The Irish standard., 1900-04-21
PUBLIC PULsATIoNs.
Porto Rican Tariff Bill.
To the Editor OF the Irish Standard

To the Editor OF the Irish Standard:
The passage OF the Porto Rican tariff
law by congress last week demonstrates
three things: First, that the Mckinley
administration, as far as domestic pol
icy is concerned, is an administration
"of the trusts, by the trusts and for the
trusts" Second, as to foreign policy,
Mr. Mckinley intends initiating the ex-
amples OF the "Robber nation Eng
land" by disregarding rights or treaties
and plundering weaker peoples when
ever and wherever the opportunity pre-
scnts itself Third, that nothing, how
ever rank, villainous and anti-American,
can be undertaken by the administra-
ton, but will find champions among its
supporters.
No ringmaster ever had more COM
plcte control of his performers than
Boss Hanna seems to have OF Mckinley
and the Republican majority in con-
gress. When Porto Rico was trans
ferred to this country, the people of that
unfortunate island welcomed us and
thought they were coming into the
union of states. The people of this
country thought so. The members of
congress thought so. Mr.. Mckinley
thought so, and in December last stated
i'll his message to congress that "Our
plain duty is to abolish all customs tar
ifs between the United States and Por-
to Rico" The representatives of the
sugar and tobacco trusts went to their
chief, Dictator Hanna, and said: "This
man OF yours, Mckinley, was wrong in
his message in December; if the sugar
and tobacco of Porto Rico are admitted
to this country free of duty our profits
will not be large enough to make the
proper contributions to the Republican
campaign fund that we must rely on to
re-elect him." The master of.the show
becomes convinced OF the truth of their
statement He waves his hand, cracks
his whip, and the trained ones in con-
gross, while a few demur, begin the
somersault and land squarely in oppo-
sition to the principle that taxation
without representation is tyranny"
Thank God, the Republican press Of the
country is not quite as dead to Ameri-
can principles as the trust-serving Nc
kinley and the Republican majority in
congress. If they will only continue
their opposition until next November,
they will have served their country WE'LL
But as stated above, we find part of
the Republican press so cankered with
partisanship that with them it is Re-
publicanism, not of Lincoln's kind, but
of McKinley's kind, first, and American
patriotism afterward. We find in their
editorials such expressions as the fol-
lowing: Congress has established a
precedent in the adjustment OF the af-
fairs OF our acquired possessions that
will govern future legislation for the
Philippines" the new law destroys the
Bourbon illusion that the provisions OF
the constitution operate in all sections
where the flag is raised; it demonstrates
the right of congress to regulate the
relations between the United States and
its outlying provinces, unhampered by
the so-called rights OF their inhabitants;
the tariff provisions in the bill are OF
small consequence compared with the
right to impose tariff; it is principle
OF infinite Importance in the intelligent
handling OF our new colonies" ETC., etc.
1t is hard to characterize in proper
terms the cant, pretense and hypocrisy
that will produce such stuff as the FORE
going. They pretend to be Americans
and at the same time hold that the Nc
Kinley administration has right to dis
regard the principles upon which the
American government was founded.
| According to their doctrine, taxation