Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1897-08-05
The Tariff Issue Shelyed.
Philadelphia Press J

Philadelphia Press.
With the passage of the Dingley bill
thetariff questionis settled forth present.
For twenty years after the war it was not
Il commanding and vivid issue. The
great war debt and the large demand fol
revenue induced general acQuiescence In a
strong taiiff policy. But from 1887, when
Mr.. Clevelands free trade message came
like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, 1t
has been present, vital and overshadow-
ing theme of controversy. Three Presi-
Dental elections have been fought over 1t;
tie tides of battle have ebbed and flowed
with varying impressions; public feeling
has been capricious and changing;and after
ten years of struggling, the protective tar
if policy prevails and is substantially ac-
cepted as fixed settlement.
Until conditions change it is not likely
to be distinct and contested party issue
as it has been. Practical experience has
been fatal to the free trade policy. Until
1898 the low tariff or free trade propaganda
was only theory. With many it was a
delusion. Its allurements fascinated doc
trinaires and Missionaries. But for the past
four years we have had practical test OF
this warfare upon rational protective tar
if and the actual experiment has been dis
.-l.-..z al, tl,oora4;no1 obipooro This
experience has gone very far to dissolve
the opposition to the policy of protection,
and it explains how the Dingeley bill has
been passed with so little resistance and
why it is accepted with such general acqui
escence.
The attitude of a large proportion ofthe
Democratic members of Congress was sig
niicant of the changed sentiment on this
subject. The corner stone of Mr.. Cleve-
lands message was the principle of free
raw materials. But that principle was
practically repudiated by the Democrats in
dealing with the Dingley bill. Mr.. Bailey
the accepted Democratic leader of the
House, distinctly and explicitly rejected
if. Many of his associates concurred with
him. In the Senate very considerable
element of the Democrats took the same
position; they went SO far as to vote 10 I'd
vor of taking cotton off from the free list
In dealing with almost every other article
they followed the same general course, and
it cannot be said that they made stand
for free raw materials at any point. Their
opposition was simply perfunctory and the
only contests we're those which involved
more adjustments citrate and detail and
not any issue of principle.
The bill which has been passed uhder
such circumstances and amid such condi-
tons is likely to stand until new situation
shall require changes under the necessity
of securing revenue from other sources.
Like all tariffs, it is necessarily somewhat
experimental. 1t may or may not provide
sufficient revenue the first year. After
that there is every reason to believe that it
will be adequate until the industries it de-
velops shall reach such proportions as will
greatly diminish imports and so reduce
revenue. If the hopes as to the culture Of
beet sugar shall be realized, the time will
come when this country will largely supply
its own sugar and be far less dependent on
the foreign product. The sugar schedule
is one of the great features of the bill as a
revenue producer, and such revolution
would necessitate readjustment of reve-
nue. legislation in order to assure the
needed income. The same thing may be
measurably true of other schedules. But
that contingency can be met when it
arises. For the present the Dingley bill is
a settlement and the public sentiment of
the country halls it as such.