Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-20

Representative Dingley Thinks Rev.
enue Will Fall $780, 900, 900 Short.
due 10 ANfICIPArORY APPROPRIATIONS
Though the Government VIII Be
Short, People Enjoy Prosperity.
RESULT OF PROTECTION

Representative Nelson Dingley, whose
! name is SO intimately associated with the
present tariff law, wrote the following let
| ter to the New York World and it was
| published in the edition of yesterday:
LEWISTON. Ne, September is.
There seems to be concession on all
sides that genuine revival of business has
| set in during the past two months, which
promises gradual but solid Improvement
until the country reaches the great pros
| perity of the period from 1879 to 1893.
Whether this sudden change from dis
trust to confidence. from lethargy to ac-
| tivity, Is the result Of alternat ing tenden-
cies of human nature from hope that grows
| Until 1t topples to fear that increases until
| It has spent its force and gives place again
to confidence. or of the defeat of the
| scheme to depreciate our standard money,
or of dollar wheat, OF the settlement of
| the tariff question and return to the pro-
tectlye policy, or. is undoubtedly the
case, OF all these causes combined. the fact
that this country has again started on the.
road to prosperity from which 1t was SO
o1sastrously thrown early In 1885,; can no
longer be denied
While it is undoubtedly true as has been
so well said by Speaker Reed Gin his letter
IL the World last Sunday that the pri-
mary causes of the swing of the business
pendulum from activity end boom to Ieth-
Grgy and depression are to be found in the
alternating tendencies of human nature
from the height of confidence to the ex-
treme OF diStrust. yet, as justly recognized
| by that eminent statesman on the one
hand these tendencies are FASTENED and in
tensiffed. or on the other hana deferred and
| modified by many influences, some of which.
| IKE the currency and the tariff, are under
| the control of legislation.
Mckinley Coincidents
Ii Is more than coincidence that the be-
! ginning of industrial and business depres-
sion was Immediately after 1t became
known that the presidential ard congress
! sional elections of 1892 had resulted in the
| complete triumph of men pledged to over
| throw the policy of protection and that the
! beginning of industrial and business re-
| Cooperation was Immediately after it was
settled that the policy of protection would
be restored.
| And it is inevitable that the change from
such policy to the policy of encouraging
nome production ana manufacture deter
mined upon at the recent session of Con-
gress, would tend to dispel distrust and
establish confidence in the future, start idle
| Industries, open up new opportunities for
| labor, increase the purchasing power of the
! masses. enlarge the demand for products.
raise, or at least tend TO raise, prices to a
paying point and promote the prosperity of
all classes.
And these results are quickened and
strengthened bv the conviction among bus
mess men that the scheme to depreciate the
| currency was given a fatal blow by the re-
suit of the elections of last November. and
also by the concurrent rise in the price of
wheat and other farm products.
| Dollar Wheat Not Likely to Last.
1t is probable that dollar wheat is not to
| be expected in the future, when the wheat
| crop is abundant, for the reason that the
| reduced cast of handling wheat by ma
| chinery and the competition of Russia and
Argentine make it possible in ordinary
years to profitably grow wheat at a lower
| price. But wheat and other farm products
| will not be as low as they have been in the
past four years of depression for the SIM
| pie reason that the restoration Of the pur-
chasing power of our people means an in
crease of consumption and consequent
| maintenance of better prices.
And with this demonstration that the
prices of farm products, as we'll as of
/ everything else. are made by the cost of
production and supply on the one hand
and demand on the other nand. and not by
the price of silver, the 16 TO 1 free-silver
| fallacy will be dealt so serious a blow. that
| it must eventually give way 10 the teach
| iLgs of Experience, just the fiat-money
| fallacy gave way in lS19-So ID the object
| lesson of the Vivifyirg effects of a return
| to sound money.
II is perhaps too much to expect that the
| 10 TO l silver fallacy viii not be an issue ia
| the congressional elections of next year,
| especially it, as is probable wheat is lower
next year than now and the free-silver
leaders are able tC maintain their holdson
the democratic party. But the importance
of making end of this source of dis
trust and mischief is so great that the bust
ness men of the country will be found as
solid in opposition to this fallacy as they
were last year.
No More Tariff Agitation.
There is no good reason TO believe that
we shall have another tariff agitation to
disturb the business of the country for
| many years. In the first place. the pro-
tective tariff just passed has been enacted
so early in President McKinley's admins
tration that any attempt to repeal it would
be useless for four years to come
In the second place, the industrial and
business interests of the country, after the
experiences of tariff agitation which they
had the past four years, will demand tariff
repose.
And in the third place. before any efrec-
tive steps could be taken to .revolutionize
the tariff. our industries and business will
be so thoroughly adjusted 10 the new tariff
and will have before them SO complete
demonstration of it's beneficence in ccm-
parison with the results of the tariff of
1884, that any attempt to carry an election
against protection would be futile
There can be no doubt that the protec-
1--WE pohcy is stronger today than it has
ever been before in the history of this
country. IL any one doubts this let him in
tervfew the average citizen as he meets
him. and he will find abundant evidence
That protection has come TO STAY
Our Big Revenue Deficit.
There has been an earnest effort on the
part Of the enemies Of protection to dis
credit the new tariff because it has not as
yet, and will not for some months, yield
adequate revenue to provide for the ex-
penditires of the government as its
friends declared must be the case until
the effect of anticipatory impo-tations
should be overcome. :.
What took place during the four months
the tariff bill was being considered in the
Senate Is well known. Not far from $780,
100000 worth of merchandise in excess of
the amount imported in the same period of
the previous year was imported In advance
OF any demand for consumption, simply for
the purpose of avoiding the payment of
the new. or Increased, duties provided by
the pending bill for the purpose of in
creasing the revenue.
II the new bill had not been pending
not one dollar Of this one hundred millions
would have been imported after July "a,
and the So, 100000 paid in duties at this
rates of the old law prior to July nd
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