The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-06-08
PROTECTION AND PROSPERITY


following text The Republican party
points with pride TO the prosperity
which follows theft administration. The
Democratic party answers that pros
perity IL not upon the country because
OF q protective tann law. but IN spite
Of It,"
There was prosperity In the United
states during the -four years Of Repub-
licsn rule ending with the second in
auguration Of Cleveland. The treasury
had a great surplus. the national debt
was being reduced monthly. working
men were busy. the farmers were con-
tent. and capital was finding its way
into all kinds OF business. Then came
the election OF Cleveland, who went into
power on the promise OF a lower tarin,
which, he said, would not only make
living cheaper. but would lengthen the
lines of productive industry. The story
OF disaster which followed is appalling.
Taking alarm at the European compe-
utisn which lower duties invited. A
merican factories closed and discharged
their men. Three million newly made
oroached everywhere. True. certain ar
ticies In COMMON use grew cheaper, but
the scarcely of money kept people from
buying them with anything like the
freedom they enjoyed when prices were
higher and money more plentiful. The
rich man. instead of putting his means
into business and hiring labor, boarded
agtaas MT A.
tional debt ceased and bonds had to b
issued to make good the deficits caused
by the fall.ag of of customs revenues.
Within three years the national debt
increased by quarter of billion dol
lars. There was no way that the Demo-
Gratis could find to restore good times,
and the last winter of the Cleveland
regime saw SO many desperate poor
that charity was strained to the break
ing point. During that season San
Francisco alone had to feed and clothe
1900 people. The next winter, after
the Republicans came In, not more than
5000 were supported. The same com
parison held good In other parts of the
Union.
Kinley promised the people good times
IL they would restore high protective
duties, and thus give the owners of in
vestment capital the confidence of
which low du,les had deprived them.
1t was pointed out that protective
tariff would open the American mills
and factories and re-employ an army
OF idle operatives; 1t would stop the
drain on the treasury; II would disband
the Coxey armies; 1t would once more
make money plentiful. The people be-
lieved the promise, elected Mckinley
restored the higher duties. and pros
perity followed. The day the tariff bill
passed saw bank clearances increase
500, 900. 600. For time there was no
great business for the textile mills, be-
cause American merchants, in the
months before the new Republican Con-
gress met, stocked up with cheap Eu-
ropean goods. AS soon as these import
ed wares were sold prosperity came in
like a tidal wave. The local trade which
Europe had supplied went to American
manufacturers. No such enlivenment
in the iron and textile lines had ever
been seen before. 1t was the same
with agriculture. Overburdened Kansas
lifted one-third of its mortgages the
first year: the whole West revived. And
at the same time, to show how intimate
was the relation between prosperity
and the tarin. certain manufacturing
centers of England, which had so -four
ished on American trade. all but shut
up shop" The complaints from Eng
land were as bitter in McKinley's first
and second year as the complaints from
America had been during Cleveland's
four years.
1t Ii idle to say that prosperity came
in spite of the Republican tariff. 1t was
that measure which gave workingmen
employment and investors confidence;
and without 1t there would have been
neither. We anticipate the answer that
the high price of wheat saved the farm
ers In 1897: but what saved them after
the price Of wheat fell? 1t was nothing
more or less than the increased ability
of the American people. due to the Nc
Kinley revival OF business, to buy farm
products. There was money to spend
and the farmers got their share.
So much for the local Democratic plea
against protection. Tomorrow we will
consider other phases OF the platform.
-<
The San Francisco journals that cry
down the plague are making a pitiab.e
show of themselves. AS We under
stand the case they have surrendered
their consciences to the advertising
merchants and are also trying TO do
small politics against Mayor Phelan,
In point of fact now that the presence
OF the plague in San Francisco is ad
mitted privately on all sides in that
city and publicly charged everywhere
else In California, Mayor Phelan has
made friends by his efforts to safeguard
his fellow-citizens. Sooner or later the
dissenting press will have to confess
its mistake or endure the utter dis