Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-05-21
Tariff d" Prosperity

VI N''' Ns'N' i'itt ~ - 'b'''N "a
solely to activity in mining operations.
Never before has there lrrn such Il
trend towards Development "i the hid
den treasures oi thr earth ana it fol
lows IL curollary that never before
has a greater degree OF success been
attained in discovery and development
OF this leading resource oi our mineral
laden coast.
These premonitory signs OF business
activity, although yet so faint a> al
most to bc undiSccrnibic, have been
seized upon by the alert politician to
signalizc that approach OF the van
guard OF prosperity So confidently pre-
dicted rs a result OF victory OF the Re-
publican party in the late contest.
This is not surprising. 1t was, indeed,
to have been expected. 1t is in keep
ing with the usual illogical and far
fetched reasoning of the professional
politician, whose business it is to
watch the horizon and the armament
for signs and wonders that may be
construed, like the rawlings of the Del
phian oracle, into portents which suit
the ruler in the temple.
To claim that tariff tinkering has
had anything to do with this glimmer
OF better times, is simply preposterous.
1t has had and will have no more ef-
feet than the election of Mckinley
had in restoring confidence" In
fact, renewal of the gold-standard
compact has perpetuated the condi-
tlons which have environed business
the past few years and riveted the
chains that will bind industry and
enterprise till the close OF the century.
Just as surely as like produces like in
nature, so will the same conditions
produce the same results in the politi-
cal and commercial transactions of
our people.
1t seems indeed strange that, with
the bitter experience the people had
passed through, the popular verdict at
the polls should have been recorded in
favor of policy that has been at
tended with such widespread ruin; for
aside from the frauds practiced at the
polls, it must be admitted that many
wage-earners, from one cause or an
other, supported the moneyed power
in its effort to maintain "corner" on
the more precious metal. That they
were deluded by just such sophistry
as is now attempted to make people
believe that prosperity can be secured
by further taxation, seems to be the
most reasonable solution of the anon
ally, but it literally eradicates the idea
which formerly prevailed that exper-
fence and observation were infallible
teachers.
Protection of American industry"
is splendid slogan; it sounds well
to the ear and looks we'll in print;
and there is no reason why it should
not have lulled the senses to sleep
when it was first used as the rallying-
cry of party which had not had an
opportunity to show by its acts the
wide difference between a theoretical
advocacy of an apparently praise-wor-
thy principle and practical results
when applied as after-election prom
ises. The effect of protection is seen
in the accumulation of colossal for
tunes and the formation of trusts that
have controlled the wages of labor
with an iron hand and eliminated in
the entertainment of capital behiud
ramparts that are impregnable, even
against individual citizenship armed
with the weapon that was supposed by
the founders of the government to be
an ample safeguard of free institu-
tions-the ballot. Protection of Amer
lean industry, experience has demon
strated, ends with larger profits for
manufacturers without correspond
ing increase of the wage rate of labor.
1t is protection OF capital and not of
industry. 1t is really a tax upon in.
dustry in the enhanced cost of all ar
ticles of necessity included in the tariff
schedule.
As indicating the quality of the
judgment exercised by the party which
has made Protection" its shibboleth,
let us refer to a few items of that emf
nently Republican measure, the Nc.
Kinley bill of 1890. A most casual
examination of this list shows that
the interests of the moneyed class
were carefully conserved by the leaders
OF the party, whatever may have been
the intent OF the rank and file. Proba-
bly, they we're not let into the secret,
but the result was the same. Take,
for instance, sealskin saques, which
are generally worn by the well.to.do
or the rich, and duty of 30 per cent.
ad valorem was considered the proper
msodicum for its possessor to pay to the
general government, whether as trib-
ute to American or foreign dealers.
In the same schedule, wooden clothing,
worn by the wage-earner and his FAM
lily, was rated at 49a cents per pound
and 60 per cent. ad valorem. Dia-
monds, an article of adornment, worn
almost exclusively by the rich, could
be imported free in the rough, and
only the small margin of ten per cent.
nd Vdl0reDl was impOsed when cut for