Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-10-09
the panic of 1898.

Tue Baltimore Sun makes this clear
explanation OF the causes which pro.
.uuced the panic Of 1899, business
depression which Republican organs
ana orators, with most malicious and
persistent Misrepresentation, attribute
&c tho effect Of tho Wilson Tariff bill,
which was not enacted until that panic
was about over:
1t Is the customary fallacy IF pro-
tectionists to attribute the panic OF
1893 to tho Wilson tariff of 1898,
fourteen months later, whereas said
panic was caused by the financial legis-
lasipn Of Congress In 1890, when the
Shssrlan Silver bill and the new waste
fnl Pension bill were enacted. These
acts Of a Republican Congress during
the Harrison administration depleted
tho treasury, compelled the treasury
TO use the gold reserve for ordinary ex'
| pc SOS and thus started the panic. The
ShsFman Silver bill unsettled public
confidence in tho ability of the govern
\ ment To keep tue currency at par with
| gold, and hence the rush to get green
backs redeemed. There was no Wilson
| tariff ELL till over year after the
panic, though protectionist orators
now commonly date that Democratic
measure back to 1893, so as to make 1t
responsible for the panic of that year.
The panic OF 1893 was really due to the
follies OF 1890 The Sherman act, the
monstrous pension act with Tanner
administering it and the reckless waste
of revenue in that year account suf-
ticiently for the alarm that followed.
1t used to be said by partisans that the
panic was duo to the expectation of a
Wilson bill. If this were so. it ought
to have come as soon as Cleveland was
elected President, in November, 1892,
whereas it did not come till June oil
the following year But it is easier
now, since time has obscured the con.
nection of past events, to put the Will.
son bill before the panic instead OF
after it and so make 1t responsible fol
the disasters caused by the reckless
legislation of 1890. 1t was that legis
lation that exhausted the surplus, cut
down revenue and alarmed the public.
No doubt the organs and orators o
tho Republican party will continue Il
ascribe the panic Of 1893 to the enact
ment, by Democratic Congress, of I
very moderate measure of tariff re
duction, but it is not presumed tina
they will be able to deceive the peopl
who read and who are thereby KEEP
oonversant with public affairs.
In fact, the startling evidence Of tn
trust monopolies and high prices tina
followed in the train of the Dingle.
r tariff, and that are the direct result Q
: that iniquitous legislation, has prove,
! to the people that there is materia
connection between high protectiy
tariffs and exorbitant prices for th
a necessities of life. This they know
$ and they also know that the bushes
+ panic of 1893 had no connection wit
8 the Wilson tariff of the following veal
: Reasoning from these two potent fact
$ they will realize that low tariffs mea
9 low prices for the necessities of life
o and the destruction Of the trusts tina
:. keep prices up to the highest mark an
a thus grievously Cypress the people.
IS There is a probability, therefore
y that an intelligent public will estimat
1t the Republican claim that the panic
a 1893 was due TO the Wilson tariff I
Vt 1894 at its proper value, and wi
10 hold any one who advances it as a
It ignoramus.