The Saint Paul globe., 1897-05-26
TEMPERATURES.
WORTHY OF IT'S THEME.

WORTHY OF IT'S THEME.
The best and the worst that we can
say of the speech of Senator Aldrieh
yesterday, in introducing the tariff Dill
prepared by the finance committee, IS
that it is worthy of its theme. Its pur-
pose is to Cypress the great body OF the
American people by raising to them the
cost OF the necessaries of life in order
that a special and limited class Of the
people-namely, those engaged in fslan-
facturing industries en- the side ef
capital-should be permitted by law to
add to their profits by taxation. 1t is
What protection always has been; gross
paternalsm, rank favoritism, the op-
preston Of the many for the anefit of
the few. That being the substance and
essence of it, any argument advanced
in it's behalf could not be .itha ar strong
or sincere. The man who pleads for
privilege, and for the powerful as
against the weak, must needs attempt
to make the worse appear the better
reason.
Mr. Aldrieh discounts his sincerity at
the outset, and makes it inevitable that
We should look with suspicion, if not
with contempt, upon his presentation
of the case, by a disregard of truth as
fragrant as it is foolish. II -canno. pos
sfbly deceive any one for the senator 10
enlarge upon the necessity Of revising
our revenue list -'in a conservative
spirit" and to describe the tariff ILL
that it is proposed to put thr ough con-
gress as "a moderate and reasonable
measure" We repeat that this is a
falsehood as fragrant as 1T is foolish,
and, therefore, unworthy C the gentle
man who uttered it and the occasion
to which it was applied. The same ne-
cessity of passing the bounds Ct fact
makes him refer to the act of 1891 as a
violent change and a blow to indus
try when We all know that it red1ceG
the average rates of the Mckinley bill
itself only about per cent. Reiterated
MISREPRESENTATION like this may fool
a small number of people, bui .lIere is
nothing in it in the long rrn.
Taking up now the matter Of the AL
drich report, We find IN it two things
especially that are worthy of note ard
of comment The first IS its frank ron
fession that the protective system has
ceased to be a producer of revenue
and must never be looked upon in The
future in that light. This is absolutely
true, but what a commentary it is upon
every word that Senator AIdrich.s par-
ty has uttered for the last four years.
They have harped upon the enc sub
ject of revenue. All our troubles,
they told US, came from tariff rates that
were too low to produce adequate rev.
enue; hence the treasury deficits gold
exports, bond sales, general depres-
sion, men thrown out of employment
and long train of evils, from which
Wa could be rescued only by restoring
revenue through increased tariff rates.
Now, having been returned to power.
and claiming that this was one of The
issues passed upon by the people, the
Republican leader in the senate, the
personal exponent and representative
of tariff robbery in its extremest FORM
calmly comes to the front and tells us
that a protective tariff canno. he a
revenue producer. He tells us the truth:
but what is the brand that it stamps
upon the whole protection argument as
addressed to the public for the last
four years?
We have only to glance at the fig
ures submitted by Senator Aldrich to
see that the confession forced from him
Is borne out by them. The estimated
expenditures for the fiscal year 1898 are
$466,946s047. and the actual sum will
probably be considerably in excess Of
that amount. Of this great sum the
trainers Of the new tariff bill in the
senate calculate that only $182, IA, 900
Will be brought in by virtue of its
schedules. Even of that moiety about
$32,o00,0OO is expected to be realized
from the taxes en- tea and beer, leay-
dng less than one-tfird of the neces-
sary revenue as the product of pro-
teetive duties. With these figures be-
fore him. Senator Aldrich is Obliged to
say that sin the years to come we must
expect decrease rather than an in
crease in the commercial revenue to he
derived under the principal schedules of
the tariff" Thus is written the epitaph
OF protection as revenue producer.
and thus there falls from the lips Of