The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-10-31
CLEVELAND SPEAKS
(contInued from Firgt Page.l

! experience has there been a time whe1 1 this should be more earnestly, persist ently and honestly pressed upon the at 1 tention of our cOuntFymen than ROw. Of course, custom duties must con tinue to De the source of government maintenance until another plan is de- vised, but tariff, constructed for the purpose of protection as its chief ob- ject. is at all times. and in every feat ure of 1t, an unjust and unfair burden upon the masses of our people; but the bold and arrogant developments of its unfairness and injustice in recent years and the new directions they have taken ought to especially arrest the attention and apprehension of every thoughtful, sober-minded citizen.
 It was not long ago that the demo- cratic party, in advocating the reduc- tion Of tariff taxation to the revenue needs of our government. based it's in sistance largely upon the right and jus tice of cheapening for the masses of our people the prices of the necessities of life, and withdrawing so much pro lection from favored few manufact- urers as allowed them abnormal profits at the expense of the great body of consumers. But the exactions iron? the people on account of protection were made in such a stealthy and unobserv- ed manner by adding them to their daily purchases, that it was difficult to impress upon the consumers of the land the extent of these eXactiOns. While this process was going on imported ar ticles not produced in this country were charged with such high rates of duty as not only to greatly enhance their cost to the purchasing consumer but to create a surplus revenue beyond it's needs in the government treasury. This surplus represented clearly and defin- itely small proportion of the unneces- sary added expense of the living of our people on account of high protection, and it's aggregate was ascertainable, but the amount of the exaction thus represented was insignificant as com pared with the amount which protec- ton permitted our own manufacturers to pocket from the consumer
 When in 1887 the doctrine of the de- mocracy on tariff reform was embodied in an executive message to congress, though all the incidents and conse- quences of high protective tariff were considered. it was hoped that the plain and palpable fact that what was then considered a large surplus remained in the government treasury which should be in the possession of the people might, as an object lesson from an un- usual standpoint effectualIy present the situation. This was therefore, in a sense, made the keynote of the message in the opening passage as follows: You are confronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a condition of the national finance which imperativelv demands immediate and careful consid- era tion."
 '"rhe amount of money exacte1 through the operation of present laws from the industries and necessities of | the people largely exceeds the sum nec- essary to meet the expenses of the gov ernment
 ''When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be his share towards the careful and economical maintenance of the govern
 nent which protects him, it is plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion, and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and jus tice"
 After condmenting on tariff operations from this standpoint there followed a condemnation of the policy and law that made en unnecessary accumula- tion in the treasury of the peoples l kr-S- ed in these words: 'But our present tar- if laws, the vicious. tneuuitous and il- logical source of unnecessary taxation ought to be at once revised and amend cd. These laws, as their primary and plain effect, raises the price to the con- sumers of all articles imported and subject to duty by precisely the sum paid for such duties. Thus the amount of the duty measures the tax paid by those who purchase for us these im- ported articles. Many of these things, however, are raised or manufactured in our own country. and the duties now 1 levied upon foreign goods and products are called protection to these home manufacturers, because they render it possible for those of our people who are manufacturers, to make these taxed articles and sell them for price equal to that demanded for the imported goods that have paid custom duty"
 I have quoted this literally from this message solely for the purpose of show ing not only the accepted position of the democratic party on the tariff question, but also as suggesting the material then available in attacking tariff iniuui- ties. I want, if 1 can, to lead you to a contemplation of the iniquities that have since accumulated, to the numer- ous additions to a vicious and danger ous progeny born of tariff license and depravity, to the increased material of successful attack, and, to the present duty of all who love our people more than self to strike a blow whenever and wherever it is possible for our country's honor and emancipation.
 For this purpose hope you will per- init me to add one further quotation from the same message as follows:
 "In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our home manufactures resulting from duty laid upon import ed articles of the same description, the fact is not overlooked that competition among our domestic producers some times has the effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest limit allowed by such duty. But it is | ..5n hot L,fs