The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-09-04
To Control the trusts The Tariff
Must be Repealed.

Washington, August 330.-Ihe great
steel strike. however it may result,
will certainly tend to increase the
pressure that will be brought to bear
at the next session OF Congress to
compel tie Republicans to consent to
the reduction Of tie tariff to such an
extent as will deprive such tariff fed
trusts as the steel combination OF the
undue protection they now receive.
1t is perfectly clear TO any one reason
ABLY conversant with public affairs,
that the whole tariff system Of the
country is honeycomned with abuses.
In the adjustment of the different
schedules, the question has not been
how much does a certain industry re-
ouire to equalize the labcr cost OF pro
duction here and abroad. but pratlcal-
lv each leading industry has been per-
mitted to fix its own rates.
The fact is notorious that IN TIE
framing Of tie Mckinley law the Re
publican majority simply yieled to the
strongest pressure all along the line,
and The same is true of the Dingleyy
Law. As matter Of course. the more
powerfully organized industries can
always bring the most potent lnf1u-
ences to bear, thus securing the lion S
share of the advantages: but the de-
mands of all the different industries
must be recognized in goodly degree,
in order to hold them to the support
of the Republican party. This is the
fatal vice of the system when It's main
tenance is made fundamental tenet
of partv,s creed. The amount Of
protection which a certain industry is
to receive is made to depend not upon
its legitimate requirements, but upon
the measure of its contribution, past
and prospective, to the success of the
Republican party. Thus, provisions
which measurably are free from obJec-
ton are Jumped in with those that
are simply gigantic schemes of plum
der. and II 60 through together.
These facts have now become so
self-evident that the country IS grow
ing very restiye under them. Comb
nations such as the Steel Trust, which
paws enormous salaries and enormous
dividends, have so plainly illustrated
the inherent vice of the system that
no one can longer blind his eyes to 1t:
The Democrats are, of course, opposed
to the whole thing, and now the Re
publicans in the middle west, who de-
pend on agriculture rather than manu-
featuring for their prosperity. are
coming over to the peoples side OF
the matter. The leaders, except Mr.
Babcock. of Wisconsin, have been
very chary of expressing their views,
but from information received here,
it appears that the people of the west
are thinking very seriously of reform.
The principal aim now is to reach
the trusts, and no more effective way
suggests itself than by depriving them
of tariff protection. This protection
gives them complete control of the
American market, and consequently
outrageous profits on what they sell
at home, while at the same time it
leaves them in position to sell their
surplus products at reduced profits in
foreign markets thus fguratively kill
ing two birds with one stone. In all
of this the American consumers who
are outside the pale of trust protec-
ton are the ones upon whom the bur
den of the injustice chiefly falls. These
constitute vast majority of the reo-
pie, and if they choose to apply a rem
edy they have it in their power TO do