Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1897-09-23
THE AMERICAN TARlFF---AND AFTER.


tHrlu Hill mas iibpn nhssou ny IHe |
House Of Representatives. by $50 votes |
20 lis, so that House and Senate hare |
been brought into agreement, and
Another tariff statute will he added
TO the long list pissed from time to
time, by Congress. Into the minute
noints of difference between the two
Houses, involving scores OF complex
details, it is impossible to enter On
some points the Senate gave way, on
some points the House abandoned its
position, and the result is com.
promise partly due, NO doubt, TO the
general desire to end the session and to
got away from the extreme summer
heat of Washington. But when We
speak OF compromise we must not he
understood as meaning substantial
compromise between high tariff men
and revenue refnrmers. This bill was
originally high prntectionist measure,
and such it remains The duties on
agricultural products are practically
the same as those of the Mckinley act
of 1890. The harbarity of taxing paint
ing and statuary is incorporated. The
Sugar Trust has, in the main, carried
its points, though the Senate has given
way On low grade sugar, and the
reciprocity treaty with Hawaii, which
concerns the Sugar Trust intimately,
.s retained. Az regards the wool
section, tho Mckinley policy is re-
vived, thus involving dearer clothing
for the mass of the people. ln short.
speaking generally, We may say that
the new act, which ia to come into
| operation Mt once, is revival OF the
| policy with which the name of the
present President is SO closely asso
ciated
| Now, it is certain that this now
measure was nat generally and ve-
hemently demanded. Tens of thousands
of votes were cast last year for the Re.
publican party solely because of the
free silver issue. Business men we've
afraid OF Bryauite victory as dis.
turning to finance and trade; working
| men Tin very large numbers at any
rats) feared that prices would gu up
and wages, paid in deprecated cur
rency, would go down. Many ip-
dependent votera who sympathized
with the Western farmers nevertheless
disapproved Of their remedies. Not one
OF these voted for Mr.. Mckinley be.
cause he desired any extreme tariff
Legislation. To do Mr., Mckinley him-
self Justice. he dwelt largely in most OF
mis- numerous speeches on the necessity
for high tariff. partly because ne
seems to believe in it, partly tn cover
up the awkward fact that he had, not
long before, advocated free silver from
his seat in Congress. But, apart from
Mr.. McKinley's personal utterances,
there is no doubt that the campaign
was fought, and the Republican victory
won, not on the prutectionst, but on
the general currency issue.
II was open, therefore, to the Repub-
licans to have accepted the manifest
feeling of tnnir composite body Of sup
porters, and, while Of course adhering
to their protectionist principles, to
have given the Wilson act fair trial
and to have passed short measure
making up the deficit 10 the revenue
which that act had entailed 1t was
understood that this course had the
approval of Mr. Reed, the Speaker oil
the House OF Representatives himself
moderate protectionist, and by far
the ahlest man of the party. But q
raveat was entered against any such
policy by the power which really rules
Congress and which has, for a time al
least, very firm grip on the American
people. This power is that of organized
|
by the trusts and rings OF monopolists.
1t was this power which secured the
nomination of Mr.. Mckinley against
even the regular wirepullers of the
party. Long trains Of palace cars
brought the great monopolists and
their agents TO st. Louis at the time Of
the Republican conventions, and these
representatives of predominant in
, terests, under tho guidance of Mr..
(now Senatorl Hanna, decided the
nomination, and probably the policy
IF the party as we'll. Every great trust
was then directly represented, and tht
subscription which came into the
, campaign fund were taken direct froiG
the big corporations and syndicates
large levies being actually made in
many instances. The revival OF thu
high tariff policy is the return made
! to the trusts for their support then. il
is, 10 word, the payment of debt
Ever since the Civil War ended thu
, moneyed mon of the United State!
have chung like lesehas to the Reuub
: lican party, whose policy of protection
, and Capitalization suited them; bu
. never before has the complete domi
a nation of the party by huge monetary
interests been made 40 ralpable to thu
average man. Congress has practically
/ been ordered Ia protect the trusts. anc
, it has obeyot. There has this tint
been M pretence even of protecting thu
I American wurkmen against the "paupal
labor of Europe. while 1t goas with
I out saying that tho old talk ahou
Infant Industries has perforce beer
r abandoned. We find protection in it!
/ final stage, in its bare mercenary
, | aspect, stripped of the old pretensnn,
and EXCUSES, such as writer's like j. s.
. Mill admitted, and reduced to it's las
+. analysis as a means OF enabling wealth,
corporations to levy trinnte on tht
masses, and to use tho powers o
1 government for adding to their airead,
enormous piles.
/ The American people are, as many o
their writers have pointed ont, patien
and long suffering. They permit many
things which Englishman scarcel,
! tolerats, because it takes TOO muct
: trouble to sweep them away, and lie
cause business ia so all.pervaunl
and omnipotent that few f:ud time IL
4 make the public veal their own private
n cause. But when the American peoplt
do rise they are apt TO be swift ant
; sudden, like the cyclones OF thei
q prairies, and it is awkward for thos
who stand in their way. 1t seems Il
us that this latest audRcious enterprise
of the trusts is not uni6ely TO brin!
, its Nemesis. Workmen who see that |
q very slight alteration in tho suga
schedules puts millions into the Golfer
n OF the Sugar Trust are not likely TO hI
= under the delusion that protection il
adopted for their good. People VIII