The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-18
CONGRESS.
Is Kenyon honest?

To The st. Paul Globe:
The ruling tendencies of American thought
VIII probably be manifested in the result
OF the next congressional elections. 1t is
to be hoped that the tendencies thus revealed
will be such as to merit the deliberate ap-
prevail of mankind. The contending forces
in the electoral canvas now progressing may
be properly, though not with complete &C
! curacy. described as liberalism" and com
mereialism''
Liberalism. championed by the Democratic
party, seeks to maintain and enlarge human
freedom. 1t contends for reliance upon
the natural laws of social evolution rather
than upon artificial plans for directing the
energies of society and upon dangerous ex-
perlments In government. The advocates
of liberalism plead for a restoration of the
natural right Of free commerce, for the abo-
liton OF class privilege and for a policy
like that which prevailed in the early his
tory OF the American republc-a policy
dominated by a reverence for liberty.
The Democracy would tear down the bar
riers which, labeled protection" turn back
the commodities with which the world Of
fers to buy the products of American labor
Such barriers enable certain selfish combina-
lions CT greedy mortals to practice extor-
ton under the guise of patriotism. That ar
rant fraud which demands possession of the
nome market while plundering every
home betrays its true nature by making
that "home market the trade arena where
In 1t sells at the highest price while under
selling abroad the manufacturers against
whom 1t processes an inability to compete
The Democracy, seeking to revive the old
time spirit of American institutions. demands
the abolition Of commercial and industrial
slavery, 1t wages war upon the unholy
combinations which masquerade under the
black mantle labeled trust" It will fight
to the death the abuses which enshroud
with evil miasma the work of the miner, and
have added to the industrial vocabulary the
hateful term Sweat shop
Legislation proposed and advocated by the
Democracy seeks to remand society to the
| control Of natural laws. It's scope does not
| embrace the theory Of bribing some one by
the granting of special privileges, to so in
vest his capital or mould his enterprises as
to supply some supposed benefit to the COM
monwealth By the so-called protective
policy" the Republican party lures capitai
into manufacturing operations. Such opera
lions are either naturally profitable or un-
| profitable
| If profitable they need no announcement.
If Improbable, q losing venture is imposed
! as burned upon the productive energies of
| society. A protective tariff is tax AS the
Democratic congressional platform adopted
at the convention held in the Fourth district.
APPLY and sententiously says: mo tax ever
created wealth. On the contrary, taxes al
ways consume wealth. Were the total
economic losses sustained by the human race
under the operation of protection" computed
the sum total would exceed the present wealth
OF any civilized country. The greatest evil
of the protective system Of tariff duties Is
that they rest with crushing weight upon the
consumer. Such duties create condition
| wherein man pays tribute according to the
measure OF his own personal needs and not
in proportion to his means nor to the service
rendered him by the government A man
with large family, though poor pays more
tax and subsidy than richer man with q
small family. The burden is cast upon the
poor. f7t-
A protective tariff also has the result of
unjustly distributing the wealth produced by
labor. During the last quarter of a century
the states west Of the Allegheny mountains
nave produced vast preponderance of all
| the economic wealth which has resulted from
the toll Of the masses. Naturally, we should
expect to learn that those states had been
growing rich more rapidly than the others
and that the per capita increment of annual
gains in wealth doomed up grandly as COM
pared to that disclosed by the census re-
turns gathered in the Atlantic states Sucb
Is not the fact. Strangely enough, the re-
verse Is true. Wealth does not stay VIII ere
1t is produced. Those who produce the wealth
nave 1t not. No, they are less prosperous
than their brethren in New England New
York and New Jersey. The latter are lend
ing money and the Western farmer. mechanic
and tradesman are borrowers. Their East
ern brethren collect the major portion of the
nations annual increment of wealth and then
| lend 1t at interest to the real producer and
the justly entitled to its ownership. This
| injustice, silently, but surely hlching wealth
from the bounteous West. has produced
grieYous hardships. AS the cause was not
| evident, the discomfort naturally arising from
| these haTdships found expression in various
political movements not always based unOn
scientific or even an Intelligent theory. For
| example, the "subtreasury" scheme for
| storing cereals and the various plans of
| monetary imitation may be traced to this
blind, unreasoning. yet justly existing dis
| content
The people of the entire country are also
Justly. enraged at the conduct Of the pro
tected'' manufacturers in assocating them
| selves together in vast combinations which
limit the output Of factory products fix an
extortonate price thereon and plumber the
consumer most relentlessly. The tariff has
| built up these combinations. It is the trusty
servant Of the trusts" 1t shelters them
| from the only competition which they are
powerIess to destroy. All of the interests
disregard of the rights of labor. They are
labor oppressors. The formation of a new
trust is always followed by a procedure
which the managers call "the introduction
Of certain economies" Among these "econo-
| mics" we always find a reduction of wages
AS they prosecute their operations they close
certain factories to decrease the general out
put and discharge a great number OF en-
ployes. Meanwhile the laborer finds the
price of all trust products raised while
his own wages either decline or cease. Can
it be wondered at that labor is Disconnected =?
In the year 1882 the protected" iron works
of Andrew Carnegie witnessed bloody COM
bat. Recently the owners of bitumincus coaI
mines in the state Of Illinois, wishing to
realize more and more Of the financial fruits
of protection" cut down the wages Of the
miners to the starvation point, undertook to
import negro workmen from Southern states,
and a bloody riot ensued. What a com
mentory these frightful scenes upon the
whole system Of protective tariff laws!
Republican legislation plumbers the farmer
the artisan and all other consumers to pour
wealth into the Golfers of the manufactures
and the mine owner. The benefciaries of
thta policy organize the trusts and hagel-
late the laborer. While engaged In these
highly dubious pursuits they loftily style
themselves "the business interests of the
country" Under that title they demand the
control of legislation. The spirit which they
display their cupidity and their arrogance,
find acquiescence only because OF the spirit
| Of commercialism which the Republican lead
ers have unwisely fostered. The Democracy,
| seeking to elevate the man above the dollar
to liberate the industrial masses from q
grinding bondage, asks, in the name of lib
eralism, the control Of the next congress.
| u Democrat.
| st. Paul, Oct. IT, 1898.