros
perity'' did not; it is admitted that the
protective tariff will not; but we are ad-
rnonished that to take from us the last
inch of leverage the people have against
financial oppression certainly viii.
Out OF the wreckage Of a great nation
the salvage that would fall to the sharks
might bring them prosperity. For the
rest of US, It would amount to exactly the
prosperity that has blessed the pacificos
In Cuba; the prosperity of being starved
to death by the Weylers Of Wall street and
London
While American charity Is being So
licited for the benefit of the Greeks, 1t