Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-24

| ments, whether they be true or not, to
| the people Of Ohio, to be decided at the
I ballot box next November. The farm
| ers, laboring people and business men
| know better the true condition than the
! politicians, and cannot be fooled any
longer, and when prosperity does come,
it will need no heralding by orators or
newspapers. The people will realize ii
in the comforts of their homes, and the
! jingle of something substantial in their
| pockets.
For many years Republicans have
claimed that there is something in the
monetary affairs of our country and
in the questions of tariff and taxation
that are mysterious, which the plain
people cannot understand, and that
only the few have any right to con-
slider From my investigation, l find
there is nothing in these questions
that any man or women Of good intel
]igence cannot comprehend and should
not understand. First, take the tariff
question The Republicans have ar
gued that consumers do not pay the
duties that are levied upon imported
goods, but since that question has
been discussed and the people inform
ed, there is no one now who has the
courage to contend that consumers do
not pay ali the duties upon imported
| goods, no matter how high Or low they
may be. The right to levy taxes in
any form either by the general govern
| mont, State, or municipal, no matter
! in what form assessed, does not exist
except for the purpose of raising reve-
nue. to pay the necessary and legiti-
! mate expenses. carefully. prudently
and economically administered.
In my opinion, the tariff question is
one that can be rightfully and honest
ly adjusted in the interests of the
whole people There are only two
! ways of raising revenues under our
| laws; one by internal revenue, and the
other duties on imports. After ascer-
tanning the amount that can be raised
! from the internal revenue, the balance
| should be levied in the form of duties
on imports with a view to revenue
only, and ought to be levied upon
| luxuries mot prohibitory) with the
view of raising the largest amount of
revenue. and causing the burdens to
fell chiefly upon the wealth of the
| country. To illustrate: take all classes
! of high priced goods that the wealthy
| consume-follow this line down until
| you nave raised the necessary amount
/ to support and maintain the govern
| ment. Such tariff would be Just and
equitable to all classes and would not
make millionaires at the expense Of
! the people, as has been the case under
! all tariff laws that have existed since
; the war.
: In my experience in manufacturing
! IN the past thirty years, | have never
: known protected manufacturer to pay
. higher prices for common labor than
an unprotected one working the same
/ class of labor side by side; but organ
! lied and skilled labor in the various
! industries, by reason Of their organiza-
! ton, have been able to obtain higher
wages than they otherwise would have
| done had their organizations not ex-
| listed.
In the discussion of the tariff cues
ton last year, we were told it was the
home markets that were desired for
! prosperity. Now, but for the foreign
demand for our cereals, where would
our markets be? What would be the
prices? This of itself absolutely de-
stroyes the theory of home markets
alone, giving us higher prices. In the
/ year 1896 our home consumption of
wheat was twenty-five millions of
bushels less than in the year 1895, with
largely increased population caused
by the people not having the labor to
earn money to buy the bread they had
been accustomed to using (and this
year the loss will be still greater.) The
same is true with reference to every
other article of food and clothing used
by the millions of the laboring classes
OF the country; not that they need
less of these things to make their fam
lilies comfortable and happy, but thew
have not the money and can not OBJ
tain the labor to get it to supply their
necessary wants.
On the question of State and munich
! pal taxation every good citizen believes
that great reforms are needed. To do
this, however, it is necessary to select
! honest, upright and competent men for
all public positions.
Our Republican friends ask that we
explain the rise in the price of wheat.
| and the fall in the price of silver in the
! markets OF the world, claiming that we
/ argued last year that the price of an
! ounce OF silver and bushel of wheat
had kept close together for long per-
iod OF time. This was true so long as
the conditions remained the same, but
a change has taken place, which think
| explains all.
| In proof of this, examine the table
from 1878 to 1898, prepared by the gov
! eminent, which shows how wheat and
cotton kept pace with the price of sill
| yer IN the markets, wheat going down
from Sl.31 in 1875, to 50 cents in 1899.
silver from $1.29 in 1873, to rs cents in
1893, then the Sherman bill was re-
pealed: but since then conditions have
changed relative to the use of silver as
! money.
AS commodities, wheat and silver are
| governed by the same laws as other
things, supply and demand. A de-
| mand for wheat exists by reason of
| the famine in India and the short crops
in Europe, which is the sole cause of
It's advance and cannot be denied nv
| any one, and as soon as normal con-
| dluons again exist in other countries
| the price of wheat as we'll as other
farm products that have risen will de-
| cline until there is a change in orr
financial policy. Some time ago T said
| TO reporter of Cincinnati paper